I have been out of commission all this week due to surgery, so I’ve been spending an aweful lot of time in bed with my laptop, unable to do much else. The pets have been pretty good about it… the cats are still getting into everything (I think we’re going to have to purchase some cabinet locks) and Zeeke likes to bark just when I fall asleep, but all in all it’s going well.

The cutest thing is that I wake up and find all of Zoe’s toys piled on the bed. Yesterday there were 5 of them, including a kong, a rope, and a squeaky toy. They’re not for me, I don’t think - but she brings all her toys up to keep herself company while she’s keeping me company. She’s been very good at just occupying herself and napping until hubby gets home to take them outside and feed them.

I’ve just been careful to keep them all off my stomach, especially Merlin who has a habit of it. It’s been good, though - no accidental stepping on mommy’s incisions.

Well the change in daylight savings time seems to have solved Zoe’s waking up early. Maybe she was just trying to transition me?

I just had (minor) surgery, but it’s making it hard for me to deal with, well, anything. I have incisions on my stomach so it’s hard to get up, move around, and even hard to yell. Den has been home for most of the past two days to help me with the dogs. They’ve been pretty good, considering… Zeeke has been barky, which is annoying when I’m drifting in and out of sleep (the anesthesia really makes you drowsy for a day, then the pain meds do a number on you!). But other than that things are going pretty well.

Zoe has spent most of the two days on the bed beside me, whether napping or playing with Merlin or chewing on a toy. She’s good company, if a little pushy at times - whenever Den comes in to spend time with me she’s all over him with licks and wiggles and just won’t leave us alone! Den still needs to work on being more firm with her in not letting her get pushy. It’s funny because he definitely doesn’t let Zeeke get away with the same things, but when I tell him to push her away he gives me a sad look and says, “But she’s so small and cute!” Oy! He’s a softy sometimes.

The cats are doing really well still. Still into everything they can get into, of course. I set up Merlin’s water fountain again, and twice he’s already dis-assembled it. He’s not content just drinking the water from the fountain, he must find out where the water is coming from… which involves him popping off the top, sticking his paw into the bubbling part, and in the end pushing the fountain around the room so much it comes unplugged from the wall. :sigh: It’s cute that he loves it so much and all, but it’s annoying to have to put it all back together nearly every day!

Spring seems to be here - or at least a precursor to spring. The snow has almost all melted, finally… though what hasn’t melted is still in that dangerous icy mass stage. I think Zoe is excited to see grass again. When all there was on the ground was snow she’d spend half her time outside digging, I’m guessing to catch some scents from the ground itself. Now she wanders from grassy patch to grassy patch, sniffing before she squats to pee. It’s just really nice to not get numb fingers and toes when I take the dogs out. Hopefully we’ll get to spend a little more time out there letting them run around a bit on their long leads and burning off some of that energy.

We’ve been playing fetch with them indoors. Zeeke loves to chase, but he’s not so great at the bringing it back. He got as far as spitting the toy at Den’s feet - which, trust me, is better than he was doing. Den enjoys playing fetch with him, he just doesn’t like having to wrestle him for the toy every time. We do need a better space for it though… our hallway is narrow and not very long, plus it’s all hardwood and I worry about Zeeke’s hips (and my walls!). Too bad it’ll be a long while before we get the basement all done.

Hubby takes the dogs out every morning at 7am on those mornings when he’s working and I’m not, so I can stay in bed. (I return the favor in the evening.) So WHY does Zoe always wake me up at 6:30? Zeeke just lays down and waits. He knows when daddy’s coming. Zoe either still hasn’t figured it out, or is too impatient to care. She will whine and bark for half an hour. And yes, she always gets taken out before bed. She’s nearly 2 years old! She can’t possibly not be able to hold it.

Well anyways this morning she woke me up at 6. I got up to take her because there was no way I was going to listen to her for an hour - and since it’s rather unusual for her to wake me up that early I figured it was somewhat important. But when we got out there she didn’t even seem all that insistent in going. She did, finally, but she didn’t race off into the woods or anything - she actually was more interested in sniffing around. Gah. I swear.

Merlin has been a complete psycho of late. I don’t know if it’s his age, the weather, or a combo of the two - but he’s a little tazmanian devil. He runs around pushing things off tables, he tries to eat my food, he uses my carpet as a scratching post, he attacks any remotely string-like object (he attacks my pants as I’m pulling them on!). He’s still a major cuddler, he’s just… hyper. Sometimes I can’t wait for him to grow up!

