Mimi and Mewsette Monday: Adventures in the Neighbor’s Yards, 2017

March 23, 2017, a pretty nice-looking morning and just right for adventures. That seems to be when Mewsette joined Mimi pretty regularly, and while I’d had Mimi on a leash now and then, Mewsette had been fine staying right with either Mimi or me. But as the weather grew nicer she started on her own little adventures, and with Mimi doing the same and often both in different directions, it was leash time for both for the next several years.

Mewsette is wearing her purple harness and leash which I somehow misplaced several years later and just recently found while sorting boxes—I was so happy to see it again with all its memories. But Mewsette was not happy about it on this particular day, I can see by how she’s crouched, and in fact did not join Mimi for adventures and probably wanted to go back inside because I have no other photos of her. Later her need to be out there and with her mom won over her discomfort with the thing on her back.

Below, Mimi begins her adventures by leading me down into our side yard and next-door neighbor’s yard where the trunk of our tree had fallen the previous July. She HAD to go and walk on it and do all sorts of cat things, like rub her face and have a good scratch, because it was her tree.

Back up in the yard she visits her other tree, the recumbent mulberry that she climbed all the time up until her last days, sometimes joined by Mewsette and later by Mr. Sunshine and Giuseppe. When you’re as short as Mimi any little bit of height is an advantage. But she has spied a magic portal…

Hmmm…what’s this? It’s the roots of the tall maple and tulip tree in our neighbor’s yard, full of lots of smells. A big branch had flattened my fence back there and I hadn’t had a chance to put it back up. That became one of the reasons for a leash on Mimi because she’d been heading for this area. Now I could let her walk into it because she was attached to me.

Look at that! Another yard to explore!

And off we go. Apparently Mimi kept me pretty busy because that’s where the photos end. Eventually Mewsette did join her in this, and I always loved it when either of them walked through what felt like a magic portal into a land of more sunshine and green grass.

Later, Mimi must have worn herself out and found Giuseppe in the yellow basket, curling herself into a tiny ball on top of him on one side, then Bean would have joined them also on top of Giuseppe because why not? My basket overfloweth.

 

Below, Mimi had managed to and celebrate the forsythia one more time and recover from a major urinary tract infection that started after Mr. Sunshine had died and she was without her four best friends. I could see how hard that was on her, and her at finding the strength and the will to go on was truly Herculean for little five-pound Mimi who then went on to resume her regular activities, support me through my gall bladder surgery recovery and inspire me to rebuild my garden over the next four months. 

 

From around this date in past years

Mimi’s Weekend Veterinary and Back Yard Adventures, 2024

I knew it was only a matter of time until Mimi discovered the three chairs just past the vegetable garden as part of her back yard adventures. She is curious and not much gets past her!

Despite the fact that Mimi also went to veterinary urgent care over the weekend (more on that below) she can’t pass up a sunny afternoon in the back yard. She kept wanting to go outside and, well, I couldn’t pass it up either.

 

She enjoyed walking back and forth from one chair to the next and checking the view. I enjoyed taking photo after photo. We work well together.

Hi! This is pretty fun. I know you want a good photo of me but I’m just not going to hold still for very long. (Well, sometimes we work well together.)

She did like the middle chair for quite a few poses, but really just enjoyed walked on them and rubbing her face on them. They belong to her now!

Mimi’s visit to veterinary urgent care

Hello from Rivers Veterinary Urgent Care! Mimi and I made a little visit there Saturday.

She’s been experiencing a lot of pain over the past couple of days and we really couldn’t wait until Monday to see what was up. She’ll probably need an ultrasound eventually but for now we’re definitely going to try another antibiotic and some other pain relief efforts and possibly some special foods for renal issues to keep her comfortable. It’s really been hard to keep up with and an emergency visit was unexpected, so if you want to help us out any little bit would help. Venmo @Bernadette-Kazmarski, PayPal @bernadettekazmarski1

Let’s hope for a day free from emergencies! (So far, so good)

Later Saturday…

Sleepy Mimi is home after a big day.

This urinary tract issue has been with her for almost a decade. There’s a good possibility it’s antibiotic resistant.

There’s also a small possibility that she actually has a growth of some sort somewhere in her bladder, kidneys or urinary tract. Only an ultrasound, which can also look for possible pancreatitis, will tell us for sure.

So for now we’re going to try a new antibiotic and modify some of the pain treatments so that she has more support.

