LostWoods Blog

When I was down in Wichita Falls I had the opportunity to have Preston Smith (www.prestonsmithphotos.com) take pictures of Basia. The shots turned out great and I had a difficult time deciding on the six (should’ve been five, but I ended up paying for one more) poses from all the wonderful choices. Today Preston sent me a preview of one of the shots I hadn’t chosen. It’s adorable — was on my short list, but lost out to some other shots. When I get the rest, I’ll share them with you. In the meantime, here’s Miss Buzzy.

I forgot to mention last night that I’d updated the ForestKatz site with new pictures of Buzz’s little sister and brothers. Stop by and see them now that their eyes are open. I think I’m in love with Dolly. NO! There will not be another baby girl coming to live at LostWoods from ForestKatz (not this year, anyway) but she’s sure cute!

Now that Taiba is off living with Greg and Lynn, Basia and Natane have turned to each other for company and play. They get to chasing each other back and forth from room to room — first one in pursuit, then the other. Then one will hide and wait for the other. When the other approaches, the first will jump out and they will both leap straight up in the air and take off in opposite directions. The jumping is amazing — they get great air and often do flips or turns in mid-air like little gymnasts doing the floor exercise. (Can you tell I’ve been watching the Olympics? And the gymnastics - I was once a gymnast — are among my favorite sports to watch?) I love watching them! I tried to get some new pictures of Natane last night, but she wasn’t interested in posing. I’ll try again. She’s still fairly “naked” but she’s getting big and is very pretty.

Speaking of Taiba… She’s doing well in her new home. Greg and Lynn have sent me some pictures of her, so I’ll try to remember to post one or two of them.

I know I’m late with the Melons six week photos. I got called into work yesterday with a problem and finally got home about 10 pm. No pictures. But I took some tonight and they are posted on the website. Crenshaw was being very silly, so it was hard to get him to hold still for pics. Nonetheless, I got some cute ones of him. The rest of the kittens were more cooperative. Charlie thought he should be in every photo and kept climbing back up on the loveseat (tonight’s stage for photos) to join in the fun. Pepino climbed up on my legs and sat there supervising until I scooped him up for his pictures. Galia and Honeydew were happy to run around playing while they waited their turns. I also got a few pictures of all five of them on the little cat tree so there is a litter shot on the Home page as well as the Kittens page now.

They are really getting playful and fun. Fun, that is, except when they decide to have a party on the bed at 4 am. That seems to be the time of day they wake up for their first wild and crazy play session. And now that they can get on the bed, they apparently do not want us to miss out on the fun. It would be okay if we did…

Besides climbing well now, they are all learning how to jump. I watched this afternoon as Charlie went hopping across the floor to wrestle with Crenshaw. So funny! Honeydew jumps after teasers more than the others, although Cren also is getting more intent on doing whatever it takes to get the toy. Pepino is my little lover boy — he’s always climbing on me, chewing on me, and following me around. He’s playful, but definitely the sweetest of the litter. Honey and Galia are also very people oriented, just not quite as much as Pepino. Actually, all five love being with Ken and me. They are downstairs for the second time this evening and don’t seem at all afraid to be in the new surroundings. As long as their mama is around, their humans are here, and they have things to do, they are happy little kittens.

Sondra has been very busy so I don’t have new Warrior Cats photos yet. She was going to try to get them for me, but with school starting soon, she’s going back to work, plus getting ready for her daughters to go back to school. Cross your fingers and hope for new pics soon.

And one last thing… A BIG congratulations to Basia’s littermate, ForestKatz Mr Wickett of KSNorskatt who became a Grand Champion at the CFA show in Overland Park, KS this past week. MW granded in only two shows — quite the accomplishment for him and his proud Sharon-mom. Buzzy says, way to go, bro!!!

The Melons got to make their first trip downstairs last night. I piled them all up in a basket and carried them down to the living room. Once the basket was down on the floor, they took off every which direction, exploring the new territory. They didn’t seem at all intimidated by all the space.

Meeting the big, crazy dog was another story, though. Galia was in the middle of the living room floor and Crenshaw was on the couch when Ken let Colter come in the house. (The other three kittens were out of sight, probably under the couch or love seat, so I didn’t get to watch their reaction.) Galia arched her back, hissed and stood her ground. Crenshaw did the same from the safety of the couch. Colter ignored them. They aren’t the first kittens to hiss at him. He stretched out in the front of the couch with his bone. After a couple minutes of watching this big, scrary animal, both Galia and Crenshaw went back to their regularly scheduled explorations. Galia even went over closer to Colter to get a better look. Since Cren will be going to the home of a woman who breeds Bernese Mountain Dogs, we’ll be making sure that he — and thus all of this litter — are very used to being around Colter.

