Category Archives: Cats

Jim has pretty eyes…

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But what color are they?

Sometimes they look gray, or blue, or green-ish. I kind of like that I can’t exactly figure it out.

I followed a suggestion from Robin G. and bought a can of compressed air (the kind you use to blow out a keyboard). Who knew? Cats really don’t like that sound! Jim gets a shot of air when he bites or does some other bad thing. At this point the can all by itself makes him stop. Thank you, Robin!

Belle has accepted Jim as if he is her very pesky little brother. Mostly she ignores him.

They both sleep a lot… but not next to each other.

New Cat has a name!

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Thank you all for your wonderful suggestions. I liked many of them but, as I said, I was not the decider. Honestly, I might have named him Snert, but last night at a gathering of family and friends someone suggested James Tiberius Cat… Jim for short. Steve said that was it so Jim it is!

Jim already has an Instagram account because Elanor was here to set it up. You can follow him at james.tiberius.cat. I’m sure there will be times when Belle joins him there.

Jim does not hold still for pictures. I have to catch him in between pounces.

He spent the night mostly sleeping with me. When I got up in the middle of the night, so did he. He knows where the litter box is and how to use it—oh happy day! One less thing to worry about. He did want to play before going back to sleep but got over that pretty quickly.

Jim is curious. He decided to smell my coffee this morning before I could stop him, but decided on his own not to try it. Probably a good thing on all counts.

Belle doesn’t love him.

She hisses and spits and puts him in his place if he gets too close but so far, no blood. Jim has demonstrated that he has the good sense to run and hide as needed.

Both cats want to be where I am, or where Steve is when he’s home. It’s odd… I’m used to cats choosing their spaces independent of where I am, mostly because I move around the house so much during the day. Now I have a furry parade in tow a lot of the time. That’s OK except that then everyone has to settle back in when I stop.

As I type this, Jim is sacked out on the desk next to me. He really wanted to be on my keyboard but that is a battle he is not going to win.

It’s amazing to think that a little more than 24 hours ago this cat was a flea-ridden stray. I’d love to know how he is processing this sudden change of fortune inside his little cat brain.

Yes, the universe appears to be listening…

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After our older cat, Dave, went to heaven Steve said one cat (Belle) was enough. But then I asked him what if an orange cat shows up at the door? I had to ask because we both have a long-standiing soft spot for orange cats. Our first cat, Booboo was orange and maybe our best cat ever.

Last night over dinner with friends the question about cats came up again and he said, OK, an orange cat would be fine but I could not go out and get one on purpose. The orange cat would have to find me.

This morning on our usual walk, Laurie and I heard meowing. Lots of loud meowing coming from (you guessed it) a small orange cat who ran out to us and would not go away. That cat walked about a half mile with us and that was that.

I called Steve (who was out on his own walk) to tell him this amazing news and he was not entirely happy… until he met the cat. I wanted an orange cat but I do think that this is really going to be Steve’s cat.

We took him to the vet where we found out he did not have a chip. The silly cat was covered with fleas and had just about every parasite a baby cat would have. Happily, he didn’t test positive for feline leukemia. So, in short order he got a bath, shots, and medicine to kill the fleas and other stuff.

He tolerates the cat carrier which is good. He’ll have to spend time in there when I’m out of the house and Belle is inside.

Belle is not entirely thrilled. She’s keeping an eye on him most of the time. She’s hissed and spit (normal) and chased him once or twice. I’ve told her that she’s still my cat and this new guy is probably for Steve. Not sure if she believes me or not.

New cat is sleeping off the excitement on my desk right now… dead fleas are falling off him like crazy. That makes me happy!

Belle is perched on the other side of the room, considering this disruption in her life. She probably doesn’t remember that she showed up out of the blue herself, starving and in need of a home. Emma and Dave didn’t love her at first either but Dave at least got used to her.

So, new cat needs a name! It’s not totally my call… Steve will have the final say. But feel free to offer suggestions. Soon, before ‘new cat’ sticks :-).

Piece O’ NYC: Our City Cats

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This post is dedicated to the animals I love the most: cats!

When Jeff and I first moved in together, back when we were wee ones in Baltimore, I immediately told him we were getting a cat. Wisely, he didn’t fight me on this. I’m a bit of a cat lady. Most of my friends — ok, ALL of my friends — know that if they spot something cat related to show it to me or get it for me. I’m just one of those crazies.

So, throughout our marriage, Jeff and I have had cats. Sugar, our first cat, sadly passed while she was still a kitten. She was very sweet and loved us both.

Then came Carlton. His full name is Carlton Butterworth Livingston Goldsmith, I. (At the pound his name was “Cookie”…short for Cookie Monster we think…). He was hovering on 17 pounds when we got him, but is now a nice and husky 13 pounds. He’s a gentleman and a scholar, and as his time with us progressed, it became clear that he and Jeff would become the closest of buddies. So that made me feel ‘cat-less.’

Carlton with his buddy, Jeffrey. Probably talking about girls and football...

Carlton with his buddy, Jeffrey. Probably talking about girls and football…

FullSizeRender copy 2Since I’ve never felt right without cat love, I had to get my own. Back to the pound we went, and home we came with Millie, (Millicent Butterworth Goldsmith — if you think these names are funny, wait until you hear what we have in store for our kids one day ;p). Millie is the perfect cat. She’s super sweet and loving, you can leave tons of food out for her and she doesn’t over consume (Carl is a glutton), and she plays with all of her cat toys equally (Carl only likes his princess pillows or squeaky mice). She also plays fetch and does this!

