Nipoholic!

My sweet little boy has a problem.

He has discovered cat nip and he loves it!

For Christmas, Riley got some toys that contained catnip. He is crazy for the stuff.

Here he is with a new scratching post that is infused with catnip.

Merry Christmas!

Wishing all critters great and small the merriest of Christmases.

Peace and love to all!

Buster

It was one year ago today that our sweet Buster was diagnosed with VAS - vaccine associated sarcoma http://www.vas-awareness.org/. It eventually took his life in March of this year.
We were devastated when we found out. We had never heard of this disease. We kept hoping against hope that the lump on his back was something that could be cured or fixed - a fatty tumor, an infection, a dislocation - anything but what it was - an aggressive cancer caused by the vaccines that were supposed to keep him healthy and safe. I can't tell you the guilt I felt thinking I had caused this in him. I urge all cat owners to be aware of this and to discuss this possibility with your vet before deciding about vaccinations.

1995 - 2008

It's only been nine months since Buster passed away and we miss him so much.
I hope to share some stories about him with you but today I'm just missing him.
Rest in peace, my baby.

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree, O pathetic little Christmas Tree...

I had to redecorate the tree this morning. I found Riley chewing on the doo-hickey that the ornament hangers hook into. One of them had come loose from one of the Christmas balls he was batting around and he had it in his mouth. He knew he wasn't supposed to, either. As soon as I saw what he was doing I grabbed for it and he tried to dash away with it.

So, since that's a potential choking hazard, I took all the balls down and packed them away. The tree looked awful. So, I dug out some other decorations I had used in years past when the other cats were younger. I saw a tree in a magazine that year that had pointsettias used as decorations. I had gotten a bunch of silk ones from the local craft shop and they didn't look too bad - that year. Now, they are kind of flattened from being packed away and I still can't have anything on the two lower branches because Riley grabs everything that's within his reach.

The tree looks kind of sad complete with lop-sided angel. But it IS Riley's First Christmas. He'll only be a kitten once.

And that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Javelinas!

Riley saw his first javelinas this morning and boy, was he interested. He's actually the one who alerted me that they were outside my office window. For those of you who don't live in Arizona, javelinas are the weirdest creatures. http://www.desertusa.com/magnov97/nov_pap/du_collpecc.html

I shot some pictures through the window and since javelinas are nocturnal, the lighting wasn't the best but you can still see them pretty well. They were after the bird seed from the feeder outside my window.

There was even a tiny baby in the group. He's at the end of the arrow [click pictures for a larger view - hit "back" button to return to this page].

Kitty up a tree

Frankly, I wonder what took him so long.

I took all the garland off this morning. Half of it was off anyway and I read that it's not good for cats to eat it. Good thing I bought all those unbreakable ornaments because Riley likes them. They roll so well. Oh, well, we expected this. He's only a kitten once.

O Christmas Tree

I expected Riley to climb the tree but so far he hasn't tried that. He is fascinated with the balls and garland, though. Luckily, I thought ahead and bought a bunch of unbreakables. So far, I've had to redecorate the bottom row of branches three times.