Sick and tired... and cats

Emmy has learned that she can get my attention by jumping on and off my chair.  I am doomed.

Seriously, I've been fighting the worst case of bronchitis for like 2 weeks now, but the cats do not care.  They want soft food and playtime.  Lots and lots of fucking playtime.  Emmy will wear out Estel pretty quickly, then turn to me when he takes a nap.  (Lazy ass cat.)  I don't know what she expects me to do when I'm this sick, but she will bug me for hours at a time.  Maybe I should just pretend to sleep like Estel?

Seriously though, she's starting to get destructive.  She'll put her claws all over my chair.  Anything she can do to get my attention.  But she's not like this when I'm not around.  She literally only does this to get my attention.  The same way Estel paws at Tyler's dresser when he wants my attention, or taps me on the arm.  I'm going to end up with a destroyed computer chair unless I can figure out a way to wear her out without wearing myself out.  Why isn't Estel shouldering more of the burden, damn it?  Also, when am I finally going to feel well again?  :(

Halloween Cat: our newest fluffy edition to the family

Ember

A little over a month ago (Thursday August 7th, to be precise), we found a fluffy ball of fur hiding under my car along with her twin sister and Yellow Cat. We had just got home from target with random groceries, including Snickerdoodle mix, and were stepping outside for more bags when we noticed the cats.  Yellow cat and the twin immediately ran out from under the car, but Emmy stayed behind.  The other cats peeked their heads around the fence one last time as if to encourage her to follow them, but she seemed glued to the tired she was hiding behind.  We went back into the house for a ribbon and some kitten food, which allowed us to coax her from her hiding spot.  She loooooooves ribbons.  I nicknamed her Snickerdoodle for the time being.

After playing with her for most of the evening, we left some food and water for her and then went back inside.  But my heart was tugging.  I hated leaving the poor baby out there.  I posted on facebook to see if any of my friends would like to adopt her and I got a bite.  That was all the excuse I needed to bring her in the house.  I woke up the boyfriend and told him to fill up the extra litter box while I lured her with some food and ribbons.  She was inside in two seconds, and that was pretty much it.  My friend called me the next day and said her husband wouldn't let her have the kitten (allergies), so I pretty much considered Ember to be ours.  We kept her in the mudroom until she got a clean bill of health from the vet, but we did open the door for hours at a time to let the cats get used to each other.  They took to each other quickly.  It was less than a week and our new concern was keeping them away from each other until Emmy was tested.

Now we have two happy cats.  Estel loves having a friend to play with, and they're teaching each other things.  Emmy taught Estel how to make toys slide across the kitchen floor.  And Estel taught Emmy to fear plastic bags... OK, so you can't win 'em all.

Emmy loves to play so much that she exhausts both me and Estel.  She won't sit on my lap yet, but she'll happily lay on the floor and let me pet her until my hand is about to fall off.  Near as we can figure, she's about a year old now.  She grew a little after we first found her so I'd place her as a Virgo or Libra.  My mom thinks she looks like a little owl. :3

Descent into Madness - or the story of becoming a "cat person"

It's hard to believe I used to be a dog person.

When I was little I desperately wanted a dog, but my mother was against having pets.  She had always gotten stuck taking care of her sister's pets as a child... a bird and a bunny - both of which bit and pooped a lot.  So you can imagine her experience was hardly a pleasant one.

We managed to compromise on a turtle.  I was still very young at the time, and given that my mom is a neurotic, she pretty much insisted on taking care of the poor thing because she was afraid I'd get salmonella or something.  It didn't help that my turtle's food was a dry powder that had to be boiled with water to form a gelatin-like substance.  I think it was mostly made of shrimp, which is kind of odd for a box turtle.  But she'd turn her nose up at fruits and veggies.  My baby was a carnivore.

So yeah... as you can imagine, my neurotic mother wouldn't let me near the stove.  And well, she has a history of just taking things out of my hands and doing it herself because I'm not meeting some obscure measure of perfection.  But that didn't stop her from bitching about the fact that she had to take care of my turtle.  Whose fault was that, mom?  Really?

