A few Tuesday pix.

First of all - we got a little sun today. Apparently it replaced some of the wind. We're quite happy with that combination. It's really chilly, though.



Oh - and here's one of Mom's ouchie foot. It's MUCH less swollen now, but you can see it's more colorful than usual.

I'm not sure I'll be able to post or comment much the next couple of days since Mom's got an exam on Friday and tends to be somewhat unavailable.

Our Biochemical song of the day is Protein synthesis. http://www.csulb.edu/~cohlberg/Songs/protein.mp3

Kisses,
B

The sound of craziness

First of all - we ask you all to open this link in another tab: http://www.csulb.edu/~cohlberg/Songs/betaox.mp3 You need this soundtrack, you see.

This place is getting crazier by the minute, and I'm sure that song is getting you into the same mood. I'm being most helpful - here I'm assisting Mom while she's doing her weirdo stuff.

Can you tell what a GREAT help I am?

Also - here are a couple of pictures of winter prettiness! They're just phone pix from this morning's trip to school. :)

Crazy kisses,
Bajas

Snowy Sunday

Oh hi, guys! I'm just relaxing today.. Sleeping in Mom's lap as long as it's available. It's snowy and windy today. Mom's at home with her ouchie foot (a little better today!) and she's trying to study like a good girl (exams coming up SOON!).. but she had some other stuff to do, to.
This is on our window!

These are in the oven as I type!

These are already done and just waiting for the special Christmas bread to be done so Mom can have a (somewhat late) lunch.

big kisses,
Bajas

Foodie Friday [Water]

NB! Our favorite M&Ms just informed me that they don't see our pictures. Our photo host was "all new and better" today so we wonder if it's got something to do with it. PLS let me know if any more of you can't see them. We know M&M have had issues with our pix before when they worked for others, so there's also a chance that their computer sometimes sensor my handsomeness?
B

Hello Foodie Friends!

Today we'll talk a little about a part of food that we don't really think of as food at all - WATER. If we generalize a little most animals have a water content of about 75%. That means both you and your hooman(s) are more water than anything else!


I like water quite a lot, actually, as long as they don't make me swim in it. I don't swim very well.


Hyssy was quite skeptical when approaching the water, as was Virus. This is actually a quite common behavior for cats. Cats originated from small felines living in a desert climate. Since there's hardly any thing there to drink, cats evolved to get virtually all their water from their food. Dogs are a little more prone to drinking if you look at our history. We're also designed to get most of our water from the prey animals we eat, though.


Hee hee.. Here's more pee! This is a color sample of Virus or Hyssy's pee when they were eating the kibbles. They got some canned foods and tastes of raw foods, too, but their base food was kibble. You can see it's quite dark yellow/orange in color.

Mom did a test month last spring where we all got no kibbles and only canned or raw to see if the kitties were getting enough water when they had to do most of their drinking on their own. She had read several studies that suggested the majority of cats are constantly dehydrated and wanted to make sure that was not the case with her boys. They did eat almost 50/50 canned and kibble most days. Still... it turned out at that they were not drinking sufficiently. We cannot seem to find the photo of their all raw/canned food pee, but when it was wet it had about the color of the yellowish dry crystals in the photo above, only less orange/brown and more like a very pale, pure yellow. There really was no doubt that they had been dehydrated by the amounts of pee they now left in the litter box.


So now they more or less stopped drinking altogether, but peed about twice the amount compared to before. The most surprising change, though, was the change in attitude. Virus used to be a rather aloof cat. He'd like to sit in a lap now and then, and ride on on of the hoomans' shoulders. But he wasn't exactly what you'd call a purring machine. He became a different cat. Cuddly.. social.. and I think he purrs at least 10 times as much as before. There was just no doubt he was feeling much better without being constantly dehydrated. (Bajas also keeps a much better water balance when he's fed foods with a nice high water content. No over drinking episodes and vomiting - which is nice for both of us. )

We think efurrybody should eat the foodables that work for them, but it's important to think about water content. If your kibble fed dog is a bad drinker you might put some water on the kibble when it's served. You shouldn't leave moist kibble out for long because of all the bacterial growth you'll end up with, but as long as the dog eats it right away it's no problem. The same goes for cats, but most kibble fed cats tend to be "grazers" who eat a little now and then from their 24/7 buffet.



