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.

Happy 9th Anniversary Brothers

It was nine years ago today that the brothers Corky and Pepe moved from next door and joined Tribe Tiger. They’re getting older now (somewhere between 15 and 16), but they’re still sassy and opinionated — especially where the human is concerned.

Happy anniversary kitties!

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

The Incredibly Shrinking Cat

Pepe has been treated for kitty asthma for the past 4 years. The medication of choice is steroids — either oral steroids, if the animal will tolerate twice-daily doses of the liquid, or an asthma inhaler connected to a face cone. Fortunately, the Pepster has been able to be treated with oral steroids and we’ve gotten his dosing down to a pretty low level. Unfortunately, long-term steroid use can push a cat into diabetes, and that’s what happened a few months ago despite the cats’ long-term, low-carb diet.

Always a large cat and frequently on the voluptuous side, Pepe started losing weight and having trouble getting up on chairs and the tall bed last October. Joint support nutraceuticals didn’t really help. A vet check showed he is now diabetic, so he’s been on twice-daily insulin shots (on top of the steroids) since late November.

Unfortunately, despite a ravenous appetite, he continues to lose weight even after upping the insulin dose. He’s become the incredibly shrinking cat.

Doubly unfortunately, the human — who has no trouble administering insulin shots or oral steroids — is a disaster when it comes to getting a successful drop of blood to test blood glucose levels. Poor Pepe endures 5-6 pokes daily in the ears and paw pads with a lancet or other devices intended to pierce the skin to draw a drop of blood for the glucometer. Regardless of the technique she employs or how hard she squeezes the area, the only time she manages to get a drop of blood, the glucometer has shut off. Our next vet visit will involve Pepe being fitted for a continuous glucose monitoring system, which we’ll be lucky if it lasts a week on his fuzzy body. Still, some data are better than no data. <<<Speak for yourself, human!>>>

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

WrestleMania

Heavyweight champ Pepe and Welterweight contender Shahjah seem to enjoy dusting it up a bit every day. The Grumpy Old Grandpa cat outweighs the Tiger Baby by at least 10 pounds/4.5 kilos, although Shahjah does a good job of holding his own.

Maybe Pepe misses Caesar, who was the only cat unwilling to kowtow to the Pepster and would give him a good thumping every time Pepe sought out a rumble. Shahjah, who desperately wants the attention and approval of the older cats, seems to enjoy it too.

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

No Box Goes Uninspected

Pepe has a storied love affair with boxes.

Very few boxes — regardless of size or condition — are allowed to enter this house that Moon-Face Boy doesn’t insist on checking out.

The ones he especially likes, the Pepster takes over and sleeps in.

He gets quite proprietary if another cat (like Mac) gets inside one of his boxes.

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

Tiny Toys go Swimming

Someone has been removing some tiny new toys the meows received last month from the toy boxes and dunking them in the kitchen water bowl, then taking the soggy toy out and leaving it on the kitchen floor. To dry them out, the human has been clothes pinning them to a hanging basket full of vegetables.

The other morning, the two-legged found one very soggy toy still floating in the water bowl (which had mostly been emptied of water and yucked up with dirty feet) and another (also soggy) toy lying beside the bowl.

Both Mac and Pepe routinely stand in the kitchen bowl to take a drink and yuck up the water. And Mac regularly tosses water out of the water bowls and floods the floor…hence the elaborate arrangements meant to stop the tomfoolery.

As for who is taking the toys for a dunk, the human suspects the Tiger Babies — perhaps with initial instruction from the Merkitty. Cats…they definitely keep life interesting.

(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.

Mac Steals Pepe’s Box AGAIN!

