Pepe has Crossed the Rainbow Bridge

After 4 months of struggling with diabetes, during which time he lost almost half of his previous body weight and his rear legs and hips got so weak he struggled to walk, Pepe’s quality of life had gotten so poor that we said goodbye yesterday afternoon. He had a peaceful passing and we’re sure he’s in a much better place now.

Pepe had an outsized personality that was far larger than his normal 19 pounds. He had the softest cutest paws that he categorically said were off limits whenever the human stroked them. Pepe was the official household greeter and had to check out any human who entered the premises. He splashed water all over the floor with Mac, harassed Fireball and Corky, wasn’t sure what to make of the Terrible Tiger Twins, and only Caesar could moderate his behavior. He spent an hour or more each morning sitting on a chair next to the human as they both ate breakfast and she journaled and planned out her day. He often joined her for her lunch as well.

In recent weeks, as he had more trouble walking and navigating stairs, Pepe spent much of the day sleeping in a kitty bed in the human’s office. In fact, in brat cat fashion, if his brother was sleeping there when he arrived, he chased Corky out of the bed and took over himself even though there was a larger bed two feet away that he could have occupied.

Pepe and Corky have lived here for 9 years and the human knew them for 5 years before that when they lived next door at her former neighbors’ home. She not only played with them when she visited, but often cared for them when her neighbors were away. It seems no matter how much time you get to spend with them, with each leaving they take a chunk of your heart with them. And perhaps that’s fitting, since they give so much of their hearts to us.

Rest in peace Pepe and know you were deeply loved and are missed terribly.

(c) Copyright 2024, PeggyMalnati. All rights reserved. Images my own.

Goofy Girl Claims Another Kitty Bed

The human found a nice soft kitty bed of just the right size at just the right price and bought it for the meows. This particular high-sided bed can be flipped inside out to assume a slightly different shape. To date, Mac, Fireball, and Taz have slept in it. However, per usual, Mac spends the most time in it. It’s her after-breakfast/before-midday/I-don’t-have-to-share-with-anyone-else posh puff. Here she is hanging out of it with a restrained double-paw dangle. She also has a yellow toy mouse beside her. Such a lucky kitty!

(c) Copyright 2024, PeggyMalnati. All rights reserved. Images my own.

Happy 12th Anniversary Mac & Fireball

Twelve years ago today, Mac, Fireball, and their big brother Caesar came to live with the human.

We lost Caesar a few years ago, but the Merkitty and the Baby Comet are still having lots of fun and are still great buds.

Many thanks to Kim who gave up three of her foster kitties at one time so the human could enjoy their company.

(c) Copyright 2024, PeggyMalnati. All rights reserved. Image my own.

Happy 1st Anniversary Tiger Babies

A year ago today, the tiger kitties who would be named Mumtaz Mahal (Taz Bird, on left above) and Shah Jahan (Shahja, on right above) and were finally coaxed deeply enough into the kitchen that the human was able to close the door before they came running back. The human had been trying for weeks to capture them, as she’s already scheduled physical exams and initial shots for both cats, plus a blood test to make sure they were FeLV-free so she could start the process of introducing them to the other cats. It’s not that the 2-legged wanted more cats, but that she worried the kittens, who’d spent 6 months living on her deck and being fed several times a day, wouldn’t be able to survive on their own in winter.

The kittens passed their health checks with flying colors and were slowly introduced to the rest of the kindle. After spaying and neutering in January, great hilarity ensued as the tiger babies were very active at night and got into one thing after another after another. Fireball took the young cats under his care and taught them how to be proper adult cats and proper tigers.

Unfortunately, we lost Shahja in early June. It’s been almost 6 months and we haven’t recovered him, although we’ve had several false alerts. Hopefully, he’s since found a nice family who feeds and cares for the little guy. We still pray he will be found, scanned, and returned to us safe and whole. Until then, happy anniversary tiger babies!

(c) Copyright 2023, PeggyMalnati. All rights reserved. Image my own.

Training Tigers

Fireball has taken the Tiger Babies under his care and is teaching them not only how to be adult cats but how to be proper tigers. Just as Fireball followed Caesar everywhere and did everything Caesar did, including posing exactly as Caesar posed — whether sitting or lying down — Shahjah is Fireball’s shadow. And just like Caesar sought brief respites from Fireball, Fireball now seeks a bit of peace and quiet from the gregarious and chattery Shahjah and his slightly less clingy sister, Taz Bird. Then all the tigers are off racing around again, running on the cat equivalent of their tippy toes, or they’re all curled up together getting a bit of shuteye.

By the way, the tuxedo cat peering at the cuddling tigers is Mac, who appears a bit miffed that her pink puff and her sleeping buddy Fireball are occupied with cats other than her.