All the kittens and cats at LostWoods spend at least some time with Colter. He’s a good dog when it comes to the other furry members of the family. We got Colter as a puppy a couple weeks after we got Shira. He learned very early on that he had to leave the cats alone. And we know he’d never intentionally hurt a kitten. But at 75 pounds or so, one playful swipe of a paw could kill a one pound kitten, so he is never left alone with them.

Colter’s usual reaction to the cats is to just ignore them. But every now and then, one of the cats will decide to get too close to his bones and treats (Shira has been known to steal pigs’ ears from him - bad cat!) and he doesn’t like that. He looks up at Ken as if to say, “Dad, make them go away! That’s mine!” He was really dismayed the day that Buzzy decided to pet him. I think he was convinced something really awful was going to happen — or he’d get in trouble because he was touching a cat (even if it was Buzzy touching him.)

Anyway, back to the Melons… they thoroughly explored the main floor of the house. Kali was fine with it — she hung out in the living room and kept an eye on them. But eventually they started running out of energy. Honey climbed up on the couch for a nap. Pepino joined her. Cren was trying to get a meal from Kali. Galia and Charlie found the small cat tree in the corner and climbed up on it to cuddle up and sleep.

About then Kali decided that her children needed to go back upstairs. She got up, stretched and headed out into the front hall, calling the babies. The only one who responded was Cren, who’d been happily nursing when she made this decision. She came back and looked around, calling the babies. That time Pepino also went to her. I scooped up Honey, Cren, and Pepino and carried them upstairs. That made her somewhat happier. But it wasn’t long before she was back downstairs looking for her missing babies. Ken gave in and carried Galia and Charlie up to her.

There will be more downstairs adventures in the next few days. And it won’t be long before they all start heading downstairs on their own. They can get over the gate if they choose to, but for now they seem happy enough in the bedroom. But soon there will be Melons all over the house.

I took pictures of the Melons this evening and did a ton of website updates. First, I forgot to tell you all that I put the individual pictures of the ForestKatz Hurricane litter on their site. So stop by and see the latest grandkittens.

On the LostWoods site I added 11 week photos of the Warrior Cats and 5 week pictures of the Melons. Here’s a cutie bonus shot of Crenshaw to make you smile.

See what you’d be missing if you didn’t read the blog?!

On the Rockatts site I added the 11 week photos of the Warrior Kittens, 8 week pics of the F Litter and made a page and added Sondra’s new kitten, Maverick to the Cats page.

I am now officially tired of working on websites this evening, especially since I’m missing play time with the babies. They are going EVERYWHERE in the bedroom now — under the bed, on the bed, on the climbing structures, in the kitten condo, under the dresser, and occasionally out into the hall. They play, wrestle, run, climb and are even starting to jump. They did respond quite well to the teaser, although they were getting kinda crazy so it was hard to convince them to pose. They just wanted to play, play, PLAY! I think I’ll go join them.

Honeydew won the contest for first to achieve the summit of Mt Bed last night. She only came up briefly before leaving, but she must have shared her mountain climbing adventure with the others because the other four decided to explore Mt Bed this morning. Won’t be long before they are sleeping up there with us.

Sondra took pictures of the Warrior Cats last week, but hasn’t sent them to me yet. I nagged this morning and she will get them resized and emailed later this afternoon or evening. I was delinquent myself. I spent the weekend cleaning house because Ken’s parents are spending the night here tonight. So when I took a break and went to photograph the Melons, they were in crazy kitten mode. No pictures… so this evening I will try to find a little slice of time for photography. Today is Ken’s birthday and we are all going out to dinner, so I’m making no promises. But I’ll try.

Sorry for the short post today. I’m feeling a little brain dead. If I think of anything entertaining or useful in the next couple hours, maybe I’ll add to this. For now — have a great day!

You might be able to guess from the title of tonight’s post that I have a little escape artist on my hand. Now I know I said it was Pepino who was the first to start climbing the gate — and he was. But he gave up before getting to the top and he hadn’t yet figured out that is the key to his freedom. But Galia did.

This morning the visited with the babies while I was getting ready for work. They were eating, playing, attacking my toes (ow!), and having a great time. Then I stepped over the gate and went out to the bedroom to put on my shoes. Galia decided she needed to be out there, too. So up the gate she went. Once she reached the top, she started down the other side, dropping (or falling — it’s hard to say really) to the floor about half way down. Then she was off on a dead run to come attack my feet some more.

