WCB

OK Seriously. Where did the week go? I'd love to say that I've been too busy to blog. (I've been too busy to blog!)

But the truth is, the day just gets away from me and then I'm too tired to be creative about any kind of post. Last Saturday, I kept myself busy by watching 9 hours of TV. I was a complete and utter couch-potato, and I loved every minute of it! A co-worker has lent me Seasons 1&2 of Lost and Grey's Anatomy. Since I had never even seen 5 minutes of either of these shows, I was naturally instantly hooked. I must admit, Lost has me completely captivated! I am especially captivated with Sayed and Sawyer. Wowza! I'm about halfway through Grey's Anatomy Season 1, and while I am enjoying it, I think the eye candy is much better on Lost. Something about sand and sea and half nekid men running around all sweaty...it's like being on vacation in the comfort of your own home. Speaking of vacations, ours is coming up very soon. We leave in 10 days and I am VERY excited about that! I've done my research and we should be able to pack in a lot in the two weeks that we are away. I still need to get a bigger memory card for the camera because I plan to take lots of pictures.

In other TV news, girly-boy Sanjaya was finally kicked off American Idol. I was quite happy about that because quite frankly, he sucked. Even his hair sucked. My hair no longer sucks as I went to the salon yesterday. I now have reddish hair with blond highlights, and then to top off my new look, I had my raven-black eyebrows lightened. Who knew that changing the shade of eyebrows could make such a startling difference to your face? (I might have found another new addiction.)

Spring has finally, finally, finally arrived! Our weekend will be spent peeling paint off of our deck, replacing rotted boards, sanding and staining. It promises to be sunny and warm all weekend, and I'm looking forward to spending the days outside. It's early morning now, and Greg is already outside working. Oh, how I do like to see a man sweat!

The previous owners left us a few garden pets. I like this little Boston Terrier, but Mr. Mao seems to think otherwise. He looks positively disgusted, doesn't he?! Head on over to Pets Garden Blog and check out the Beautiful Bengals who are hosting this week's Weekend Cat Blogging.

WCB---Seeing Double!

Mr. Mao and The Dutchess can often be found sitting at the top of the stairs when we come home. When we first moved in, the mirror was covered with Wallpaper (see middle pic) and it was only after we removed the hideous paper that we discovered that there was a mirror underneathe. We decided that the mirror actually wasn't so bad, that it opened up the staircase somewhat. We love the wood floors, but hate the green tile. The cats probably couldn't care less, however I did capture their reflection yesterday. Imagine having CLONES of my little monsters?!

Now do head on over to http://www.byootaful.com/ for more Byootaful kitties!

Weekend Cat Blogging

Saturday night I made a fabulous spiral cut ham with all the fixin's for my In-laws. It turned out really well, if I do say so myself. Mr. Mao did his rounds at every corner of the table hoping to get a few nibbles. I know, I know...we've taught him bad manners. At least he didn't sit on the table like he usually does when it's just Greg and I.

Sooner or later, he knows he knows that persistence pays off, and he will get a little treat. This time he was lucky that Grandma Two-Four shared her dinner with him.

After dinner, the kitties retired to their bedroom. I'm fairly certain that it offers the best view in the whole house. They are spoiled little critters, aren't they?

Do make sure that you head on over to vi st Upsie and Sundance at What Did You Eat? Sundance still can't be trusted outside so he is sporting a fancy red harness. Upsie is showing off her unique features and smiling for the camera. There is even a cutesy little squirrel pic. My how that squirrel is growing!

Weekend Cat Blogging

It's a sleepy kind of Sunday in the world of cats, and their humans. Weekend Cat Blogging is being held at catsynth this week. Seems like everyone is tired!

WCB

Mr. Mao gets a kiss, even though he's not Irish! Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Don't forget to head on over to I Got Two Shoes to give Kamikaze a kiss!

WCB

Looks like an ordinary living room picture, right?

Look deep into those rays of sunshine...

...and you'll see these two little rays of sunshine!

Now, do yourselves a favour and head on over to the Sher's delicious blog What Did You Eat? to see Upsie and Sundance partaking is some Feline Wrestlemania!

WCB...Pieces of Mao

With this crazy weather we've been having, all Mr. Mao is interested in is eating and sleeping with the occasional bath thrown in for good measure. When the pics were taken of him sleeping, apparently his feet were hot!

For more kitty pics, head on over to Champaign Taste who is hosting this week. Thankfully, Louis decided to come home just in time for Weekend Cat Blogging!