She lost about a half of a pound, and when you’re only 5 lb that’s a significant amount of your total weight.

She also has renal issues creeping up that need to be taken care of, which we’d already discussed with her regular vet, and I’ve been preparing for.

But for now she’s home and we’ll see what stepping up pain meds and palliative measures along with a new antibiotic do for her.

I can tell you that Mimi will not be taken down easily. She’s tough, that little girl.

And on a sunny Sunday and Monday, and a rainy morning today!

 

 

From around this date in past years

Multitasking Sunbathing Supurrvisor, 2023

Mimi kept a watchful eye on me, or at least had her little face turned in my direction as she was also sunbathing on her wicker chair, while I toiled in the garden on Sunday. The sun and temperatures were warmer in the morning! We enjoyed a good bit of outdoor time the past few days but we’re going to bundle up for the next few days. Today we’re having snow showers and flurries. She wasn’t interested in outdoors today until afternoon, and even then she went out on the deck, stopped, and turned to give me a betrayed look. Somehow it’s always my fault.

Here’s what I was working on—cleaning the leaves and grass and even gravel and construction materials from last summer from my bricks!

That may not seem like the most important thing around, but I have fond memories of a lot of cats out there and that’s especially important for me to preserve right now. Here are a few photos of what it looked like before I cleaned it over the past few months.

I also undertook that clean-off because there’s immediate gratification involved, and to finalize my basement space and shed space I need to clean out under the deck and organize it so that I can store some of the things that can be in outdoor temperatures, like my bins of canning jars and even bins of usable packaging and small boxes I keep for shipping orders taking up space in the basement. That means taking everything out from under the deck when it’s not precipitating somehow and setting it on something that’s preferably dry and somewhat level.

Mimi checks my work. I’m not sure how much she minds walking on the bricks when they are grass- and moss-covered and have wet leaves on them, but the bricks get nice and warm with just a little bit of sun, and she likes that.

I also need to get more shelves in under there and cover the soil with bricks or other non-wood materials to keep the moisture a little farther away from things. I had it this way for years until the groundhogs started excavating under there, even excavating under the floor and tossing the bricks out of the way. After rebuilding it twice I gave up, but I really need this storage space so I’m also working on groundhog entry points and such.

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From Instagram

So after all that work…

Eight actual cat beds and a five-level cat tree in this photo, but my bathrobe falls on the floor and suddenly it’s the Best.Catbed.Ever. A parade of catnaps all afternoon. Happy #caturday!
 

From around this date in past years

Outdoor Fun and a Vet Visit With Mewsette, 2023

This post from 2023 is from just before she started declining and was probably her last great day out in the yard; she was just not as active or energetic after this, and no more rolls on the concrete. But I want to share it with joy because we had so much fun, and I’ll remember it forever.

Mewsette certainly has her full attention focused on something out in the yard. I would not want to be that thing, even if I was the six-point buck who visits our yards. Luckily Mewsette is a peace-loving kitty, as she lets me know when I ask her who will be her next victim since all she’s ever chased is a butterfly.

Aside from having a blast outside in the back yard on the sunny and warm days lately, I’ve noticed Mewsette has not gained back any of the weight she lost prior to her diagnosis with hyperthyroid disease. Her appetite was never the ravenous hyperthyroid appetite I’ve seen, not any more than it was ravenous all her life. Mewsette has always loved her food and I always gave her a little extra but watched her weight. I had to be careful to make sure she didn’t steal any of Mimi’s when she was finished with her own. But her appetite was moderating last year at about the time Mr. Sunshine had been diagnosed with not-cancer, and as soon as he was in the clear I made an appointment for Mewsette. Now she gets her felimazole but her appetite is still not robust, and she needs a dental to take care of the tooth resorption and and cleaning. Her teeth are painful and the gabapentin seems to affect her in a way that appears like nausea. I work with the pain meds and famotidine to get the best balance, feed her as much extra as I can, but still no weight gain.

I had planned to take her to her regular veterinarian last month until Morty’s urinary obstruction came up. I was concerned enough about her on Thursday that I decided to take her to PetWellClinic on Friday where she would get an exam and blood tests and I could probably find out a good bit. Below, veterinary technician Angel works his kitty magic to keep Mewsette calm as Taylor prepares for her blood draw.