Now who would have thought we could write so much about water? BOL! I hope you all have a great weekend! Mom fell on her face and busted her ankle, so I hope I'll be getting some quality company.

Bajas

The Story of Us

We loved Minna Kreb's gotcha day celebration idea, and of course we wanted to join! Now we thinks we have told of our stories before, but there's no reason not to share it again. We have gotten many new furiends since the last time we did something similar, too.

Bajas
When I was just a little baby pug my Mom turned up with auntie Lene and then they took me with them across the mountains.

At first I was a little stressed and perhaps a leetle scairt, and I blew little bubbles from my nose. So Mom made a call to Anette, my breeder, to hear if everything was okay. She said I was probably just a little stressed out and would eventually calm down. It was a very long trip to pick me up - they left around 2AM and got home late at night - so I know she really wanted me. BOL!


I was pretty cute when I was little, don't you think? One of mom's friends was rolling in the grass the first time she saw me. Laughing hard and claiming I looked like a mix of a pig and a gold fish!?!?!?!! How rude.. Mom and I have shared lots of fun, some sickies and sadness and tons of cuddles. These pix are more than 8 years old, but I'm still a happy guy. Just yesterday a man asked how old I was - he thought I was perhaps 4-5months old and still a puppy. I think that means Mom is wrong when she claims I'm getting a little gray. Hah!

Now both Coco (my birth mother who came to us as an adult) and Nimbus the whippet has come and left since I arrived. Now I share my house with Mom and the kitties, so I'll let Virus tell his story.

Virus
When I was just a baby I lived with my siblings and my mom Justa and and assortment of other aunties.

Then one day Lene brought me and one of my sisters along on a long car ride. After a long time my sister left me and I was all alone!!! Then we continued for a little while before arriving at this very strange place. Lene started crying and hugged the strange lady who I eventually learned was my new Mom. Then she left me there with the lady and a very big and scary black blob. I stayed in a kitten pen the first couple of hours since everything was a little scary. But I got lonely, too, so Mom got me out of there.


I got quite tired after all the commotion. That night Mom slept on the couch with me, with me on her chest under the duvet. I was so tiny and lonely she couldn't leave me, and she was afraid to take me to her bed in case she'd squish my tiny self or that I'd fall out of the bed.


Soon enough I was showing them my crazy kitten self! MOL!


I was very brave, and would even sneak up on the big black blob when he wasn't watching (or pretended not to).


Very soon we were best of buddies. At least I thought we had lots of fun! Then after a while I went on a vacation and met this very cute girl!


A few weeks later I left Lene and Våfflan again and was shipped back to Mom and Bajas. Seriously - I had to ride on a plane all alone!?! Now I think I'll leave the keyboard to Hyssing.

Hyssing
So - a while after Virus left Våfflan she realized her tummy was growing and then a while later me and my siblings popped out!


This is me - the very first one to arrive! Mom was so excited when she got a multimedia message on her phone with my picture!


We were a cute and crazy gang of kittens, and those of you who knew us last fall got to meet us all.


Then suddenly one day we traveled to a strange place with lots of people and kitties and then after a couple of days there the new Mom-lady brought me with her and Virus to the place she was staying. And the very next morning we were on the train going across the mountains to Oslo.


Soon dad and I were best of friends, and Bajas wasn't scary for very long either!

So that's the stories of how we got to be here together and with Mom! We don't have Turkey Day around here (at least not in the same way, and with turkey), but we're very thankful to be here and together. And Mom is very thankful we're such wonderful boys!

Kisses and purrs,
Hyssing, Virus and Bajas

Remember this cutie?

I just realized it's just over a year since I went to pick up Hyssing.



He's not so leetle any more! (He'd probably use the entire bed if he'd use it today.)


He's even grown a little more furs compared to these first pix.

I'm very glad I brought his silly little self across the mountains to stay with his dad, Bajas and me. And although Virus isn't entirely convinced 100% of the time he's had so much enjoyment of their friendship.


