Kitty Toys

My kitchen door's security gate is covered with a plastic mesh, which means I can open the door and the cats can see out, but they can't go outside.

If you look carefully in the picture below you'll see Minx at the top of the gate, and you'll see a bunch of ribbons? They have a bell tied to them and Diva and Minx love climbing the gate and batting at the bell "spider"!

A Kitty Toybox

My feline furbabies are indoor cats, which means they do not go outside unless they're in a travel box or on a leash. For this reason I am always looking for new ways to keep them entertained and stimulated.
Buying cat toys on the web (or in a shop) can cost you an arm and a leg, so if I can I make my own. A while ago I saw a toy on the internet that was literally a box with holes in, and here is my version.
It was a cake box and its not completely opaque. My son cut holes in the sides and in the lid that are big enough for the cats to get a whole leg into, and I now put a catnip-smelling toy into the box.
Because they can see it, the challenge is to get to it and get it out.
Diva, Turk and Greebo are the most successful with this toy, Magic is not at all interested and Minx can't work out how to get to it through the holes.

The Pup's Name!!

When our puppy from the South African Guide-Dog Association arrives shortly before Christmas this year, we will officially named "Volt"!!

SAGA is happy with the name too so the hunt for a name is over!

I will be blogging about this puppy raising adventure and all it entails, and you can look for the #SAGuideDogAssociation as well as #SAGApupVolt hash tags on Twitter in future.

click on the puppy to make a donation to SAGA

The SAGA Pup's Name

I sent my three favourite names from the long list of ideas through to the South African Guide-Dog Association:

• Viking
• Urchin
• UV

But Viking may already be taken by one of his litter mates and they're not terribly keen on Urchin or UV...
We went back to wracking our brains and last night my husband suddenly had a brain wave with "Volt" as a potential moniker for our puppy!
I rather like it so I'm waiting now to hear from SAGA about what they think.

click on the puppy to make a donation to SAGA

You Know Its Hot When...

Even my son's recently acquired bearded dragon- Spike- takes to chilling in his water dish!
Doesn't it make you wish you were a lizard!!?!?

chiiiillin', chiiiillin'... 

Oh Louise...

My sweet Louise has kennel cough again! I can't believe it! When she was treated in July she recovered so well and I was sure that would be it!
This last week, I noticed a couple of times that she seemed to be behaving a wee bit strangely, but I didn't notice the  same symptoms as last time, when she was gagging and throwing up slimy foamy blobs...
And then this afternoon- on a Saturday afternoon when our vet is already closed- she suddenly showed up at the kitchen door with her face and neck covered in white foam and panting with her mouth wide open! I couldn't believe she'd gone so quickly from a suspicion of symptoms to full blown sick!
Poor thing...
I then called my back-up vet, and he said I could pop round and collect some antibiotics and some anti-inflammatory tablets as I couldn't afford a R420 weekend appointment!
My hubby then Googled kennel cough to see if there was something we could do for Louise to make her feel better apart from the meds, and discovered that a couple of teaspoons of honey will ease her itchy sore throat and that chicken soup- yes, a classic remedy for sick humans- will also help her feel better and boost her immune system!
I am seriously considering making chicken soup for both Thelma and Louise and the cats on a regular basis just for "in case"! I don't think it can do any harm.

Yessss!!! Finally!!!

I am beyond excited!

I got a call from the South African Guide-Dog Association today, and we will be collecting a male pup from them a little before Christmas! He is only a couple of weeks old at the moment so we can't fetch him just yet. He is yellow, he's a labrador/ golden retriever cross and we now have to name him! Something short for ease of use in training I think, and something that starts with either a "U" or a "V".

I asked on Twitter and Facebook and got a whole lot of name suggestions!
For the letter "U" - Ubbi, Ugg, Uko, Ulmo, Ulric, Ulysses, Umi, Uno, Urban, Uri, Uriah, Usha, Ussher, and Uzi.
For the letter "V" - Vados, Valentino, Valiant (brave), Valyn, Vanilla, Vargo, Vaughn, Vector, Veiga, Vela, Vega, Vespa (wasp), Vic (conqueror), Vicko, Victor (conqueror), Viking, Vincent, Vinnie or Vinny (conqueror), Visha, Vlad (rule), Vodka, Voldemort and Vuka.
And a couple of people suggested "UV"!
Then I searched online a bit and found Ubu, Urchin (which I rather like), Ursa (bear), Vanna (meaning golden), Viggo (war), Vito (life), Virgil and Voight.

I think I'll whittle the list down to a couple of favourites and then see which one fits him when he arrives. And then of course the name has to be accepted by SAGA as he can't have the same name as any of his siblings.

I will be blogging about this puppy raising adventure and all it entails, and you can look for the #SAGuideDogAssociation hash tag on Twitter in future. I will also devise a hash tag including the dog's name for Twitter folk to follow as well.
You will also be bombarded with puppy photos, so prepare yourself!

click on the puppy to make a donation to SAGA

Freaking Out The Furbabies!

On Tuesday, I turned my furbabies' life upside down by bringing an exotic pet into our house!
Spike the bearded dragon moved into my son's room- in a terrarium of course- and the cats are absolutely fascinated!
Minx and Diva spend ALL day in my son's room watching the lizard as if its a movie!

Happy Purrday Greebo!

My precious Greebo, my first furbaby, is 8 years old today.
That makes him about 49 years old in human years.

Happy birthday my sweet beebalobees...