Macaroni is famous for her brat attacks. Nearly every night, she chases Pepe off the human’s pillow. She spends at most 5 minutes there, then goes off to find other mischief. Meanwhile, Pepe has lost the comfy spot he’d held for several hours and the human has been woken from her sleep. Mac also is famous for chasing Corky out of his kitty bed only to walk away and not even lie down in it. And she chases the Tiger Babies away anytime they dare get near her or happen to be laying in a spot she decides she wants. Why the bigger cats let the Merkitty boss them around and chase them from their rightful places is anyone’s guess. Another thing Mac is famous for is stealing whatever box Pepe happens to currently be favoring. It doesn’t matter if it’s a big box or a small one. If Pepe plays or sleeps in it, Mac steals it from him. In disgust, Pepe plops himself down right next to the box that Mac is illegally occupying and waits for her to get up and leave.

(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.

The Mighty Mushroom or What to do When Your Cats are Engineers

Another really cool gift Sandy Claws brought the kitties was a multifunctional mushroom-shaped play center. As designed, the unit is predominantly made of unvarnished wood — some of it covered with a sisal scratching surface. The bottom-most disc is grooved and, together with the next disc, holds several large plastic balls with bells that can be rolled around inside the groove. Balls can be accessed both from the side and through a series of large holes on the upper disc. That large upper disc also is grooved on the top surface. When combined with two smaller discs, it holds a series of 5 small wooden balls. A central spindle provides a tough sisal scratching surface, and the large cap also is covered with sisal, providing yet another tough scratching surface. There’s even a pom-pom that hangs down on a string from the top, which is what Pepe is beating on in the image above.

It only took a few hours the first evening for the kitties to figure out how to tip the mushroom over on its side and pop the 2 large balls out of holes from the top of the second large disc. Where those balls have gone is anyone’s guess. Also missing are 2 of the 5 small wooden balls. The human really did crank the whole assembly down pretty tight with the supplied Allen wrench — not enough that it hindered movement of the balls, but it certainly should have been tight enough to keep the cats from popping over half the balls out of the assembly. The human tried adding some additional big balls, but the replacements have also disappeared.

Despite the fact that only 3 small wooden balls currently remain in the system, the cats — especially Mac (shown above) and the Terrible Twins — really enjoying sharpening their claws on the sisal scratching surface. And occasionally, someone will knock the remaining 3 small wooden balls around inside their discs. Thanks, M&J!

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

Mac Steals Pepe’s Box (Again!)

Maybe it’s a tuxedo cat thing?

Nah, it’s a pure brat cat move by the Merkitty.

Fortunately, Pepe eventually recovered his property.

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

Sandy Claws brings Kitties a Stocking (Tunnel)

Those fortunate kitties received three fun toys from Sandy Claws this holiday. Their first was a large Christmas stocking tunnel made with crackly fabric that Pepe had to try out right after inspecting the box it arrived in (just to the left).

Goofy Boy began by checking out the secondary escape hatch. After studying it for a minute, he stuck his head and neck inside.

Then he pulled out and stuck his paw in. Always the paw…

Next, he came around to the front of the toy to check it out.

After a quick sniff, he stuck his head and neck in this end. More of him fit this time, but clearly not all of him did. (He’s a big boy.) He pulled out and discovered the two dangling balls hanging down. It’s hard to see in this shot, but he batting them wildly with his right paw.

Every few days, the human sees him walk by the toy and stop to bat those balls. He sure is intrigued with the dangling toys, one of which has a bell and tinkles when he hits it. Many thanks to JC for the gift!

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

What do You Think About…?

<<<What do you think about the annoying and noisy youngsters the human brought into our home?>>>

<<<She never asked, although I clearly expressed my displeasure every chance I got. You really can’t trust humans. They need constant supervision.>>>

(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.

Outsmarted by the Merkitty Once Again

Let’s be honest and acknowledge that the human isn’t very bright — not compared with the kitties. Still, it has taken the Merkitty a year to figure out a way to flood the floor since the human switched to the heavy, straight-sided water bowl in the kitchen. While the Little Mischief quickly learned to climb up on the lip of the bowl and stick both forepaws in the water (and taught Pepe to do the same), when she scooped water up in her paws and attempted to toss it out of the bowl, the tall straight sides of the ceramic crock frustrated her efforts. The human would walk by and note the multitude of water droplets still clinging to the inside walls of the container and chuckle under her breath. The Merkitty clearly heard and finally has figured out a way to get revenge.

