Daily Photo: Mr. Sunshine Wants to Drive the Car!

“So when do I get to drive the car?”

To celebrate Take Your Cat to the Vet Day on August 22, I took Mr Sunshine to the vet.

I had posted on August 20 about a UTI and some other concerns. I got him on amoxicillin along with his regular medications and supplements. His fever disappeared and he was peeing just fine, but he lost his appetite and was lethargic and kind of miserable and even vomited a little bit of liquid and foamy stuff almost everyday.

I kept him supported with fluids but it seems like he is one of the occasional cats who doesn’t get along well with amoxicillin.

We went to PetWellClinic where a urine culture showed no real sign of an infection, some gunk in his ears, and he lost about a half a pound.

We decided to stop the antibiotic for now and I put the first dose of appetite stimulant on his ear as soon as we got home. Hopefully he will eat some dinner tonight (he did, a little) and start to feel better as I continue to monitor his urination and take his temperature for any signs of infection.

In the meantime he demonstrated his driving experience by looking in all directions.

I thought I had shared this news with you last week, but the last two weeks of renovations really pushed us all around a bit. It was weird for me to not have a bathroom…but while my fine felines have been very cooperative with the ins and outs of their safety during the work, they were really kind of over it when the bathroom went overtime and finally finished on Thursday August 24 at 6:00 p.m. I completely lost track of what day it was and blog posts I’d planned to write and just focused on keeping the cats feeling safe and happy and moving things around to accommodate the last unexpected last-minute things.

I’ll have more news about that in another post, but in the meantime Mr. Sunshine is definitely feeling better, though it took him a couple of weeks from this vet visit. I had him on the appetite stimulant, anti-emetic and antacid and tracked his habit and consumption of food. He was hungry, but only at a couple of bites, then left his dish. So I left his dish out near enough to him and over about a week I could see he was nibbling then having bites frequently enough that he was finishing his portion before the next meal. After this Labor Day holiday I plan to take him for another veterinary visit just to see what’s up and how I can best keep him comfortable.

But in an upcoming post you’ll see his new adventure!

I have a couple of other posts coming up with more updates about what they heck we’ve been doing for the past two weeks.

From around this date in past years

Here I Am! 2022

Sienna fits purrfectly behind the side of the wardrobe as she basks on the windowsill. That means she pops out like a cat-in-the-box when she wants to let me know she’s there and ready for pets! Of course, I had to capture some photos of her first, with those glowing golden eyes!

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From Instagram

Still life with black cat and lunch preparations. Bella has such a sense of composition.

We all know we get all the attention when we mess with your artwork. In addition, I plan to steal your tools. Mr Sunshine is my engineer cat, and he thinks my tools are appropriate enrichment items. Who is going to argue with that expression?

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From the back yard and beyond

Reach out. A grapevine can only grow, flourish and produce by finding the support it can hold onto in all the things around it.

It’s been a busy week for my artwork! Along with working on a couple of commissioned works and getting ready for Rock the Quarry and Seasons on the Panhandle Trail, I dropped off submissions to the North Hills Art Center annual members’ exhibit. Read more here.

From around this date in past years

Sienna Caught My Mouse! 2020

This is what happens when your office cat gets bored with what you’re doing! She catches your mouse! And then she has a good laugh.

Sienna loves to occupy my desk. Some days I don’t get much done but pet her. But that’s how it’s supposed to be, right?

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From Instagram

A little bit of early morning bird watching really perks up the appetite for breakfast.

My computer monitor has whiskers.

Is that our next food ordering the porch? Would you mind bringing that in before it gets rained on?

From the backyard and beyond

Sunflowers, now and in the future.

Any sunflower makes me smile, open, bright yellow, sunny. I walked past a little colony of them in the woods back in July and took a lot of photos. You can also visit my photo blog, Today.

Lovely flowers for fresh or dried autumn bouquets, fresh from the farm. Statice, amaranth and more, so many colors and shapes, so many ideas. I stopped at @bednersfarmmarketusc for my produce again, so much to see.

A little undecided today, are we?

First blush.

From around this date in past years

Indoor Cat Traps, 2019

It’s one way to be sure I can get something done: put a couple of boxes somewhere and miraculously the cats who really want to help me with my cooking are having a nice bath in preparation of sleep or are already fast asleep. Even just those little shallow boxes from a case of food work wonders.

I had placed two at the end of my table so I could use the cabinet and suddenly they were the place to be, and cats were waiting in line to have a nap in them. Eventually Sienna found one and Mimi found the other, and they were the last of the household to be trapped.

From Instagram

Mr. Sunshine cleverly uses tools positioning his belly under the little personal fan in the window.

They have such a sense of design, quietly arranging themselves in a graceful curving fan. Mr. Sunshine, Mewsette, Giuseppe, Basil.

Photos from years past

Daily Photo: Quiet Afternoon Nap, 2018

A morning of watching birds is really exhausting. Bella had to get away for a nice quiet nap upstairs at the window on the landing.