I gave her kisses and put her back. Before I could get across the room she was over the gate again. I think I put her back four or five times before deciding it was a losing battle. I didn’t take the gate down, though, as I would like them to stay in the bathroom until I can trust them with the litter box. And since they aren’t pottying much yet, they’ve yet to need to litter box much. So there were four kittens in the bathroom and one running loose in my bedroom when I left for work.

When I got home from work, Galia was back in the bathroom. Either she climbed back over since there was nobody to play with or snuggle with on the bedroom side of the gate, or Kali took her back. I’m betting on Galia climbing back over.

Sondra took the Warriors to the vet today. We’re a little behind on our usual vaccination schedule, but the kittens are doing well. All except Dawnflower were over three pounds — which is an excellent weight for their age. Dawn is about average, no worries even though she’s a little smaller than her siblings. Sondra said she’d take pictures today or tomorrow, so I hope to have new ones on the site by this weekend.

Now, I’m off to play with babies for awhile before going to bed. I was up way late (for me) last night and I’m tired. (Ha! Susanne, I just had to say that! LOL!) Actually, I was up a little later than normal, but it was the 1:30 a.m. phone call about a problem at work that disrupted my sleep. Good night all!

The Melons are getting to be too, too funny! They are, for the time being, living in my bathroom. It’s not huge, but it’s not small either. They have two litter boxes, two food dishes, two water dishes and the little corner condo in there, not to mention a basket of toys. Since Kali likes napping on the cool vinyl floor, she’s nearly always in there with them. They take their naps wherever they happen to be when exhaustion takes over — little kitten bodies littering the floor.

But when they hear my voice, they pop back up, full of life and mischief.  Honey is the most interested in real food and loves the wet food I give them each day. Galia likes to try to get past the gate into the bedroom. Charlie loves attacking his mother’s tail and wrestling with anyone. I see more of his tummy that I do the others’ put together. Crenshaw was the first one to respond to me and comes running when he hears me. Pepino was a little more laid back — playing, responding to our voices, eating just a little bite now and then — nothing that really set him apart from everyone else, except he’s the smallest.

But that changed in the last couple days. He’s been beating Cren to the door to greet me. He’s climbed halfway up the gate in his attempt to escape (while everyone else sits and watches him.) And last night he showed me just how determined he is to get my attention.

I was wearing a pair of cropped pants and was barefoot. I’d gone into the bathroom to give them their wet food. I put the plate, the food, and the plastic knife I use for scooping the food from the can on the counter. Pepino ran over and climbed on my foot, then stretched up his front paws just far enough to hook his little claws on the hem of my pants. Then he dug his back claws into my bare leg and proceeded to climb up my pants. He really, really wanted some loves!

I picked him up and gave him kisses and scratches, then put him back on the floor so I could dish up the food. Pepino repeated his climb. I scooped him up and put him on the floor to eat. A little later I came back to get the now bare plate and he once again thought climbing my leg was a great way to get some attention. It does work but it’s painful… I may have to start wearing long pants around the house if this keeps up.

One thing I forgot to mention yesterday when writing about moving is what to do once  you get to your new home. Older cats - especially those who are homebodies - may be freaked out about their new home. While you may already know that it’s a good idea to keep them shut in just one room (like the bathroom) when you’re moving things into the house, you probably plan to turn them loose once the doors are all safely closed. But if your cats are upset or unhappy with the move, you might want to make them cozy in your bedroom or another quiet room in the house for a day or so. They’ll have a chance to get used to the smells of the new place while recovering from the stress of the move itself. It’s not unlike what you might do if you’re bringing a new pet into your home — let them get used to the new slowly. Kittens and cats who are used to new situations (like Michelle’s Licorice) may handle everything just fine. Pay attention to your cat and go from there. There is a big deal for him or her, too.

Today’s trivia: http://www.funtrivia.com/email/play.cfm?egroup=323149&tmp=1217376305

Nope, not moving in the sense you’re probably expecting! Instead, I’m talking about packing up and moving to a new home with your cats.

Rangashrii asked for advice on this topic, so I’ll first write some practical words of wisdom, then at the end of the post I’ll paste most of an email I wrote in March of 2006 after we moved 800 miles from Castle Rock to Helena. I think it’s humorous – although factual — and hope you will, too.

Some things you can do as you anticipate your move is try to get your cat used to being in a vehicle. Short little trips around the neighborhood, trips to the pet store to buy cat food, a visit to a friendly neighbor… all those can be fun and a chance for your cat to learn that the car is not a horrible place where they spend time only on their way to another horrible place — the vet’s office. Few cats are going to be happy with the first outings. Keep them short at first. Reward them for being in the car and then again when you get where you’re going and back home again.