The human isn’t sure if the reason she’s been outsmarted is that she’s gotten overconfident and started filling the water level up higher or if the Watery One modified her scoop & toss technique. Regardless of how she’s doing it, she’s been flooding both the boot tray with dish-drying mat as well as the kitchen floor multiple times every day during the past week. In fact, just to rub it in, after a flooding session, she seeks out the human seated at her computer typing away frantically and hops up on the desk surface, forcing the human to move her keyboard out of the way. Then she head butts things off the desk while standing there with soaking wet paws and at least one foreleg wet all the way from toes to chest and shoulder. She is such a Merkitty!

The human is not sure what strategy to adopt next but she really does need to focus on solving the problem, as Miss Macaroni will not stop her mischief. Still, this has been the longest period of time the human has managed to outsmart the little monster, so at least the 2-legged has that going for her.

It is possible to outsmart a cat, at least for a little while. <<<Don’t let me hear you say or even think things like that!>>>

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

When Your Sister Steals Your Box

Leave it to the Merkitty to know just how to irritate another cat. While Mac’s favorite kitty beds are the pink and beige puffs upstairs, which she’d sleep in simultaneously if she could, she doesn’t usually have a favorite spot on the first floor, preferring to flit like a butterfly from one location to another.

Of course, when another cat shows a preference for sleeping in a particular spot, the Little Mischief has to plunk herself down in that location just for the annoyance factor. And so it happened that Pepe left his box for a while and Mac took over Pepe’s favorite bed. When he returned, an exasperated Pepe parked himself right next to his box and waited hours for Mac to exit.

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

Box Inspector Confiscates a Box

Pepe is the official box inspector in this house. No matter how large or small a box is, he insists on sniffing it inside and out and then standing in it — even if just with his forepaws.

A few months back, a large box arrived that was packed with big blocks of foamed styrene to protect the contents. After it passed the sniff test and the standing-in-box test, Pepe decided he really liked this box and climbed in and laid down. The human moved the box to an out-of-the-way location, and added blankets and a pillow to make it even more comfortable. It’s become his favorite downstairs snoozing location. In fact, some kitty has been putting toy mice in the box.

(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.

Watering Can Inspectors

The human had filled her watering cans prior to going outside to give the tropical plants on the deck a drink. It was just too tempting indeed for the Water Monster not to stick her little head into the can and drink unfiltered water. There was a big ceramic bowl of freshly changed filtered water nearby, but that was no where near as interesting as the watering can. And since Mac the Merkitty had her head in the container, Pepe, who of late has become a water monster himself, had to join in and have a little drink.

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

Yoga Mat as Cat-Enrichment Device

A few weeks back, the human finally got the last of her tropical plants dragged out onto the deck, which freed up lots of space in the “stove room” for her to layout her yoga mat, blocks, straps, and roller.

Of course, as these things go, the human hasn’t done much yoga, but the cats have been having a grand time with the mat, blocks, etc. In fact, Pepe so likes the feel of the sticky mat that he often can be found lounging on it.

It turns out that, after knocking over the formerly neat pile of blocks, the cats have been having a ridiculous amount of fun while the human flicks the small piece of fabric tied to the “fishing pole” in and out of the obstacles. They crouch down and pounce on their prey. They jump up on top of yoga blocks, and they even have figured out how to fish out the fabric on those rare occasions when the human manages to whisk it inside the roller. Mac, who usually is far too sophisticated to play with the rest of the cats has been inserting herself in the middle of the action and often has to be invited to share the toy with the others.

Sadly, the human has spent no small amount money on “expert-designed” cat enrichment toys over the years. However, most of those purchases have been consigned to the “what were you thinking?” pile that get recycled to other people with less fussy pets.

Still, the human is deeply pleased that her yoga blocks and mat are getting used by the kitties, who not only benefit by honing their hunting skills and keeping mentally sharp but also get some physical exercise as well. You just never know what will entertain a cat. <<<Certainly nothing you pay good money for will ever of interest for more than 10 minutes!>>>

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