Anyway, as much as I loved my turtle, I really craved a pet that could run around outside and play with me.  Being an only child sucked at times.  Don't get me wrong - I loved the peace and quiet, I loved not having my toys and clothes destroyed by some careless sibling, I loved that it meant my parents had more money to spend on me... but there were times when I was lonely and wanted a playmate.  I'm pretty sure if I had had a dog I would have never wished for a sibling ever again.

As I got older... and grouchier, and more cynical, and introverted... I became less of a dog person.  Suddenly their boundless energy and neediness began to wear me down rather than excite me for an adventure.  Their constant need to lick my face became nerve-wracking as I reached the age when my face was covered in make-up to hide the zits I had popped.  Their intrusiveness and constant need for attention made me shrink away to some dark corner with a book.  And of course, my mom's paranoia that every dog was a vicious killer just waiting to attack began to play havoc with my anxiety.

Which is actually ironic since I have not been bitten by a dog, but I was bitten by a cat as a child.  That's probably one of the big reasons I wasn't too keen on cats when I was little.  I did love my grandma's neighbor's cat, but she very rarely came inside and would only let you get a few pets in before she'd return to whatever important cat things she had on her agenda that afternoon.  It was actually the cat of another of my grandma's neighbors that attacked me.  We had stepped inside this woman's kitchen because my mother was speaking to her about 'adult things' or whatever.  I didn't even know the lady had a cat until that bastard sunk his teeth and claws into the back of my ankle.  The damn thing was deranged (if only Jackson Galaxy had been around back then!).  I was literally standing in the middle of the kitchen, not touching anything, and it came racing up the steps and latched onto me.  That experience soured me against cats for over a decade.

So it's kind of odd, even to me, that by the time I hit college I was desperate for a cat.  I can't even pinpoint when the change happened... it just sort of did.  Next thing ya know, I'm obsessed with getting a cat... but I still couldn't have one yet.  I had to go home on breaks, and my mom absolutely refused to let a cat in her home even temporarily.  It wasn't until my boyfriend and I moved in together that I finally got my wish.  He just happened to have acquired a cat right before he met me.  Now that's what I call icing on the coincidence cake!  And as you all know, I have since become obsessed with my little furball (though trust me, I was just as bad about my turtle and goldfish too.  Instagram just hadn't been invented yet).  Consider me a cat person for life!

OotD: Bleach

Just a pic spam post today.  Not much really happened.  Ran a few errands, went to dinner with the parents, and got coffee with friends.  Le boyfriend did buy two pairs of replacement sunglasses today.  Hopefully these last longer than his last pair!

 If you have some time, give me some love on my Lookbook.  ;)

OotD: Cosmic Love

I think I've found my new favorite piece of clothing!  The Galaxy Purple Swimsuit from Black Milk Clothing is absolute perfection.  I don't think I've ever had a onepiece bathing suit fit so perfectly.  And it actually covers my ass!

Seriously - if there's one thing I can't stand about bathing suits, it's when they cut across my ass in a funny place and make me look like I have 4 butt-cheeks.  I haaaaaaaate high-cut suits.  But this was PERFECT.  Next time I wear it I'll have to get some pics of the back.

Estel was determined to get in the picture, so I decided to troll him a little.

I actually started the day off with a pink and purple plaid shirt thrown over it, but the weather dropped as the day went on.  Plus, I like it better with the black crop hoodie anyway.

day

night

 Here's what it looks like without anything covering it:

Some of you may have noticed that I've been wearing the La Lune Pendant pretty consistently lately.  I'm a little obsessed with it.  Granted, I love all the jewelry I got from Night Venus, but this piece has become like an extension of me.  It's been a while since I've had a connection to a piece of jewelry like this.  It's quite lovely.