But some cats will never like being in the car — especially older cats who have never been anywhere except to the vet. If, after trying to acclimate them to being in the car, your cat is one of those, consider talking to your vet about Composure. It’s a natural compound to calm pets that is available only by prescription. For some cats it works wonders - and even better, some of them love the flavor and will lick it right off a spoon. It works best if you start giving it several days before you need it. Another option is chamomile tablets. NOT capsules with the dried chamomile. Instead, these are usually found in health food stores or online, marketed as teething or calming tablets for infants. The ones I’ve used are Hyland’s Chamomilla 30x tablets. They, too, work best if given for several days to allow the effect to build up a little. Note that I consider “drugging” your cat to be a last resort, but given the choice of a yowling, drooling, stressed out cat and one that is a little sleepy, I pick sleepy.

Next thing to consider is how the cat is going to travel. That depends a lot on how far you are going. An adult cat in a carrier — with room to move around and a small dish of water — will be fine for several hours. But if you are going more than five or six hours, you might want to look into a larger crate of kennel so you can put a bed, litter box, food and water in it and your cat can be more comfortable. I have both a steel framed large dog kennel — good because if the car is crowded I can put things on top of it safely — and a pop-up nylon tent-like (rectangular, not a teepee) kennel for trip when I have plenty of room in the car and know I won’t need to stack things on it. The first kennel will cost about $150; the second about $25 if you decide to go that route. Take your cat with you in the vehicle you are riding in. Do NOT put them in a truck with all your furniture and belongings. (I know, I don’t have to tell you all that. You love your fur babies. You’d never do such a thing.)

A note about food on the trip… Some cats do get car sick and throw up. Usually they do it fairly early in the trip and that’s it. But if I have a cat that tends to do that — and you’d probably find out on your adventures attempting to acclimate your cat to being in the car — I’d withhold food for a couple hours before you start out and during the trip unless you’re going to be spending more than 10-12 hours en route. If it’s a long trip, feed them, but make sure you’re prepared to stop and clean up the mess if they do get sick. Always, always provide them with water. One way to provide a supply of water without making a big mess — well, sometimes this works — is to put ice cubes instead of water in the bowl. They will have a supply gradually as they need it, but if they spill it, it won’t make quite as big a mess.

Some things you’ll want to have in the car and easily accessible: food, a bottle or two of water, trash bags, litter scoop, some spray cleaner (in case of a yucky mess) and paper towels. Some air freshner is also nice for those times when your cat leaves a smelly deposit in the litter box while you’re driving down the road.

It is much safer — for you and your cat — if the cat is confined when you’re on the road. However, if you insist on letting him out in the car, use extra care any time you open a door or window. And any time you’ve stopped and gotten out of the car, double check to be sure he is still in there before you head on down the road.

Now for my comments about my own moving experience (only partially cat related)…

No matter how good of a housekeeper you think you are, when all the furniture is moved out of your house after seven years, you’ll think you’re the worst housekeeper on the planet and be distressed at the condition of the house. Trust me on this. However, trust me again when I say that despite the condition of the floors and baseboards, you’re not living like pigs.  

Kittens will think any change to their environment is a new and fun game. Older cats will be dismayed at the disruption to their home. They will get over it.

The Queen of Everything will be severely distressed at the loss of her favorite closet, hate the ride to the new home, and be wild-eyed at the thought of having kittens HERE! However, the Queen of Everything will calm down if given enough loves, cat treats, and time. However (again!), she will become a Velcro kitty every time she sees her lisa-mom because her lisa-mom has had the nerve to abandon her every day to go to work after staying home for almost a year.   

Stressed out older cats will stay in their litter boxes the entire ride and cry at random times. They will refuse to eat, drink, or be comforted. They blame you. Luckily they will also forgive you.

An 821 mile drive is long and boring, especially across Wyoming and part of Montana. The drive will be even longer and more boring when your husband insists you stay behind him and he is driving a loaded down U-Haul truck towing a Jeep.

Boxes half filled with paper will become boxes completely filled with paper once the items packed in the paper are removed. No paper will be added to the box – just returned after the unpacking. It is a great mystery of life how the paper expands to fill all available space.  

The trash service will not pick up boxes filled with paper left beside a dumpster, even if a special pickup is arranged. They will, however, pick up BAGS filled with paper. They will also take boxes filled with paper if placed inside a dumpster. We have not yet figured out how to get a box that once held a coffee table that is now filled with paper into the dumpster. And so it sits…  

A two car garage cannot hold all the boxes of stuff carried out of a 2500 sq ft house with a two and a half car garage, plus an 8 x 10 storage unit. A 1400 sq ft house cannot hold all the stuff carried out of a 2500 sq ft house along with all the furniture from said house. Attempts to make space for all the stuff will result in throwing away random items as you unpack. You will still have stuff sitting around on counters, on dressers, and in boxes weeks after the move as you attempt to find a place for necessary items. The definition of necessary will become narrower over time. 