(c) Copyright 2023, PeggyMalnati. All rights reserved. Images my own.

When Morning Starts way too Early

Sometimes Mac and Fireball act like morning comes way too early for them. They skip breakfast and just lounge in the big pink puff as though moving would take far more effort than they could possibly muster.

(c) Copyright 2023, PeggyMalnati. All rights reserved. Images my own.

Languorous Lions

While they sleep most of the day, laying around in comfy beds full of soft blankets in the sunlight seems to utterly exhaust the meows. Fireball (above) and Pepe (below, after taking a spit bath) are shown catching some Zzzzzzs.

(c) Copyright 2023, PeggyMalnati. All rights reserved. Images my own.

Happy 8th Anniversary Corky & Pepe

Eight years ago today, Corky and Pepe were walked in cat carriers from their old home next door to their new home when their former human had to move and couldn’t take them with her.

Those first few weeks with the bonded trio of Caesar, Mac, and Fireball were not fun for anyone but, eventually, détente prevailed. Caesar was simply not going to put up with bad behavior — not from his crew and not from the brothers.

Now, the Corkster and the Pepster are the elders and having to deal with the striped interlopers from outside. Pepe has opted to play the role of the grumpy old grandfather who has no patience for tiger baby neediness. And Corky has a new life chasing and being chased by the little tiger bandits.

Happy birthday Duo!

(c) Copyright 2023, PeggyMalnati. All rights reserved. Images my own.

Taz’ Very-Bad, Awful Week

Back in early January, poor little Mumtaz (left) was having a grand time running around like a manic inside the house, which turns out to be loads more fun than the (formerly great) outdoors. Taz Bird was chasing her biological brother and main squeeze, Shah Jahan (right), as well as Corky and Fireball, often tackling the bigger males and knocking them to the ground. (She’s a force of nature when she gets wound up.) And at 4 am one morning, she started making noises that — to the evil human’s ears — sounded like she was in heat…weeks ahead of time and weeks before her spaying surgery was scheduled. Worse, she had her butt in the air and the still-intact Shahjah was sauntering down the hallway with a grin on his face. When Taz went to relieve herself in the litterbox in the guest bedroom, the very bad human pulled the door shut and trapped her. That was early Sunday morning.

On Monday morning, the evil human brought her to the vet to get her second distemper shot and learned that they could squeeze little Mumtaz in on Wednesday for her spay surgery, so back to the locked bedroom went a very angry Taz. When Wednesday came, off to the vet she went again. When she woke up, fur was missing from her belly and she felt awful. Back to kitty prison once again she went. Worse, she had to have painkiller administered several times/day by the evil human, which did not endear the 2-legged to Miss Fierceness.

When one cat is locked up in the bedroom, the other cats have a sweet habit of bringing toy mice upstairs from the toy boxes and leaving them lined up outside the door. Taz was a prisoner for more than a week, so over that time a lot of little mice were deposited beside the door for her. It’s the kitty equivalent of get well cards and balloons or flowers.

When she was finally freed, off she went. Since then, she doesn’t let the evil human get too close. Clearly, that 2-legged creature is not to be trusted under any circumstances.

(c) Copyright 2023, PeggyMalnati. All rights reserved. Images my own.

Happy 11th Anniversary Mac & Fireball

Eleven years ago this afternoon, Caesar, Macaroni, and Fireball crossed the threshold into this house for the first time. (Thank you Kim!) While we lost dear Caesar a year and a half ago, Mac still rules the roost and Fireball has transformed from the little kitty brother who followed Caesar around and mimicked everything he did to now mentoring the Tiger Babies and teaching them how to be proper cats (and proper tigers). When not bossing around the 2-legged or other 4-leggeds, Mac and Fireball are still the best of cuddle buddies. Happy anniversary kitties!

(c) Copyright 2023, PeggyMalnati. All rights reserved. Images my own.

Cold Weather Cuddles

In addition to hiding out from the Tiger Babies, Mac and Fireball stay warm and cozy by being cuddle buddies. Note that even in sleep, there is paw dangling going on.

(c) Copyright 2023, PeggyMalnati. All rights reserved. Images my own.

Kitten Avoidance Strategy (KAS)

The Tiger Babies have yet to be brave enough to climb up onto the big bed despite having explored (and wrecked havoc) on nearly every other area of the house. Still, while the Terrible Twins don’t venture here, The Foursome is taking advantage and getting some shuteye.

(c) Copyright 2022, PeggyMalnati. All rights reserved. Images my own.

