Aby-a-Day – June 30: Annual checkup

Yesterday was a big day. It was everyone’s annual vet check up.

It’s a lot of work, mind you. Everyone has to be put into a carrier for the trip.

It’s fun to walk into the vet’s office with the whole crew.

When we get into the exam room, everyone gets to come out and explore.

If they want to. No pressure.

Kylie and Angel love to check everything out.

And they get so excited when the vet tech comes in from the back!

Angel becomes especially brave in the vet’s office.

Jacoby got a clean bill of health and a rabies shot.

He also got a blood test to check his kidney and liver functions, just in case, and so we have a normal baseline in case anything changes in the future. Kylie and Tessie also got rabies shots, and Angel got her distemper booster. Kylie needs another dental cleaning, but other than that everyone is perfectly healthy (even their teeth!)

So we’re all set until next year, which is a really, really great feeling.

Aby-a-Day – June 29: “Citrus” (Saturday Photo Hunt)

This week’s Photo Hunt subject is “Citrus.”

This is a delicious Key Lime muffin. Now, limes are definitely firmly in the citrus family, and, as everyone knows, cats hate citrus. Right?

Right???

Apparently not.

Aby-a-Day – June 28: Five years without Gun-Hee (Part 2) (Friday Flashback)

Today is the day Gun-Hee lost his short but fierce battle against FIP.

There is hope, however: Just last week, Cornell announced a breakthrough in the search for the mutation that turns the benign feline enteric coronavirus (FECV) into the fatal FIP virus. Let’s all keep our fingers and toes crossed that this will lead to some sort of a cure for this evil disease.

Aby-a-Day – June 27: Angel and the Welder’s Cats

The other day when we took Jacoby and Angel to the Harborwalk, it was very interesting to see that Angel wanted to make friends with the welder’s cats!

At first, she sat on their steps and just kind of hung out with them.

Then she got down for a closer look.

A really close look! She actually tried to crawl under their fence to meet them face to face!

They were not really up for that…but then, they weren’t completely against it, either. Neither Angel nor the two black longhaired kitties hissed the entire time we were there. And Angel usually hisses at everyone!

The most we got from them was a yawn!

The sisters’ mother preferred to watch us from the yard’s upper deck. This is the cat who, in my story, I called “Ginger.” Her real name is Baby.

She’s one of the prettiest torbies I’ve ever seen anywhere (cat shows included). And she’s so much braver than she was when I first saw her two summers ago!

She was really just a big kitten herself then!

These were her kittens. The two black longhairs (Booger and Boogie) are still at the welder’s; Brad told me that the blue girl and the black shorthaired boy found forever homes.

He also told me that Baby showed up one day, pregnant, and just decided to stay. They let her have her kittens, and then they were all fixed. I haven’t seen any kittens there since Baby’s litter. Which is good…but a little sad as they were so much fun to take photos of!

Abys are Everywhere – Gambling Abys

You may recall a post I made about two years ago when I discovered a cat-themed slot machine with Abys on it.

Well, guess what? Now you can play this game on your computer or on your phone! Just go to DoubleDown Casino and you’ll see Kitty Glitter (and the Aby) as the featured game.

It’s exactly like the real slot machine you find in casinos.

Just much, much smaller.

And you don’t play with actual money…just virtual play money.

Which is too bad since I have over $60 million on this game…

Aby-a-Day – June 26: Wordless Wednesday (View from the Broadway Bridge)

Aby-a-Day – June 25: Last night I had the strangest dream I ever dreamed before (Cartoon Tuesday)

Hey, a cat can dream, can’t he? This was inspired by our experiences at the park the other weekend and a conversation on the Abyssinian Cat Club Facebook group. And this cartoon. But wouldn’t it be great if we could take our cats out to a cat park? Sadly, all we cat people have is the internet.

I do have to comment on the one sign that’s on the fence of Jacoby’s dream park. That’s an actual sign in front of the Roosevelt Island Historical Society Visitor’s Kiosk. Needless to say, I loved it and took a photo of it…and managed to work it into a cartoon!