Thank goodness he has both Jo and Zoe to vent his energy on…. between the two of them he does manage to get a complete work-out. The two cats run around during the day and night… up and down the hallway, up on tables, furniture, crashing into things as they roll around. Then with Zoe… it’s mainly on our bed that they have their wrestling matches.

Jo, by contrast, has mellowed out a lot. I think it’s in big part due to all the energy he expends playing with Merlin. He used to be pretty hyper himself, and now he’s almost always sleeping or just sitting around. He just acts much more mature than he did before. It’s kind of cool and sad at the same time. Jo is definitely still the pampered boy though. Hubby says he’s the cuter cat (I think Merlin is) and makes sure he gets his kitty treats and bonding time every morning. Yesterday Jo was in hubby’s office and wanted out, but Zeeke was running around… so hubby picked Jo up, cradled him protectively, and walked him to the kitchen. It was so sweet. (But of course, hubby doesn’t LIKE cats. Oh no. Not at all.)

Zeeke… is still frustrating. The last few weeks he has felt the need to bark from about noon until hubby comes home at 5. And it starts when I’m still in the bedroom with him. I don’t know if it’s boredom or frustration or maybe just a reaction to other dogs or kids he hears in the neighborhood… but it’s really freaking annoying. This is new behavior for him too, which is what makes me think it isn’t just normal boredom or frustration. He knows the routine, he’s generally okay with that.

We took down the babygate to the kitchen on monday. The dogs have been doing pretty well about it. Zeeke better than Zoe - Zeeke knows exactly where that line is and only creeps across if he knows no one is watching. Zoe on the other hand seems to be a bit of a valley girl… I swear sometimes she’s blond. Either she really is a ditz or she plays the innocent really really well. But while I’m sitting there she’ll kind of wander in only to come running back out when I tell her no. With her it all comes down to repetition. But it would be really really nice to not have that baby gate to step over every time.

I bought a couple of new toys for the dogs. One a nylabone. They are the ONLY chewie I will buy for the dogs (other than kongs, which neither of them care to chew on) because Zoe LOVES them and Zeeke ignores them. Anything that Zeeke likes? Gets destroyed in a day. So those nylabones actually stick around for weeks or months, occupying Zoe. I like that.

The other thing I bought her was a hand-puppet. She had a hand-puppet when she was a pup and it was her favorite toy! Plus she would actually play wrestle with “you” when you were using it (and it didn’t hurt when she got rough - well not usually, anyways).

Well unfortunately she is beating the crap out of that thing. Fluff everywhere (from it’s head). Stitches ripped, seams coming apart. I do not think Mr. Hand Puppet will be surviving much longer.

But in the meantime she is having a ball - wiggling around on the bed kicking it with her back legs, growling at it, throwing it around… you name it. She’s so entertaining.

:: ::

I am happy to report all animals are back to their normal (destructive) non-sick selves. Zeeke unfortunately got a touch of whatever Zoe had a couple days later and had a very large “accident” in the bathroom. (It was so BEYOND nasty.) But just the once. After that everyone seems to be chipper and healthy.

Merlin is still aiming to compete in the heavyweight category with the dogs. Jojo still weighs in at a nice 11.2lbs; Merlin clocks in at over 13lbs! The little porker. But he puts all his skills and strength to good use when he “pins” Zoe down and viciously bites her. Of course they both know that she could throw him off whenever she wanted to, but they kind of take turns playinig the helpless victim.

Zeeke however has never really caught on to the whole “moderation” thing and just plays too rough for the cats’ preferences - even ass-whooping Merlin - as my previous post indicated. The cats are unamused. And I’m afraid Zeeke will just never learn to be gentle with the kitties. He’s never mean to them or I wouldn’t let him around them… he’s just too rough. He tries playing with them the same way he plays with Zoe. I guess she’s tougher than I thought. Merlin still refuses to run from Zeeke, but he does give the most evil looks. Zeeke ignores those just as quickly as he ignores the squeaks and smacks.

I could wish for total household harmony. But I guess the best I’m going to get is the three of them peacefully coexisting.

Well now, we had a really shitty couple of days. Literally.

Saturday evening we gave the dogs each some steak leftover from a dinner we had out. We’ve given them the exact same leftovers before without issue, so we really didn’t expect what happened.

Zoe got sick. Real sick.

It started in the middle of the night, she woke me up frantic. I took her outside and she had a lot of diarrhea. We went back to sleep. An hour and a half later she woke me up to do the same thing again. A little while after that hubby got up and took them both out, but Zoe didn’t go. I fell asleep for once to try to catch up on a little bit of sleep. A couple of hours later Den bursts into the bedroom all upset because Zoe puked all over the living room rug.

