Tuesday, March 19, 2024
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Daily Photo: The First Catnip Harvest, and More

the first catnip harvest
The first catnip harvest.

My excitement at the first spinach was nothing compared to the first catnip harvest.

It’s been a busy few weeks, largely because of Mewsette! We will be heading for her pre-operative appointment tomorrow for her dental next week. We’ve been going outdoors just about every day and she and Mimi love it, spend time, Mewsette is active and curious, but when we come inside she’s just not as active as usual. She has been steadily losing weight since last summer, and even after she started on medication for hyperthyroid she continues to lose. She’s been losing her appetite, not eating well even when she does, and I’ve been trying to help her with her constipation. The pain she’s experiencing could be her teeth and it could be constipation, and it could be something else. I have taken her to PetWellClinic several times, as you’ll see in the photos below, and blood tests came out pretty normal. I had asked to start a series of Adequan injections to help with the constipation because two years ago those injections immediately brought her relief from her osteoarthritis but this time it doesn’t seem to be working the same way. The past three weeks she’s been showing some signs that might even be liver failure, up and down, and just the past two days pretty much down. I’m a little concerned for what we might find on Tuesday. But then she’s been responsive and eating well on Monday and Monday night.

I’ve also getting ready for an art exhibit as you may have read in New Painting: Witness Purrtection Program, and delivering my art to the gallery, and also visiting with my rescue friend Sally and her kitty Cally. There was a death in my family, my niece’s father, and she and the kids were up here for the visitation and funeral; we spent a lot of time talking things over and remembering. Fifty years ago he was my brother-in-law for about 15 minutes, but taking myself back to the early 70s was a real trip, to say the least. And then I was getting ready for a vendor event this past Sunday at the Pittsburgh Botanic Garden with a lot of my artwork and prints and nature & wildlife gift items for me to prepare and pack and show. A wonderful friend came with me to help me unpack and set up, meet customers and then tear down and pack up and come home. It was a good day, and I am grateful for the income and the help.

So today I spent catching up from last week, and taking care of Mewsette. One thing I’ve learned about cats when they are sick in just about any way: they may not eat or eat well the rest of the day, but it’s something about those very early morning hours that perks them up. Just about 3:00 a.m. Mewsette was feeling better and ate a little bit of three different things and now she’s napping. That’s a natural time of day for them to be active, and it’s actually one of the most active times of their biological day because they are crepuscular, active during the end of nocturnal hours and beginning of diurnal hours, right around dawn, the time most of their prey animals are active, their best time to hunt, and therefore the best time for me to trap. I’m hoping this tides her over until Tuesday afternoon when we see her vet.

So here is what’s been happening since the beginning of April, starting from now and moving backward through the month.

After the catnip.

Cardboard boxes are fun no matter where you find them, especially when the grass is wet and cold in the morning after a light frost. Bonus: Mimi found a small puddle of rainwater that she could drink from. I use the cardboard as a weed barrier in my garden paths. I let it lay around outside softening up in the rain, and also blocking the weeds in the larger section of my garden. And for kitties to play with.

Two out of three cats are unimpressed with my harvest of spinach. Mewsette, on the other paw, loves her greens.

fresh spinach
raindrops
first harvest
earth day

It’s raining, we three are all on the swing on the deck, and Mewsette’s tail is in my coffee. Happy Earth Day!

Awakening.

I’m pretty tired and a little stiff after a few late nights, but out in the backyard this morning there’s so much happening, and soon I found myself crawling around and finding all the cool things unfolding down at the soil level. The macro setting on my cell phone is a little disappointing.

Alone together.

Mimi: Almost 16 years this kitten has been following me everywhere. Finally she decides to strike out on her own.

Even outdoors, Mewsette wants to take a sip of my coffee.

Of course, I discourage this. My coffee is mine.

Mewsette relaxes with a few snacks in the exam room before her exam and third adequan injection at @petwellclinic_scott.

She was busy examining the room, and is pretty happy. We worked with a house call veterinarian from the time she was a kitten, so packing up and going to the veterinarian was a little bit of a frightening experience for her in the past year. But she’s very social, and now that the visits seem a little more routine, she’s curious and purring. She gets gentle and affectionate handling here, and continued good experiences help to make veterinary visits another exciting adventure for her.

