Happy New Year!

Pictures!!!

Included are some abstract HB and some sexy headshots and appendix. Enjoy!!

Kids and cats are so difficult to capture with a slow camera....

Catnip... so much fun!!!

does not likey the flashie

Bigger girth kitty

Where are the pics?

Sorry everyone.    I've been lazy with the camera and I lost the USB cable to the camera so it is taking me a lot more motivation to take pics of the cat.  I promise to get some pics up soon. 

It has been four months since HB been with us.  We might have found her a home.  We are letting our friend Jason Siep take her out for a test-drive.  I guess it will depend on how his cat reacts with HB.  Last week, I took HB to a cat date with my friend Cathy's cats.  She has two male cats name Sebatian and River.  HB wasn't afraid when she arrived at Cathy's apartment.  She roamed around and played with their toys.   They were much bigger cats than she is but they both hid from her... They had a few hissing fests, but no cat-on-cat contact.  I would say their date went well.  Cathy gave HB a refillable catnip toy in a shape of a moose with a Christmas hat on it.  She loves it!!!  Thanks for the Christmas gift.

Recently, Dave was making veal and a few onions.  The whole house filled with burning-oniony scent.  Honey Bee's eyes became watery and red, and she was squinting... It was rather cute... She wasn't the only one with squinty eyes... all our eyes were watery too.

Fat Cat

Honey Bee appears to be putting on the weight nicely. At this rate, she will be a fat cat very soon. Every time I look over, her tummy is round and full of food. From now on, I will only give her what's recommended. Half a cup per day. Today, she will finish her first bag of food. Congratulations. Let's hope she doesn't become obese. I'm sure we all know that gaining weight is much easier than losing weight.

Next Month's Holiday Centerfold

Promoted: Presenting the next Middle-weight...

Honey Bee and I visited the vet for her booster shots.  She moewed the whole way to the vet.  She is much like my first cat which she associates the cat carrier as a visit to the vet.  Honey Bee is now considered average weight weighing at 7lbs!!!  She is significantly heavier than when she arrived.  Her belly seems to be round-ish.  Dr. Gaye, which Cathy recommends because of her gentle handling of pets, says she's in good health.  She spent a minute looking for any black spot on HB that may/may not exist. She says usually orange cats are male because that color is sex-linked.   Did HB get a sex changed?   

She has gunky ears.  I got some medicinal ear drops which we are using to break up the gunk.  Twice a day for a week.  It will prevent infections and mites.

Her bald spot grew in.  Dr. Gaye noticed her bald spot on her nose where the big scab used to be.  She also said her pads on her paws are really worn out...  They didn't charge me for the visit, just for the medicines for the ear and the vaccination.  Maybe it's because she's a stray.  That's very nice of them.

She eats a lot more than she used to.  The first weekend, we left her home by herself,  I filled her bowl with dry food and when we returned, she didn't finish her food.  Last weekend, we went away and left the same amount of food.  When we came back, not only did she eat all of her food, she also ripped opened the bag of cat food that sat next to her bowl.  Well, that was the whole idea anyways, if she is desperate, she knows where her food is.  She also enjoys drinking water from the toilet.  

She tried to eat cauliflower once, and she didn't like it.  She's weird.  I gave her fresh crabmeat and she didn't even pay attention to it.  My first cat would kill a dog for seafood.  

HB enjoys being brushed.  She flips her body on both sides and on her back so you can brush her belly too.

This morning I found a dead cockroach next to HB's bowl.  I like to credit her for killing her, even though this specific cockroach might have died from just going through the large amounts of roach motels that we have lined the house with and died next to her food bowl.  I haven't seen many bugs since we HB arrived... at least downstairs.

Her favorite hang out spots are on the steps and under the bikes.

Cat Pics Galore:

Soft Served

Ah.  This morning, Honey Bee left me a soft-served looking poo on the floor. Hope nothing is wrong. Although I did let Dave feed her for the first time.... hm...

She also scratched me for the first time by accident yesterday because she wanted to guide my arm to her body so I can pet her some more... Her nails were razor sharp.  Then I bubbled up around the cut.  She's very affectionate and meows for attention to be petted.

Putting on the ounces

According to Dave's observation, Honey Bee is slowly adding on a few ounces. Although she is still skinny, she is noticeably bigger than when we first gotten her. Maybe I will attach a picture soon, but it's really difficult to track that kind of small change in pictures.

She has also started to eat more than before. Good poo.

She doesn't seem to like playing with her toys much. I think she's over the kitty stage. Though she's been eyeing the outside world, peeking past the front and back door.

Beauty Mark

Several people have asked me about Honey Bee's mark on her nose. It's actually a scab. As of, yesterday, she shed a large part of it. Looks like there will be more to be shed.






