Cat Nap

Just as a follow up to the cute cat story, here are some even cuter sleepy cat photos. Not having had felines in my life before, I didn't know the truth behind the phrase "cat nap". Schrodinger can seemingly sleep anywhere in any position!

He's really asleep, not just looking at something!

I guess an exhausting day of paperwork at the office wears us all out!

My Hero

It's a bird; it's a plane; no, it's Jeff to the rescue!

I had just picked up Schrodinger from the vet following his neutering surgery. Since animals have to go under anesthesia on an empty stomach, he hadn't eaten for over twenty-four hours. Our little guy was pretty ravenous and devoured dinner. He still wanted more, so we gave him a little extra dry food and went back to cooking our own dinner. That's when we heard the strange, high pitched wheezing noise. We ran back in to see Dinger apparently choking on a piece of kibble. Jeff gave him several firm compressions around the ribcage and abdomen, and finally out flew the offending morsel. Heidi quickly gobbled it up, so poor Dinger lost his testicles and his tidbit all in the same day!

I was pretty proud of Jeff! Who knew the Heimlich maneuver worked on felines? Now, Jeff wanted it made clear that he did not give mouth-to-mouth resuscitation to a cat. All that was required was some quick wit and some manly squeezes!

Cat Chat

What is in that tummy? Jeff and I know Schrodinger has been killing a lot of rodents lately. Mostly mice, as we have seen him toying with them in the backyard (or "the killing fields", as Jeff calls them now ;-). I hate the method, but it's a necessity with a barn, shop, animal feed, and pet bedding around. Mice and rats are just part of country life. Dinger did get a baby chipmunk the other day, which we rescued twice, but eventually the cat prevailed.

I wondered what was becoming of all the carcasses, but we finally learned their fate today. We were doing some gardening and saw Dinger catch, kill, and consume a large field mouse from start to finish. It was horrible, but that is the present nature of animals. I was just amazed that he really ate the entire thing, with the exception of what appears to be the stomach. He has left those on our door mat two or three times already. It's either the best part he's gifting to us, or, being a cat, likely the worst part he doesn't want to eat!

Soft Kitty, Warm Kitty

Soft kitty, warm kitty,
Little ball of fur.
Happy kitty, sleepy kitty,
Purr, purr, purr.

If you're a fan of Big Bang Theory, you'll recognize Sheldon's "sick" song. Well, we have a warm, sleepy kitty, but he's sick, himself! Oh, the irony of singing the comfort song about a cat to an unwell cat!



Poor Schrodinger has a high fever. He hasn't been himself the last day or two, and he was noticeably lethargic today. I was quite worried, probably because DaVinci's serious decline was prefaced by marked lethargy. Not that those two things are in any way related; but I was so worried when the kitten didn't want to play with any of his toys, barely got up to greet us in the mornings, and spent every moment sleeping.

He's only been ours for two and a half weeks, but he feels like such a fixture already! So Jeff recommended we take him to the vet, where they ran blood work and ruled out the worst case scenarios. In the end, it's probably just an infection, but the fever was high enough to warrant antibiotics and an anti-inflammatory. I hate pumping that tiny body full of drugs, but I've never found a holistic veterinarian or pet naturopath. As Jeff said, their's is just a physiochemical existence, so now Schrodinger is just a little bit heavier on the "chemical" part!

Googled

Look who Google is featuring today on their decal! It's the physicist Erwin Schrödinger, of all people!



What timing, since our little Schrödinger is very much alive and kicking. He's growing so much, and such a sweet, purring cuddle-bug is he. We'll still encourage him to earn his keep in the shop by controlling the mouse population by night, but he's become quite a fixture in my lap by day! Who knew cats could be so personable?

He loves to be cradled in one arm and stroked on the belly and chin. His little paws stretch up and alternately flex and stretch, kneading the air while staring into my eyes and purring. He's really, really hard to resist, and even Jeff has taken to carrying him around like a baby.

Itty bitty kitty

He's suppose to be a barn car (shop cat, really, I suppose, but same thing). But at the moment, he's a bit afraid of the chickens, so he's in the study with me ;-)

Our good friend's wonderful cat had kittens, and they were originally all spoken for. But this little guy went home with a boy who turned out to be allergic. We've been talking about an outside cat for a while, so we offered to take him. I just got him this afternoon so he doesn't have a name yet, but it will likely be Schrodinger. For all you readers a little fuzzy on your physics and quantum theory, here is a brief (though macabre) explanation of the appellation!