That’s a good thing because she’ll have a lot more visits to different veterinarians coming up as we’re working our way through her osteoarthritis and hyperthyroid treatments, and her full dental to help resolve her tooth resorption.

Mewsette browses all the exciting wet foods in another adventure today!

I want to help Mewsette be more relaxed with travel in the car, and it doesn’t hurt to be relaxed being out in public in various situations, so after her vet visit we went to Hollywood Pets in Green Tree to pick up some of her favorite foods and meet some of our friends there. I’ll admit, it also saved me one more trip in a very busy day.

I forgot her harness and leash so I couldn’t let her roam, but she enjoyed riding around in her @sleepypod in the cart. I had it half open, and every so often she would duck back inside and then come back out again. She enjoyed pets and compliments from other patrons and employees.

By the time we were ready to leave, she stepped out of it and walked around on the counter after we had checked out. Another successful adventure. I’ll just have to remember her harness and leash the next time we leave the house.

Meanwhile…

Mimi had a big day. She did NOT want to go inside. Now she’s deeply napping on her cloud bed, and very happy nonetheless.

From skeptically staring, to walking underneath the table where we were sitting, to sitting next to me and looking straight up at me, and then flopping down on the floor, Cally demonstrates on this visit that I am more than acceptable. I’m surprised and honored.

The last time I visited Cally’s human, Cally signaled that I was acceptable by walking through the room and looking at me and then leaving. This time, Cally started out the same way, then stepped under the table where we were sitting together, then sat next to my chair and looked right up at me, and then flopped down on the floor and showed me her belly. I guess I’m in.

It’s good when your friend’s cat likes you. Cally was a community cat for years before her people finally managed to catch her and have her vetted. They kept her indoors because of cold weather and she did pretty well. They loved her so much already and they kept her.

Kitchen’s a mess but I just see eight happy cats enjoying the sun.

It wasn’t as bad as it looked like it was going to be. Really kind of pretty though.

Cat puzzle.

Mewsette enjoys a morning sunbath to warm her arthritic hips.

Don’t worry, she doesn’t chew on the daffodil fronds.

My spinach has a fierce guardian.

Don’t let Mimi’s petite size fool you. She handled intact male cats for the first 4 years of her life, and too many kittens. She means business.

When she’s not outside, which is most of the time, I just have fences and other barriers, and hope for the best.

Forget you? I look forward to your reappearance every spring. It’s not the native species, but I love it anyway.

The busy this week? Finished framing and ready to submit three paintings to the North Hills Art Center’s Art For Animals exhibit. The show benefits Hope Haven Farm Sanctuary! And there’s a new painting in that set that you haven’t seen yet. Details later!

It’s been a long and physically busy week, and it’s nice to take some time for we girls to warm our crackly bones in this wonderful sunshine.

Of course, I’m sitting in the grass because the girls have taken all the space on the wicker settee. I’m trying to not be busy and just enjoy the sunshine, but inspiration comes all the time, especially with these two.

Mimi wants to go outside, Mariposa is watching the birds, and Bella is admiring her shadow. What a beautiful morning, already a clear blue sunny 75°.

The screen door in the basement at backyard level is the closest we come to a #catio, but it works.

Good morning.


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AfterDinnerNap-Etsy

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Mimi in the Laundry Shade, watercolor, 6 x 6 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski
Mimi in the Laundry Shade, watercolor, 6 x 6 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

For once the sun was too much and Mimi moved into the shade of the laundry for her nap. Read more and purchase.



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Bernadette

From health and welfare to rescue and adoption stories, advocacy and art, factual articles and fictional stories, "The Creative Cat" offers both visual and verbal education and entertainment about cats for people who love cats, pets and animals of all species.

5 thoughts on “Daily Photo: The First Catnip Harvest, and More

  • Love that fresh nip! We haven’t planted any yet, that’s not right.

    Reply
  • 15andmeowing

    I will add Mewsette to my prayer list. XO

    Reply
  • mary mcneil

    Sending Mewsette purrayers and Power of the Paw. As they get older, their health is a continuing puzzle.

    Reply

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