(Click cartoon to embiggen, or you can view all cartoons in Slideshow mode on Flickr.)

“The ending, nobody saw it coming…”

Only 76 seconds to go, two goals in 17 seconds…are you kidding me?

“We made a good run. Really satisfied at our effort at the end, but it still sucks to lose like this.” – Tuukka Rask

Aby-a-Day – June 24: Kylie’s little pink bed (part 1) (Hipstamatic Monday)

Kylie got a little pink bed for her birthday. It’s pink and has a quilted heart in the centre.

All the cats love it. Especially Jacoby.

I keep trying to tell him that it’s a girly, Hello Kitty pink bed, but he doesn’t care.

It’s warm, and it’s next to the bed so he can watch me work on my laptop.

Or not.

But for whatever reason, this little pink bed is the place to nap these days.

Maybe the lamp it’s under is just right for warming little black toepads.

It’s just so funny to see this big boycat sprawled out on this little pink bed.

It’s Do or Die for the Bruins Tonight!

Tonight is Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Finals between the Boston Bruins and the Chicago Blackhawks. It’s pretty huge: If Boston wins, we go to Game 7. If Chicago wins, it’s over and they get the Stanley Cup. To make it even more exciting, the last time both of these teams were in the finals (2010 for Chicago and 2011 for Boston), they were BOTH down in Game 6 and had to win it to force that Game 7. It really could go either way tonight.

Jacoby is ready. Bring it on, Blackhawks!

Aby-a-Day – June 23: The dangling conversation

I love this set of photos I took of Jacoby and Angel along the Harborwalk.

It looks like they’re having a conversation.

Jake is telling Angel something very important and interesting.

Either that, or he’s telling her a hilariously bad joke.

Aby-a-Day – June 22: “Daydream” (Saturday Photo Hunt)

This week’s Photo Hunt subject is “Daydream.”

Do cats daydream?

Of course they do!

I’m sure that when we go out to the park, Jacoby imagines what it would be like to be a big jungle cat under a dense rainforest cover.

Aby-a-Day – June 21: Permanent paw prints (Fashion Friday)

I’ve been playing with resin of late.

It’s a pretty cool medium. I think I played with it about 40 years ago when we embedded things in liquid plastic in first grade when we were learning about fossils and amber.

Resin’s come a long way since then. There are whole websites devoted to the stuff!

For one thing, it’s super easy to make your castings glow in the dark! I love glow in the dark things, so this is just an added bonus.

It’s also easy to make your own silicone molds. All you need is some molding putty (the same stuff that they use at the dentist’s to make impressions of your teeth). The one caveat is that once you mix the two parts, it sets up wicked fast, so you need to move quickly.

You need to have the item you want to mold handy.

Make a flattened ball of putty and press your item (in this case, Jacoby’s paw) into the silicone (The unopened jars and my example are two different brands, so they’re different colours, but they work the same way. There’s also a purple brand).

It really takes only about 30 seconds to set.

And you have this little rubber paw print!

You can make as many as your subject has patience for.

For our first go, Jake and I made two. The putty compound on the one on the right wasn’t mixed quite well enough, so it’s a little defective. I’ve managed to make two castings with it so far, but it probably won’t last as long as the other one. It’s tricky: you need to mix the compound well, but not so well that it sets up before you can make your mold! The one on the left is a little thin on the bottom (you can kind of see through Jake’s palm pad in one spot); you also need to make sure your flattened ball is thick enough before you press down.

Mix and pour your resin into the molds. These are clear resin mixed with red glow in the dark powder. It takes at least 8 hours to harden, but to be on the safe side give it 24 hours before demolding.

But when they’re done…they’re really wonderful! You can see the little hairs between the toes, the wrinkles on the paw pads, and even the claws!

You can play with your cat’s paws to your heart’s content and you won’t bother them at all. It’s a win-win for everyone!

Aby-a-Day – June 20: Can you hear me now?