Ane

MomDay

I've been a pretty useless Mom lately - but I finally finished the box we have the kitties' PeeWee in. I hope the transparent box will make it easier for my wildly digging boys to keep the pellets in the box - and as a bonus it creates a perfect holder for the scoop(s). The waxed fabric makes it easy to clean and prevent any dust or pellets to fall out through the holes - but I haven't covered it all up to keep the good ventilation.


I also decided to hang the rosettes I could find rather than having they thrown in the back of boxes etc. I know these aren't all - but they turned out to be more than expected. LOL! Once I get tired of dusting them I'll have a great excuse to throw them all out, too, which is an added bonus.


I even did some tidying.. At one moment Bajas almost disappeared underneath clean duvet/covers. Exams are fast approaching and I needed to tidy this place up before having no time to do anything beside reading. ;)

Happy Monday everyone!

Ane

Safety Reminder

Hi guys!

We have something very important to talk to you about today. But first - we'd like you to meet Mason.

Isn't he just the most handsome guy? A few years ago he managed to get into some very serious business. Mom asked his mom, Lisa, if she could share Mason's story on the bloggy and she said yes. You can see more pictures on their website if you want. http://shineonwhippets.webs.com/

So - what did Mason get into? He got into the paper shredder. Literally. He was quite lucky, though, and they managed to pull his tongue back out without too severe damage. Here you can see a photo after it's healed back up.

We didn't want the bloody pictures on the blog. But if you haven't seen the result of paper shredder damage before you might Google paper shredder + dog + tongue and you'll see how lucky Mason is.

So here's the deal. We're heading into a season where paper shredders are used more frequently in the average home. Please - please -please - if you have a paper shredder always keep it unplugged when it isn't used. And when it's in use - please make sure no animals are in the room with you. Although Mason has a very funky looking tongue we don't want any more friends with injured tongues or whose furs are cut off.

Warm and safe snuggles
Hyssing, Virus and Bajas

Snowy Saturday

Today it's snowing. But Mom stepped on something pointy yesterday and her foot is ouchie so we're not likely to spend much time outside. Besides - it's crazy windy and cold. It's quite nice to sit indoors and look at it, though, and know it'll be December and Christmas soon.

Mom recently made me a sweater to wear when it gets chilly. I didn't really wanna pose (it's doesn't look all that good - she started out with what was half way to a felted SLIPPER and then improvised a little and felted it into a doggy sweater instead..) It keeps me nice and toasty, though.

B

Happy Foodie Friday

We interrupt our planned Foodie Friday post with a progress report!

We are most thrilled to tell you that last night Virus and Hyssing - for the very first time - agreed to chewing pieces of chicken neck. They have eaten the occasional small bone. But finding small and easily edible bones (for kitties) are hard to find, at least for us, and what we find is generally pricey. It was pure luck Mom found a new Asian store downtown on Wednesday and they stocked chicken necks. We have found some earlier, attached to whole chickens bought in Sweden, but the kitties didn't seem to want them back then.

I can assure you Mom acted most silly yesterday jumping for joy as she watched Virus eat the stuff. It should be said it was cut down into small pieces, but as you can see on the video he had to actually CHEW which is the important thing.



We don't think it'll be all easy sailing from here on, but it's still a great breakthrough!

I'm sorta proud of the little ones - they have such tiny mouths after all.

Bajas

Visitator Thursday

We had a visitator tonight! Our wonderful Auntie Anna! I got to snuggle. Even tho' she never seems to get used to pug sneezes in her face.. Strange, huh?



Kisses, Bajas

WTF Wednesday

I don't mind the black ones - but you're going to take ME outside and pick up my poop with PINK bags? Huh?

B

Some pix from the weekend

There was a special contest for the oriental cats on Saturday, so we think there were more of the oriental cats than usual.

Oh.. the disgrace! BOL!




A very cool oriental "cow".


(N) Pontifex Merkur - Devon rex


The judges do some weird stuff, huh?


(N) Santala's YumYum -chocolate really is yummy (huh, Khyra?)

Beautiful curls on a Cornish rex (they have a somewhat different coat texture from the devons)


Our very own Hyssy


We also saw many distant relatives of our French friends (Yuu know who we mean.. BOL!)




Adorable little British Shorthair baby!