I don’t take for granted that because she’s so friendly here she won’t be a little frightened away from here. Though these are the cats who greet people at the door and stay with them for attention I realized when I took Mewsette to her vet last August that, because we had a house call vet for all their lives, she hadn’t been anywhere in a car since she was spayed 15 years before. So we eased her into this and petted her and let her walk around during the discussion so that by the time Dr. Sudberg saw her she’d hold still long enough for an exam (but purred loudly), and then later for her blood draw. They couldn’t draw from her neck, so a little scruff to get her to lie down, then lots of petting to keep her there. She was a good girl even with the needles and things.

In addition to the blood draw she received her first of another series of Adequan shots for her osteoarthritis and came home with a bottle of Dasuquin. We will go back on Tuesday for the next, and talk to Dr. Sudberg about her blood tests.

They were able to post the test results to Mewsette’s account for me to see but they were closed by the time I was able to log in and look at them. There’s nothing too alarming or life-threatening but she’ll need some medication adjustments and some intensive care to get her appetite back to normal and gain weight, and she really needs that dental sooner rather than later—that one thing will make a huge difference for her.

Here is Mewsette earlier this week enjoying one of her thermonuclear treatments on warm concrete.

 

And then she practices her elegant walk along the top board of the woodpile.

 

I’m so glad I was able to clean up the upper portion of my garden because the two of them love it. It’s the sunniest area of the yard and there are just enough things to walk and scratch and nap on that they are fully occupied—especially when a sparrow starts singing in the forsythia and they are both on alert.

And Mewsette asks if we really need to go in. I’m not the one to ask because I don’t want to go in either!

The video and all of these photos were also from this past week. She’s feeling okay, but there are times she feels distinctly un-okay. She is not interested in therapeutic foods and supplements, but I’m hoping Mirataz changes that. I’ve been cooking foods for them so I can add to those, but she is most interested in Fancy Feast. That’s fine, I can keep it on hand for her.

I knew this was coming as they reached 15 years old last year, but Mr. Sunshine cleaned out the savings I’d put by. As always, if you would like to help me with veterinary costs, which would include four dentals for all four of them, and Giuseppe and Jelly Bean haven’t had their senior exams yet at all. Morty still needs prescription foods until I can get him back to the veterinarian for some blood tests so we can find out more about his particular condition, and all of them need to eat.

• Consider a Custom Pet Memorial Votive for yourself or a family member or friend. Remember that they don’t actually have to be memorials—a votive with someone’s pet on it while they are very much alive is also a nice custom gift!
• Visit www.PortraitsOfAnimals.net. I’ve been preparing my basement studio for handmade goods but it will be a couple weeks before I start stocking things, but look around in my Handmade Gifts Gallery.
• I have four Stained Glass Cats small votives which I now offer with string lights in addition to an LED votive for your choice of lighting.
• I still have plenty of feline garden flags, though I’m currently out of a few designs.
• I have one of each of the Tortie Girls block prints and one of Awakening, all are matted and framed.

If you have any questions, please let me know! And thanks for any help.

 

 

 

 

From around this date in past years

Mewsette With Daffodils, 2022

Mewsette supurrvises from my back while I lie on the ground to photograph the daffodils from ground level.

We had a great time with the daffodils this afternoon. I’ve been getting ready for the event this weekend but I like to take an afternoon break, and Mimi and Mewsette agree.

Mewsette sleeps on me so settling on me while I’m lying on the ground was just like normal. She was happy to check out the daffodils while I photographed them, and above you can see Mimi’s silhouette up on the picnic table, probably glad for once it was Mewsette and and not her who had to pose with the pretty flowers.

I was a little shocked at how muddy I was when I got up, but it all comes out in the wash. Back to work!

Mewsette gets the last word!

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From Instagram

Mariposa basks at the furnace vent

Mariposa is basking in front of the furnace vent, the warm air blowing her fur around, and air kneading with her paws. Quite a difference from the abandoned house she grew up in. This is the life.

Last week and over the weekend, getting ready for my Saturday event.

Quality control for my Bella dish towels. Getting ready for the event tomorrow. Everything must be scrutinized by at least one feline, preferably more. Sewing eyes on the dishtowels I printed. Do your dishtowels have eyes?

Sometimes their help is, well…

My display at the Pet Search Spring 2022 Art, Craft and Vendor Show. The event went well and was fun, lots of sharing stories and talking to other creative people, crowd was good even though it snowed all day.