And that’s pretty much how it went the rest of the day: diarrhea, and a whole lot of throwing up. I made sure she had access to water because I didn’t want her getting dehydrated, but every time she’d drink some she’d almost immediately throw it all up again. She couldn’t keep anything down at all. I’ve never seen so much puke in my life. It was a horrible mess.

Zoe very obviously felt horrible all day. She looked so upset… her tail was down, her head hung, her eyes were wide and sad. I went out and bought some Kaopectate from the drug store, as well as some pediatric electrolyte. From my boss I picked up a dosing syringe and some chicken flavored baby food. I did manage to give her one dose of the kaopectate, but she sure wasn’t happy with me. She didn’t have any more diarrhea after that thank god (just some more puking).

She napped a long time. I made sure she was undisturbed by the other animals and I just let her sleep on the bed beside me (though I got worried and put a blanket on the bed after a while - really didn’t want her puking on our comforter). When she woke up in the evening she obviously felt much better. Her tail was high, and she was even showing interest in the baby food (which earlier she outright refused). I mixed some of the baby food into the electrolytes and let her drink it up. She didn’t puke it all back out! Yeah!

What a horrible day that was, though. I don’t know why that steak went over so badly with her, or if she got into something else (though I don’t think she did). Zeeke had a little bit of the runs afterwards, but with him that’s pretty normal for eating anything other than his normal kibble. He certainly didn’t have the explosive stomach upset that she did.

Of course last night we locked the cats out of the bedroom so we could get some actual sleep, but middle of the night Merlin starts crying. “Mow-ow-ow-ow!” he’d sing-song right outside our door. And that was after scratching at the door for half an hour. I finally couldn’t take it anymore and let him in. So he was winding around my head purring and kneading with his sharp little claws - made sleeping rather difficult. Then I fall asleep only to hear scratching and meowing from Jo - but it didn’t sound like the bedroom door. I figured he must want into the linen closet (his new favorite spot). It was so annoying! Loud. I got up to check on him and bring him in too, and found out he had been locked in the linen closet all night! Poor guy! That explains why Merlin had been so upset all night too - he was all alone. So we ended up with Zoe, Merlin and Jo all piled on the bed between us, Zeeke asleep on the floor. Didn’t get much sleep after that.

Oh, plus - Merlin has come up with a new hobby: pushing dishes off the kitchen counter. So far he’s broken a drink glass and a plate. No more dishes left on the counter, I guess.

What a crazy weekend.

In the morning Merlin has a little ritual of running in the bedroom and getting in our faces, purring and happy and very obnoxious.

This is a particular problem on days where both hubby and I are not getting up at the same time - one gets up while the other sleeps blissfully. But Merlin doesn’t care. The person up, while doing their morning routine, has to constantly act as goalie every time they enter or leave the bedroom, blocking the cat from running in and waking up the other person.

Merlin does not like this. He is very insistent about performing his morning duties. He sits just outside the door, pawing at it, meowing. I must get in to greet my humans!

This morning I woke up anyways, so I told Den to just let him in. He hurredly runs into the room, jumps on the bed, crawls on top of me and headbutts my face. This lasts for all of twenty seconds or so, before he feels his duties has been completed and wanders off. He is now wrestling Zoe for the championship belt.

:: ::

The two cats have been doing very well lately. Jojo is still coming out of his shell even more, braving the Big Bad Dog to spend more time with me. If I’m not locked in the bedroom I am pretty much guaranteed to have a cat or two laying on or near me. Early early this morning I was on the couch in the living room watching TV and I had both cats curled up against my legs. It was such a cozy feeling.

Merlin is still looking rather fat. I don’t know what to do about that, since I give them food only two times a day. They obviously think it is not enough, because when they get hungry - especially when I sleep in - they trash the kitchen. One morning last week I found the trash bin tipped over and everything pulled out. Most days I find a cupboard door pulled open - the same cupboard where we stash the cat treats - and all those treats pulled down. If they’re especially ticked off at me they’ll rip open the bag of dog treats and knock them onto the floor. It’s become a daily habit now to have to clean up the kitchen in the morning.

I mean I don’t want them to feel starved (and thus peeved with me), especially since Jo is a good weight and I need to make sure he gets to eat enough. Just Merlin is a super-vac, sucking down food. I just hope he doesn’t put on any more weight.