She response to me with a meow when I call her name. Though I'm pretty sure it's from just my high-pitched voice. She's an awesome lap cat. She likes being held, and does not like to be left alone when she knows you're home.

Dave has mutated her name to Honey Cat.

Here's us watching a climbing guide instructional movie.

Second best litter box

Friday morning, Dave was cleaning the house and had closed the door to the bathroom where all of Honey Bee's things are (bed, food, water, litter). Of course, nature calls HB. Dave reported that HB found the back door floor mat and dropped a couple.

Smart cat. I think Dave appreciated the good choice for her drop.

Day 0-1

Meet Honey Bee! You know the story by now. Cat finds Alexis. Alexis decides to keep the cat. She jumps through fire-rings to keep her as her 21st pet.... Now, comes me. I'm a foster mom for Honey Bee until her six months quarantine for rabies is over.

It takes a village. Together we can raise a mal-nourished cat. Thanks to Dave, Honey Bee has a home.

As I am writing about her, she is napping on my one lap. Yes, she is tiny. She fits. For the past 18 hours since I met her, I can tell that she is a very well-behaved cat that used to belong to someone. She jumped on the dining table, and I instinctively pointed away from the table and said, "No!!," she jumped off promptly.

When she arrived last night, she explored the first floor of the house for only a few minutes before she found a place and lie down. Even with Dave hitting and banging on walls from making a device to keep the cat away from the second floor, she didn't even flinch.

Thank you, Alexis for picking up these special and thoughtful items:

1. Rubbered tip cat brush
2. kitty litter liner
3. canned food
4. catnip mouse toy
5. Fresh Step (my favorite brand of kitty litter)
   

She seems to be enjoying the canned food mixed with the dry food more than just the dry food itself. Hopefully, she won't be spoiled yet. She slept in the first floor half-bathroom for the night to get acclimated to the new people and environment.

My friend Cathy is excited about our foster cat. She offered me some of her excess cat food and toys and scratching post and leash and treats. Thanks Cathy, HB is enjoying everything! I haven't tried walking the cat, though, I need to do a lot of adjustment to the leash before she would fit. When she had it on, she was trying to escape herself, so I promptly removed it. We'll try again another day

Are cats like goldfishes? Do they eat until they explode? I want to fatten her up, but I don't know if she will overeat. Cats are not like goldfishes. This, I discovered Friday dawn-ish.

• 5am Friday: HB is crying her lungs off with persistent meows on the top of the stairs peering through the little gap that was left installing the bedroom door on the top of the steps. With my drowsy eyes, I walk downstairs and fix the kitty some food.
• 7am Friday: Repeat of 5am Friday
• 9am Friday: Dave and I are eating breakfast. I think HB should eat breakfast with us so I feed her some more. After a few nibbles, she stopped and went to sleep on her towel in the bathroom.

Well, I already know cats don't usually overeat, but I wasn't sure about a famished cat.

I'm sure some people will agree that doggies and kitties are like children and I am one of them. Upon the first site of HB's bowel movement, I got quite excited to see that she was pooping. You know me. I am POO-lady. I can talk about poo with you any day. Poo is important to reflect the health of the person/animal. So to see that HB is a healthy, functional poo-machine is AWESOME!!! No, I didn't take a picture of the poo, or HB in action, but I did draw a picture.
(Don't hate, I can't draw using such primative Paint program and mouse)
Ah, HB's first poo. I have to say, for me, this is the most unusual cat position for poo-ing. I guess she chose to do her business at the edge. She was completely upright, holding and balancing on the edge of the lid. I'm very proud!!

Her second poo was more interesting. I went in for the scoop and I found this 3-inch gray-colored string sitting of top of one ball of poo. I held my breath and inspected a bit closer. I called Dave over to see if it's a worm, he concurred and I emailed Alexis. Of course, the worm started moving after we agreed it was a worm. Alexis replied and said it is a normal de-worming process and she will call the vet to check how long this process will last. The vet says it should last for two days.

Poo#3: Normal.

So far, she's been super sweet and acting like a regular cat. Sleeping and eating and ignoring us when SHE doesn't want attention.

Our aspirations for Honey Bee is that all the bugs will be eaten and caught. There are these infamous bugs called Water Bugs that resides in Fishtown. They look like a cross between a black roach and a giant beetle. I was googling an image of it and couldn't find the specific kind of water bug and also the images gave me heebie jeebies. I was telling one of the local Fishtown-eans about our bug problems, and he says,"Get a cat." I'll keep you posted on the bug situation.

In the future, there will be mainly pictures, and less poo log. (pun)