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She’s pretty protective of this quilt… I wouldn’t try to use it while she’s ‘guarding’ it.

FullSizeRenderLiving in tight quarters with two cats does have several challenges, though. There are hair ball nuggets everywhere and no matter what you do, there’s never enough floor space for all of Millie’s toys or for Carl to lay out on. We have random corners where Carl has to have his cat bed — he’s big enough that instead of cat beds, we get him small dog beds. Plus, our litterbox is an eye sore. Jeff and I can totally see why many people here have dogs. (Jeff has never had a dog or puppy, but one day I totally plan on getting him one. One day when we have that house we’ve always dreamed of…).

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NYC is interesting for cats. Millie loves our high rise view and I know Carlton’s happy just as long as you feed him on time. Some people in this city walk their cats in strollers, and we’ve seen cats on leashes in the park. I really think Carlton could be down with this, but Millie is too much like a dog. She’d want to explore.
When Jeff and I talk about our marriage, we immediately think of the cats we’ve had during that time in our lives. For example, it was Sugar who comforted me as I scrolled through bridal magazines looking for DIY wedding ideas, but it was Carlton who moved with us to a new apartment in Baltimore as a married couple. Aren’t pets just the greatest?!

Piece O’ NYC: Romancing the Weekend

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There are a lot of weekdays when Jeff and I get home really late from work and school. We often feel like we don’t have enough time to connect and it can feel like we’re more married to our work than to each other — even when we do have time during the week, it’s used to run errands, clean the house, or do all the other little things that build up at the house (a major reason we started up Blue Apron was to save time and headache). I guess this is what you go through during this stage of life, but boy is it distressing sometimes. Honestly, the weekend should have three days and not just two…

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We should probably put down our phones during brunch, huh?

But in efforts to keep the romance alive, Jeff and I try to do fun and special things together. We have a great city to take advantage of, so it should be easy right? Sometimes it is, and sometimes we really just want to chill and veg out on the couch with our cats. Lately we’ve been going for long walks and runs in Central Park. A few times, we’ve tried a new brunch spot we’ve never been to and consumed copious amounts of fun brunch cocktails. Last weekend, we went to the only Cat Cafe in NYC, Meow Parlour — leave it to me to find something to do with cats during “us” time ;p. The upside was that Meow Parlour also has a patisserie down the street that sells cat shaped macarons…and they were yummy!
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This is Carlton, our own cat. He always needs a little weekend romance too.

Another day we went to the Whitney Museum. Jeff loves modern and abstract art and, though I’m not a huge fan of modern art, I loved the new museum. It’s in a great location and is down the street from ‘bruffins‘, so I was content to visit with a pit stop along the way. If you visit the Whitney, get lunch at Bubby’s afterwards and go for a stroll on the High Line. Bubby’s had an amazing corn salsa that we tried and we will definitely be replicating this weekend.

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Nice views at the Whitney Museum, no?

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Since we know that as soon as the academic year commences, and our stress levels elevate, Jeff and I are on a serious mission to try as many new brunch spots and new things together! Gotta keep the romance alive! Do you and your partner do anything special to connect or reconnect? We’re all ears!

And now there are two…

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Our eldest cat, Emma, went to heaven this morning. At least, I expect that she did. She was, after all, a meek and mild cat, hardly ever mean.

Emma is in the middle between Belle (front) and Dave (back).

Emma is in the middle between Belle (front) and Dave (back).

I think I’ve written before that Belle (in front) showed up starving and sweet-tempered. As she got stronger, she changed and ended up chasing the other cats out of the house.

Emma decided to live the back yard. Truthfully, the space has a pool with growies around it, rather than being a ‘yard’, but Emma had a very nice set-up in the shed. She loved lying in the pool chairs, moving with the sun. I think she enjoyed her 1 1/2 years of being the primary owner of the space.

About 2 weeks ago I noticed that she was very thin. We took her to the vet who ran tests but at the $400 mark the best he could say was she probably had cancer and it was a toss-up as to what he could do from there. I didn’t think that Emma was up for extensive cancer treatments so we took her home with extra-special food and did what we could to make her happy. Since Emma ‘happy’ looks like Emma napping, it was not hard to do. She was still a little perky then, looking happy to be alive.

I got home Sunday from California and Emma had lost more weight, she had not been eating at all, and she no longer looked perky. So, this morning, Steve and I took her in to have her… put to sleep? euthanized? killed? The words are tricky.

I’m not one for dressing up words for death. We all die, and that’s the word I usually use. It is to be hoped that we end up in a happy place, but that happens after we do the dying part. However, with that thought in mind, the phrase ‘passed on’ makes more sense. I’ve never particularly liked it, but that sums up what happened with Emma today. She passed on from this existence to the next.

We got a little teary-eyed but Dr. Locke assured us that we did the right thing. A mass had grown on her back in the space of a week and he said that whatever she had, he would not have been able to stop it. She never seemed to be in pain and the process went very smoothly. She seemed happy—or at least not unhappy. There are so many worse ways to go.

Emma is now planted in the front yard near Spike and Walter. I miss seeing her at the back door but she will live on in our memories.

Now it’s Dave’s who has a problem. It’s not a lethal problem, but he’s losing the hair on his face. Dr. Locke thinks it’s an allergic dermatitis. If Dave could see himself, he’d be very unhappy—but he can’t see himself! There are times when it’s nice to be blissfully unaware of circumstances you cannot change, don’t you think?