At least Merlin’s fur is looking gorgeous. Jo has super-soft bunny fur, has since we got him. But Merlin’s was very coarse. Now after being on the new food for a couple of months his fur is shiny and nice and soft. Still not as soft as Jo’s, but pretty darn soft of it’s own accord.

Uh-oh, Merlin just climbed back on my chest. Unfortunately he started attacking the strings to my hoodie that I’m wearing and clawed me in the chin. Ouch. He was removed from my chest.

:: ::

Zoe and Zeeke on the other hand… both are being pains in mommy’s behind.

Zoe is still dealing with potty training issues. She’s nearly 2 years old! There’s NO reason she shouldn’t be able to hold her pee. And in certain situations she can just fine. But it’s like she doesn’t apply that rule to the living room. The last week I have found several pee spots on my new area carpet, and one day she topped off a really bad day for me by peeing a huge puddle in the middle of the living room floor while Den was watching her. I get so frustrated when she backslides like this, because it’s never just once. The most frustrating thing is that when she does this she doesn’t signal anyone. I can be sitting right there at my computer and she’ll just go and pee. Granted she usually signals me easy enough, but sometimes she just… doesn’t. It’s especially a problem if she has access to the living room when I’m not out there - like if I’m in the bedroom and the dogs have free access to the rest of the house. In that situation I am pretty much guaranteed to find a puddle when I go in there. So of course the rule is now that Zoe MUST be confined to the room I’m in. She won’t pee in the bedroom when she’s in there with me. Even if I’m asleep and taking a while to wake up, even if hubby is late doing his morning routine taking the dogs out. She whines and bounces and “talks” to me, but she won’t pee in here. So she is capable of holding it. She won’t pee in her crate, either, no matter how long she’s been in it. So why isn’t she getting it with the living room?? What is it about that room that says, “Sure, go ahead - pee!” The floor is hardwood, we thoroughly clean it with special pet cleaner every time there’s an accident. And the carpet we’ve only had for a month or two! Aie. Just frustrating.

And Zeeke, well, he’s his usual self. Yesterday Den had to work, and then he had this dinner out with the boys. He didn’t get home until 10pm. Well Zeeke apparently didn’t like that. He spent the entire day barking - at me, at dogs he heard, at Zoe, at nothing at all. Just barking. He was driving me bananas. I finally removed all garbage and dishes and edible objects from Den’s office and put him in there by himself. I figured maybe he’d calm down. Ha! Unfortunately Zeeke acted like a crazy dog. Much frantic barking, banging on the door, even trying to turn the doorknob. (Thank god he’s never figured that one out.) So then I couldn’t let him out until he calmed down and stopped having his little temper tantrum. It took about half an hour of listening to it before there was silence. Finally. When I opened the door to let him out he was laying on the futon (his bed in there). At least he does finally give in and settle down. I remember a time when he would bark for 3 hours without giving up.

Plus two days ago he got snippy with hubby. Den had bought him a nice big bone from the pet store when we were in there, and Zeeke sure was happy to get it. But when Den walked too close to him five minutes later Zeeke started growling and protecting his bone. Den tried taking it away and got snapped it. (I told him to be careful. Zeeke never used to do that to him, and he doesn’t have as much experience with dealing with that “side” of Zeeke.) That was a very bad thing to do. Bone got taken away, Zeeke got put in his crate, and hubby fumed for a while. So, no more bones for Zeeke, period. Lovely. We really do need to see a behaviorist, but Den didn’t “like” the responses I got from the ones I contacted. I really need his buy-in on this for it to work.

So, here’s to hoping for a bark-free, pee-free kind of day.

Today I got an email from Zoe’s sister’s adoptive parents! They sent along a little movie of Schatsie, and hopefully will be sending some photos my way too. The two dogs look very different - Schatsie has a white body with some dark spots, with a dark head - but the head and build is very similar. She said Schatsie too is around 30lbs, and has a big fluffy tail. Schatsie, unlike Zoe, doesn’t have any fear issues… they said she’s very friendly, no behavioral problems at all. Which only reinforces my opinion that the pups were NOT abused, Zoe’s just hardwired this way. Oh well, I love her just the way she is. Anyways, it’s just really neat to see how Zoe’s sister is doing. Sometimes I would think about her.

Oh by the way - I did a group weigh-in on our new digital scale the other day.
Zoe: 31.8 lbs
Jo: 11.2 lbs
Merlin: 11.8 lbs

Yeesh, no wonder Merlin has been feeling heavy lately!