It was a pretty great day as well.  We had some delicious vegan food from a local cafe for lunch.  My black bean and guacamole burger was soooooo good!  I wish I had gotten two.  We puttered around the house for a while after that... at least until it was time to meet our friends at IHOP.  That was the first time in a long time that we had gotten that many of us together all at once.  It was a blast!

Jeanette brought us some lovely souvenirs from her trip to Columbus.  I believe the one I chose was especially poignant given what's currently going on in my life.

We ended the night by all going to my other friends' house for coffee.  They were all watching a DVD of Frozen by the time we got there.  Of course, since their son had already seen it a bazillion consecutive times for the past couple days, it was really the adults who were invested in the movie.  I have to say I really enjoyed it.  And Olaf was a lot less annoying than I assumed he'd be given his character design.  I was bracing myself for a Jar-Jar Binks level of stupidity.  Thank god it did not deliver, haha.  But really, the movie was super cute.  I really liked the characters and loved the whole sisterly love theme.  I was a little disappointed by the other songs though.  They weren't quite on the level of "Let it go" but they were still nice.  And the animation was gorgeous!  I'd like to watch it again sometime without a hyper child trying to teach me ABCs.  :P



Outfit Details

Galaxy Purple Swimsuit by Black Milk Clothing
La Lune Pendant by Night Venus
Black Gemstone Heart Necklace by Night Venus
Black Knit Crop Hoodie by Heavy Red
Black Skinny Jeans by Forever 21
Leather Jacket by Lucky Brand

Plastic Bag of Doom and other non-sense

Why does my cat insist on pawing at things?  Specifically plastic bags, cardboard, paper....  Sometimes he extends his claws slightly to get a certain sound, but he never ever rips the item in question.  WTF?

While attempting to Google this, I came across this page: CatStuff: Why Does a Cat Do That.  Which led me to the most unintentionally obnoxious/hilarious line:

Why do cats like crinkly sounds?
Crinkly sounds are similar to the high-pitched noises of rodents, birds, and crickets, so the crisp, crinkly sound of a crumpled piece of paper or walking into a paper bag stimulates the cat's "prey response."

Hah!  Ha HA.  HAHhahHahAHAha!

Estel might be OK with the crinkly sound when he's pawing at the plastic bag, but goddamn... I can't even unload the groceries without him running in fear.  Getting cookies out of a box can result in my lap getting scratched up as he scrambles to run away from this oh-so-serious threat.  And don't even get me started on keys...  Seriously, we can't even use cat toys if the jingly bells are "too loud."

If these noises, particularly the crinkly sounds, are supposed to mimic his prey then why the fuck is my cat so terrified by them?   What in his past traumatized him so acutely?  Did his former owners do something weird?  Ugh, I wish I knew.

I just want my cat to stop being irrationally terrified of nearly everything...

 and to know why he insists on pawing every box and bag in the apartment.

Cat Stuff

I'm a bit concerned by whatever is going on with Estel's tail.  It's been looking rough.

If you look closely at this crappy picture you can see a little bit of the brown gunk that seems to be secreting from his skin and then clumping in his tail as his fur grows out.  Unfortunately he won't stay still long enough for a close up of the skin in good lighting.

My best guess so far is that he has "stud tail", which doesn't make a whole lot of sense considering that he's been neutered for a bajillion years and this is only something I've noticed for maybe the past year or so.  Another thought it possibly food allergies... though I don't think that would get him to secrete gunk on only the base of his tail.  And as for flea allergies... well, he doesn't have fleas.  Though he did catch them when we first moved to this apartment, but he shouldn't still be having an allergic reaction this long after they were eradicated.

Going back to stud tail though... honestly, stud tail sounds like seborrheic dermatitis for cats and that's what his condition looks like to me - except it's brown instead of the usual yellow/orange in humans.  His fur back there also tends to feel oily and unwashed.  As soon as the weather breaks, he's getting a bath.  And it looks like he's going to be learning to love the cat leash because I think he needs some sunshine (which can really help with seborrheic dermatitis and stud tail).

Merry Christmas!