Two additional 36” wide cupboards (one upper, one lower) do not add up to the space in a six foot wide pantry. Attempts to stuff small appliances and pantry items into the new space will result in throwing away random items and a resolution to never buy two packages of stuffing when one will do. For the matter, why keep stuffing on hand at all if you only make it at Thanksgiving?   

You will say “bless you” when the driver for the moving company tells you he sold half your stuff and wish he hadn’t been joking. As long as he’d shared the proceeds, you’d have been happy. A week after the move, you wouldn’t have even cared if he’d shared the proceeds, you’d just be happy you didn’t have to unpack and find a place for those things. 

When you have a walk-in closet and move to a home with only a standard closet, you will make a resolution not to buy any new clothes until at least half of the things you now own wear out. You will discover that, despite having given the Salvation Army four big boxes of clothes before the move, that you still have things that can be donated.  You will no longer hang up t-shirts, instead stacking them on the closet shelf. You concede that you will have to iron said t-shirts should you decide to wear them to work, but since you have plenty of time in the morning, you can do this.  

You will decide that the place you are renting, despite its limitations, will be just fine until you can buy/build a bigger home. You are not going to move again unless it’s permanent. (or as permanent as things get these days!)

A couple of the Melons escaped over the top of the climbing structure (placed on its side) that was blocking them in the closet last night. Little climbers already! So after work I have to finish cleaning the big kennel and put them in it tonight. I used it for the trip to Texas and have taken the cover off and washed it. But I haven’t cleaned up the frame and put it all back together yet. Tonight.

Sondra was gone over the weekend, so no 10 week photos of the Warriors, but they might be writing their story later this week. School starts soon for Sondra’s girls and she goes back to work right before that, so it’s a crazy time at her house.

I have pictures of the Hurricanes! Here’s one of Tori and the babies together, but this evening I’ll update the ForestKatz site with their individual pictures. Tori looks so content in this picture. And, I might add, she also looks a lot like her Shira-mom, except with more color.

Today’s trivia: http://www.funtrivia.com/email/play.cfm?egroup=323149&tmp=1217203508

Well, not really slices. Photos. I managed to take a few acceptable photos of the Melons at four weeks today after failing miserably at getting 3 or 3 1/2 week shots last week. They are up on the website now.

The kittens are all getting so very active and fun. They are currently living in my closet with a little corner condo and a bunch of toys. At night I set a little half circle climbing/scratching structure on it’s side to block them in while still allowing Kali access. During the day they’ve had run of our bedroom, but that’s coming to a halt as I discovered kitten poop on the floor today. So nighttime in the closet or kennel, daytime in the bathroom, evenings run of the room when we are up there — at least until they are potty trained.  

I love watching them at this age. They discover and learn something new practically every moment. They like the toys such as the crinkle balls and the shiny, roll-y balls. They love to wrestle with each other. This morning Honeydew climbed up on the basket of magazines sitting beside the bed and played Queen of the Mountain, looking down on her siblings.

They are all very, very friendly — coming to us whenever they hear our voices. They climb on my lap — never to stay, but up on me, then off the other side, and then back again. They are having so much fun!

Let’s see… Other news… I hear that LostWoods Ariane of Winteridge (you know her as Ohanna) was at a show yesterday and got at least one final — a 3rd Best AB kitten. A litter of little hurricanes came ashore down in the Houston area on Thursday — five babies born to LostWoods Torianna of ForestKatz and her beau, HattKatts Guri of ForestKatz. Donna took pictures today so I hope to have them from her tomorrow with plans to update their website tomorrow night. And I guess that’s about it. I’ve been suffering from a migraine since last night, so I’m not terribly with it tonight. Better, but not all together yet. I still owe you a report of the Wichita Falls show. One other little bit (okay, a big deal!) is that the #1 cat in all of TICA (yes, that’s all the breeds of all the adults unspayed and unneutered cats) is Basia’s handsome littermate, ForestKatz Mr Wickett of KSNorskatt! While there’s still a lot of show season left to go, MW has been kicking butt and taking names every where he goes. We are all so proud of him and his owner, Sharon Poer. I am equally proud of LostWoods Majestic of Foresttales who is currently sitting in the #5 spot for all altered adults in TICA. Love it when wegies — especially wegies who I know and love — are doing well in the show ring.