She is cleverly acting as if she is ignoring me, but keeping an eye on me all the same. That human with the camera thinks Bella doesn’t notice her.

From Instagram

A woodpecker! House finches, sparrows and chickadees too! Hamlet had a hard time focusing on breakfast when the programs on CatTV were so good first thing.

It’s a good idea to keep a box of spare cats at your desk, just in case.

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What other photos have I shared on or around this date?

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Well, it IS a Bathtub, 2017

Nothing like a nice bath in the tub on a sunny morning.

Giuseppe does this nearly every day, sunny or not, and sometimes other times of the day—I hear him running up the steps and then he leaps from the bathroom doorway onto the edge of the tub and then into the tub.

One evening it had to happen…my bathwater was not entirely drained out and he jumped into about an inch of water in the bottom of the tub. He leaped out and ran back down the stairs shaking his paws and spent about five minutes telling everyone what an awful thing had happened to him. But it didn’t stop him the next time.

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From Instagram

Please, ma’am, I want more.

Jelly Bean, Mr. Sunshine and Basil re-enact a scene from Oliver Twist, with Mr. Sunshine playing the lead role.

Unhappy Laundry Girls

It’s raining so Mimi and Mewsette can’t go outside this morning.

Basil Meets His Namesake

Someone has to supervise my lunch, and Basil had a few questions.

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What other photos have I shared on or around this date?

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Four at the Door, and More, 2015

Morning gathering at the basement door, Giuseppe, Charm, Mewsette and Bella. I love the silhouettes. Looks like there’s probably a bird on my rocker.

Below, looks like Mewsette and Charm are having a little conversation—I’ve seen those two spending time together around the house.

There are those kitty butts as they look out the door—that’s what I see from the top of the stairs. I’ve always loved to look down the steps and see the cats lined up, all through the generations.

I have some catching up to do! I finally have my studio computer hooked up to my in-house wifi again, after several resets and a service boost from Comcast. Now I can spend part of my computer time in a different chair, and even stand up to work if I want to, so I can get back to setting up my posts, writing stories and editing photos, plus answering comments. I just can’t spend that much time at the computer in my office any more. Twenty years in the same corner of the room!

I have been experimenting with using Instagram and posting photos on Facebook, so I’m including all the ones I’ve shared in the past few days. I’ve been letting the kittens out to play in the first and second floors (not the basement), and I have exciting news about an adoption, but I’ll keep that for later this week! In the meantime…

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Today’s photos from Instagram and Facebook

Missy got quite the greeting today! First Charm occupied her for head scritches and then Giuseppe, Bean and Sunshine decided the interloper couldn’t get all the attention. Missy was instrumental in rescuing Charm and helping find and trap Charm’s kittens back in May. Thanks so much for the food donation, Missy!

Missy was the person who contacted me last year about Charm and Scarlett, and then met Jenn and helped her rescue the two cats and got us all together; she also set up a feeding station for stray and feral cats and TNRd a few even before that as soon as her company moved into the neighborhood. She also kept in touch with me about seeing Charm and kittens after Charm had moved them, watching from her office window in her company’s building across the street. She also donated the baby gate when Charm had escaped, which was the best thing EVER, and the little fan I have in there as well as toys and food, and visited to help socialize Charm’s kittens. People like Missy who can’t foster cats make it very possible for people like me to foster. Thanks so much, Missy!

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Photos from Instagram and Facebook August 10

Today’s office manager/feline paperweight–Theodore! Theo is about five months old, silver gray domestic medium hair, neutered and UTD on vaccines and ready to manage your home office. Dude loves to type! He’ll take care of all your correspondence! Even if no one understands it!

Charm has fully embraced the concept of being a “happy housecat”. No more escapes! She doesn’t even consider going out the door. She might miss a meal, or some food she could try to steal! Now that she has adjusted well she’ll be looking for her very own forever home, one she doesn’t have to share with ten resident cats and foster kittens…especially those kittens.

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Photos from Instagram and Facebook August 9

Charm was enjoying a nice nap and—OMG, IS THAT A KITTEN?!!

Another generation of little ninjas for Giuseppe to mentor.

Alvina, Simon and Theodore discovered a few new channels on Cat TV today.

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Photos from Instagram and Facebook August 7

Working in the studio with cats. Mewsette asks if I need some assistance.

“Human refuses assistance so I will shun her,” Mewsette says. What I don’t need is black cat hairs on my white mat board.

“Look, she can’t even do math in her head, she has to write it down.” (It’s true.)

What big noise? We didn’t hear any big noise in here. (Simon says.)

Girls. A little big sister time with Mewsette for Charm and Bella.

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Photos from Instagram and Facebook August 6

“Morning Watch”. Bean, Mimi, Sunshine and Giuseppe having their first morning nap on my desk. They were all sleeping but I had to back up my chair to get them all in one photo, and woke them up. Poor kitties.

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Office cat says I need to sit down and get to work. And that work is providing a lap for her. My that Sienna is getting bold, and what a talented model too, providing us all with this unique photo! Read more and purchase.

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