One thing you see a lot in breed descriptions of Abyssinians is that they are “Quiet cats.”

Here’s one example I found: “Abyssinians tend to be relatively quiet. There very, they don’t tend to be very talkative like a Siamese. They tend to be a hit more silent – sometimes even mute, but, often they do have a voice. They just don’t use it that often.”

Has this person ever met an Abyssinian?

Maybe my pair are weirdos, but Jacoby and Angel talk all the time. I’ve had Siamese, and the Abys talk way more than Siamese.

Jake especially will be in another room, and you’ll hear him chatting away. To himself, to the walls, I have no idea. Angel walks around sort of chirping to herself, too. They definitely talk more than Kylie and Tessie do.

They especially like to talk when they’re outside.

As you can see from these photos.

Aby-a-Day – June 19: Wordless Wednesday (“Kids are different today,” I hear ev’ry mother say)

Aby-a-Day – June 18: Look through any window (Cartoon Tuesday)

Sometimes, the grass isn’t always greener…

(Click cartoon to embiggen, or you can view all cartoons in Slideshow mode on Flickr.)

Aby-a-Day – June 17: Go Bruins! (Hipstamatic Monday)

There’s no doubt what we’re watching tonight – the first home game of the Stanley Cup Finals between the Boston Bruins and the Chicago Blackhawks.

The series is 1-1, and the teams are very evenly matched; the announcers keep saying, “It is written that if these two teams were to play 100 games, they would each win 50.”

I just hope it doesn’t need to go into triple overtime again!

If it does, though, Jacoby’s ready for the game!

Aby-a-Day – June 16: Happy Cat Dad Day!

Today is Father’s Day.

In our house, the girlcats gravitate towards my husband, and the boycat gravitates towards me. But Jacoby bonds with his dad, too.

So let’s hear it for all the cat dads out there!

Happy Father’s Day!

Abys in Need: Nikki in New York and Polly in New Jersey

Here’s another Aby in need, this time on Long Island.

“I have a six year old male Aby who needs a new home, my daughter is allergic to him. He’s a sweet beautiful Aby, not declawed, he’s only been an indoor cat. Great home that understands and loves Abys a must. Nikki is in Locust Valley, NY. Hoping to find him a home ASAP. He has no special medical needs, eats Purina indoor cat chow. He’s a really handsome ruddy Aby. He doesn’t sit still on a sunny day to take great pix he loves looking out the window pretending he can catch the birds. He’s fixed but not declawed. He’s a sweetie I just want him to have a great home. I’ll miss him. We are located in Locust Valley NY on Long Island. My cell is 917 848 1756. Thank you so much!”

Looking at the photo, I’d say he’s a red, not a Ruddy, but hey, at least he isn’t declawed, right?

If you’re interested in Nikki, please contact Cathleen Graham in Locust Valley NY on Long Island by email at cathleencgraham@yahoo.com or by phone at 917-848-1756 or 516-922-1202.

Then we have Polly, a ruddy female in Southern New Jersey.

“I have an 8-year-old Aby ruddy female who is living for the past two months in isolation (guest room) because she has developed an aversion to my two Aby boys and is in attack mode. She’s very friendly, outgoing, healthy and would like to be the only cat in the household. She’s probably very lonely for lack of social life. I had one person interested, but he is wavering and I would like to place her as soon as possible. I want her to go to a responsible household.”

I’m enclosing pictures. I live near Mt. Holly New Jersey, around 20 minutes from Philadelphia.

If you’re interested in Polly, please contact Helena Gartenstein at sphinx42@aol.com.

Aby-a-Day – June 15: “Unknown” (Saturday Photo Hunt)

This week’s Photo Hunt subject is “Unknown.”

So, here is a mystery for you. When we are INSIDE, Angel does not like Jacoby. He tries to play with her, and she hisses, growls and smacks him.

But, when we are OUTSIDE…

…Angel actually seeks out Jake’s company…

…and his protection! Is it just the lack of a ceiling that makes her change her mind?