The two crazies (Merlin and Zoe) are playing rougher and rougher. They are both enjoying themselves, but Merl’s claws got stuck in her fur a few times - which means he’s using them to cling. She doesn’t seem to mind though so I’m not interfering. They are just having a blast, bouncing all over the bed, body-slamming each other into the soft mattress. Unfortunately just now Zoe half sat on Merlin, to which Merlin started biting her tail - a little too hard, apparently, as Zoe leapt to her feet with a “YIPE!” In response Merlin got up and walked off, I guess ready to end the game… but Zoe jumped at him to start it again. I guess she wasn’t hurt too badly. (I was half afraid that she’d suddenly be terrified of the cat for a little while, if she got hurt. But she’s a tough cookie, I guess!)

Today we had a big cleaning job ahead of us, and we weren’t looking forward to spending time breaking down and tearing apart all the huge boxes left over from Christmas. So I said, “Get Zeeke to do it.” So he did! He needed our encouragement to keep going at it and really tearing them up, but the look in his eyes when we told him it was okay to rip the cardboard to shreds was sheer excitement and disbelief. He just couldn’t believe that we said it was OKAY to do it. Destruction! Sanctioned destruction! What could be better??

Meanwhile, Zoe is having an absolute ball playing with Merlin every day. She just loves the attention, and loves to wrestle. I did note that she was doing several of the same moves that Zeeke does on her - such as squashing and head-biting. Merlin doesn’t seem to mind. Someone looking at the photos remarked that Merlin had his claws sheathed in all of them. They’re both pretty gentle with each other… they play hard, but they are definitely just playing.

I constantly remark to Den about how laid-back Merlin is. He’ll sleep anywhere, anytime, usually with all four paws in the air. He doesn’t care of Zeeke is practically trampling him… doesn’t really care much about anything. He’s a very happy-go-lucky cat. If you rough Jo up a bit or hold him longer than he’d prefer he tends to get grumpy and will bite you to let you know his displeasure. Merlin though? You can annoy the heck out of him and he just does an imitation of a rag doll. He’s a very energetic cat, though - always running around, playing with Jo or Zoe, sometimes even Zeeke. He definitely has his daily crazies. Jo appears a lot more sedate than Merlin… even though previously we thought Jo was a crazy one! Either he’s mellowed (because Merlin is tiring him out!) or just the contrast makes it obvious. Jo isn’t a kitten anymore.

Merlin’s getting fat, though. I haven’t gotten any pictures of just how chubby he’s been getting. I just can’t believe how much he eats - he’s always in the food dishes, and always telling me when they’re empty. I finally had to strictly ration the cats to a cup of dry in the morning, a half cup of dry in the evening, and an evening meal of 1 can of canned food. Right now I’m feeding the Wellness canned, it has excellent ingredients, and Dave’s brand dry food. The cats love it! I threatened them that if they continue to eat it like such pigs that I’ll have to switch to a brand they don’t like as much! But anyways, Merlin weighs at least as much as Jo does at this point. And he’s a bit chubbier in the midsection. So my goal is to get him slimmed down a little bit - no fat pets in this house.

I LOVE all my pets. I just adore them all. Despite anything else that goes on in my life, sometimes I think it was all meant to happen this way, because I was meant to get all these animals, these specific, particular animals. Merlin coming into our lives was such a circumstantial thing, we weren’t looking for another cat and Den certainly didn’t WANT another cat. But he came anyways, and we just love him. We’re amazed and thrilled with how well he gets along with all the others here. He’s changed Jo for the better - Jo is no longer quite so afraid to venture out of the kitchen, to sleep on the couch or play in the hallways. I put a little fleece blanket on my desk, and Jo frequently comes over to nap beside me while I work on the computer.

They are all just so special to me.

Interesting tidbit of information: Zoe gets snappy and possessive about her food with Zeeke, but not with the cats. And, obviously, not with us. The last few days Merlin has been very much in her face, sticking his head in her food bowl (in her crate!), and just now licking peanut butter out of the kong she is chewing. I watched carefully, and she either just continues eating around him or sits back and watches him. Weird. I wonder why she gets so snarky with Zeeke but not with anyone else?

Zoe was SO hyper last night when we got home late after a new year’s party. We just wanted to go to sleep, but she was spazzing hyper - and Merlin was her unwilling victim. She pinned him to the bed on his back and was growling, mock-biting (bitey face), licking him, pushing him with her paws, etc. She was very loud, and very physical - sometimes laying on him. He kicked her a little, bit her neck and just generally wrestled with her. It was so funny! Finally though I called Zoe off, since Merlin couldn’t get up even if he wanted to, lol. But they’ve been playing more and more often. It’s great!