Hamlet is wondering why Sienna is in his favorite crawl space on top of the boxes on top of the shelves between the rafters next to the furnace vent in the basement, but this morning Sienna got there first, and it looks like she means business. Who will win this prized cozy spot on a blustery, snowy spring day?

From the garden and beyond

I’m really ready for spring, but the snow squalls were really spectacular over the weekend.

 

From around this date in past years

Lunchtime Fun With Giuseppe, 2021

Just having a little lunch time fun in the kitchen with Giuseppe. We play a little treat game in the middle of the afternoon for enrichment and extra food for Giuseppe. It’s really fun for both of us! He doesn’t always have to wear the yellow striped bib because he has to be able to run and jump for his treats, but he’ll suffer a small indignity for his treats.

I shared this photo last week and everyone really enjoyed it, so I decided to feature Giuseppe rather than stash him down in the Instagram section. He puts up with a lot from me when I get in a silly mood. He doesn’t look like it, but he loves it. You can’t hear him purring.

Off and on for the past couple of years Giuseppe has had some GI issues, vomiting foam and liquid before and between meals, and losing some weight. He was not lethargic, but not his usual active self. Since my veterinarian retired I’ve been talking to a few other veterinarians, but even with that there is a wait for an appointment, and trying to figure out what the problem is could be several appointments. My former veterinarian and I talked on the phone regularly as part of care, rather than scheduling multiple appointments, and that was one of the things I appreciated most about working with her. But Dr. Michelle gave Giuseppe some treatments and then I decided on a few things that would help in between. We decided that if he improved, we could wait for an appointment.

Giuseppe has always wanted more attention than his siblings. He needs to feel special, and sometimes with nine other cats he doesn’t feel so special. He could be a little reactive, even with his mom and his siblings, and I recognize that in his demeanor. Add to that the GI issues and possible nausea, stomach and intestinal cramps and just general unease, and we had a number of things to work on, including some supplements and adding an extra meal.

I am not a big fan of the red dot, but when I used to play with them with it Giuseppe was obsessed. It’s on a keychain, so any time he would hear the little jingle of the keychain he would be on red alert. Years ago he would even come running over and sit waiting if I opened the drawer where I’d kept it. I decided Giuseppe and I could have a little red dot game at some point during the day, in the kitchen, and integrate some food into it. He wasn’t finishing his food at breakfast, so I held that for early afternoon, and this worked out well because I’ve also been considering a third meal each day for a couple of years. So Giuseppe gets to chase the red dot around the kitchen for a few minutes, then I start tossing freeze-dried meat treats around and following them with the red dot. After a few minutes of that, Giuseppe gets his leftovers. He is thrilled just to chase the red dot and will chase it even without me tossing treats around. But put it all together and he is one happy cat.

But every so often I dress him up in something stupid and he loves that too.

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From Instagram

Yes, Mariposa, just like that. She is such an intuitive little meowdel.

There are birds right outside the window! Windows open for the first time. It’s the Fancy Boys.

From the Back Yard and Beyond

First daffodil, one of the tough old vintage ones that I dug up from an abandoned farm about to be plowed under for development. Glad to keep them going and preserve them for the people who planted them along the road to the upper pasture decades ago.

 

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It’s the first day of spring and a gorgeous morning. Mimi waits by the door, keeping an eye on me over her shoulder so I don’t wander from the kitchen and forget the importance of getting outside before the busy part of the day begins. Read more and purchase.

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All images and text used on this site are copyrighted to Bernadette E. Kazmarski unless otherwise noted and may not be used without my written permission, although links to your site are more than welcome and are shared. Please ask if you are interested in using and image or story in a print or internet publication. If you are interested in purchasing a print of an image or a product including it, check my animal and nature website Portraits of Animals to see if I have it available already. If you don’t find it there, visit Ordering Custom Artwork for more information on a custom greeting card, print or other item.

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Weekly schedule of features:

Sunday: Essays, Pet Loss, Poetry, The Artist’s Life

Monday: Adoptable Cats, TNR & Shelters

Tuesday: Rescue Stories

Wednesday: Commissioned Portrait or Featured Artwork

Thursday: New Merchandise

Friday: Book Review, Health and Welfare, Advocacy

Saturday: Your Backyard Wildlife Habitat, Living Green With Pets, Creating With Cats

And sometimes, I just throw my hands in the air and have fun!

 

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