The Evilness of Humans – Part 2

A feral female started bringing her 3 kittens by this spring. She’d eat, nurse them, rest, and then the whole crew would depart. After a few weeks, she started leaving the kittens to play on the deck all day. They scrambled up the human’s plant stands knocking pots off all over the place, then shimmied up the trunk of the ficus tree and cuffed each other. They pulled clotheslines down and dragged them into the yard (including into poison ivy, which the human is very sensitive to), and they gladly chased toys in which the indoor kitties had never shown interest. By early summer, the mother abandoned her kittens, who have spent the time growing fat and silly on the deck outside.

The human waged a slow and patient campaign to tame the kittens so she could capture them and find them a new home. Unfortunately, she got rather attached to the two that remain, and they had gotten fairly comfortable with her, nuzzling her hand, letting her pet them, and even venturing inside the kitchen. Three of the 4 inside kitties had come nose-to-nose with the interlopers. After several unsuccessful attempts, the human finally captured them 3 days before they were due to go to the vets for their checkup, initial shots, and bloodwork to check that they were kitty AIDs and leukemia free. They were. They have since been mixing with the foursome, who cannot understand what the crazy human was thinking about bringing babies into this household.

(c) Copyright 2022, PeggyMalnati. All rights reserved. Images my own.

A Gift for the Distracted Human

Fireball hopped up on the bed for one of his many short visits and lay down on top of the human, who was reading. She petted him in a distracted manner and then went back her book as the Little Red Bee proceeded to roll his head, lick her hand and fingers, and mix on the lumpy human furniture. Then he was gone in a flash. It was only after Fireball had departed and the human moved and heard a strange rattle that she looked and found that he’d left one of his toy mice behind when he departed. Such a thoughtful little boy.

(c) Copyright 2022, PeggyMalnati. All rights reserved. Images my own.

Cold-Weather Cuddles

It’s been pretty chilly of late and the human has been leaving the far-infrared heated mattress pad on all day for the kitties and all night for herself. When you combine that penetrating heat with the soft pink puff, it’s kitty heaven as Fireball and Mac recently demonstrated.

(c) Copyright 2022, PeggyMalnati. All rights reserved. Images my own.

Blanket Sculptor

The bed really was made when the human left the room early in the morning. However, it’s getting quite chilly of late and Pepe the blanket sculptor likes to dig down and sleep on the softer, warmer blankets. And notice the twinky twins in the pink puff?

(c) Copyright 2022, PeggyMalnati. All rights reserved. Images my own.

Wet Foot Syndrome

Mac the Merkitty is spreading her odd eating and drinking behaviors to the other cats.

Early on she taught Fireball that the best way to get access to the food bowl when Caesar was hovering over it was to pull the bowl out from under his mouth with a paw and then quickly scoop up a pawful of food before Caesar moved forward to hover over the bowl again. Even with Caesar gone, Fireball still eats crunchies, raw freeze dried food (rehydrated in water), and even soft food with his paws rather than directly with his mouth. And since Mac has long drunk water from her paws, Fireball does too.

Also, because Mac mucks up the water so often by playing in the bowls with her feet, Fireball has taken to sticking his own feet in the bowl to check that the water is acceptable before drinking.

However, wet foot syndrome has spread even further. In recent months, the human has observed Pepe stick one or both of his forepaws into the big water bowl to check that the water is there before bending down to drink. He will subsequently come lay down on his favorite chair and, when the human pets him, she finds wet feet. What is it about cats and water bowls in this house?

(c) Copyright 2022, PeggyMalnati. All rights reserved. Images my own.

Disappointed!

The human picked the wrong type of crunchies for her furry masters. They were very disappointed and let the 2-legged know that. The chastened human went back to the store with a promise to do better.

(c) Copyright 2022, PeggyMalnati. All rights reserved. Images my own.

Little Red Lion Kitty

Fireball adopted his best sphinx pose while patiently waiting for the human to finish her morning ablutions and head downstairs to dole out food.

<<<What takes her so long? Can’t she see we’re hungry?>>>

(c) Copyright 2022, PeggyMalnati. All rights reserved. Images my own.

Fireball Chills Out with the Human

It was early morning and not quite the time when the human had to drag herself out of bed. She was laying on her side when Fireball came up for his early morning siesta. The 2-legged’s duty is to hold the blanket up (letting out all the nice warmth) and wait for the Little Red Lion to slide under, turn around a couple of times, and then stretch out on the human’s arm while the 2-legged tucks the blankets around him. Usually, that leads to lots of furious scrubbing of the human’s hand and fingers while she tries to avoid his rough tongue by petting him. A little foot dangling ensued while the now wide awake human tried to take pics from above.

Fireball usually only stays 15 minutes. He heard another cat hop up on the bed and that was his cue to be on his way.

(c) Copyright 2022, PeggyMalnati. All rights reserved. Images my own.