WCB

My Cats have a Heart On!

Had I taken this photo earlier this year, it would have been my Valentine's Pic. Since Mao's surgery, the kittties have been unusually close. They are in Dutchie's basket together. A First. And, look carefully, they are shaped like a heart! How cute. I do love my cats.

Please take the time to go visit Kate in the Kitchen who is kind enough to host WCB this weekend!

WCB #89

Now that Mr. Mao is feeling better, Madame Dutchess thought she would like to be the star of Weekend Cat Blogging this week. Here's my girl looking all pretty in the sunlight. Kitchen Mage has been kind enough to be the Hostess with the Mostess this weekend. Thanks!

WCB #88

Mr. Mao and I are both very relieved that last week's medical nightmare has ended. This week we are both sleeping much better and having very sweet dreams.

This week, Weekend Cat Blogging is taking place over at CatSynth so do head on over to say hello to the Lovely Luna and visit the other kitties.

WCB cont...

Well, your good thoughts must be working because Mr. Mao is home! He is a tiny bit better, and The Vet thought Mao would do better at home than he would by himself at the clinic this weekend. The clinic is closed, but she would have gone in a few times to check on him, had we not been able to handle him at home. When we went to visit Mao at the clinic this morning, the Vet had mentioned that she had tried to get a prescription for him from one of the local hospitals, but it was a real hassle. The medication is one that is often used in chemo patients to control nausea. I immediately new what she was talking about and mentioned that I could run back to work and pick it up from the stock in the Recovery Room. So, I did.
She gave Mao the first dose, and a few hours later, he was able to tolerate some food without drooling and vomiting. She called me at 1pm with her idea. Would I be willing to take Mao home over the weekend with his pump, give him all his medications, and syringe-feed him every few hours? OF COURSE! She said that this was an unusual situation, that normally she would not send a sick animal home in this condition, but she felt that since I was a nurse, I would be able to handle Mao. (And, she would be able to give me a discount on his vet bill.)
So, today I find myself being a veterinarian assistant. I am familiar with the IV pump, and the IV medications. There was one IntraMuscular injection that I had to give and that was a bit strange in that I've never given a cat a needle before, but it worked out ok. I was able count his heartbeat with my stethoscope, and as luck would have it, I was able to use my dusty Fertility Thermometer for a good cause!
Mao is doing a little better, he even purred for a little bit this evening, which I'm taking as a very good sign. He is tolerating the syringe feeds, and although he does have a bit of a fever this evening, all in all I am cautiously optimistic that he is going to pull through this.
The Vet will be making a house call tomorrow morning to check in on him, and I think that she will be happy with his progress. He might need to go back to the clinic on Monday for a complete check up, but hopefully he is through the worst.

WCB

My poor Mr. Mao is still very sick. He's now been in the cat hospital since Tuesday, and really is not much better. He's had bloodwork and xrays; antibiotics, anti-emetics, and stomache motility meds through his IV. He hasn't had anything to eat since Monday, food just makes him start drooling uncontrollably. Wednesday he had bloody diarrhea. Thursday they did a barium xray study that showed there was a probably blockage in his ilieo-cecum (bowels) that was likely either a foreign body or a tumour. So today Mr. Mao had surgery which showed absolutely nothing! There was no blockage. I can't believe it. The vet did take all kinds of biopsies, but we won't know the results of those until Monday. The vet thinks he has severe pancreatitis that has slowed his bowels right down. Now Mao is on a pain patch, as well as all the other meds. His vital signs are ok, and his bloodwork is also fairly ok. I sure do hope he is going to survive this. He is such a good little cat, and the house feels so empty without him. Even Dutchess misses him. She has moments where she just stands in the hallway and yowls which is not like her at all.

Please send good wishes Mao's way. He needs all the help he can get.

Don't forget to head on over to Rosa's Yummy Yums for more Weekend Cat Blogging!

WCB is Going to the Birds!

While Mr. Mao stayed inside to play Mah Jong ...

Greg and I went for a drive to the park and met up with The Birds. There were hundreds of them: Canada Geese, Pigeons, Seagulls and pretty Mallard Ducks. Here's a bit of UBI: Did you know that one Canada Goose can poop 1kg (2.2lbs) per day? That's a lot of green poop.

This last pic is my favourite, the colours of the birds were incredible in the sunlight. Click for a larger view.

This weeks WCB is being hosted at The Cat Blogosphere , so head on over there to check out more furry felines.

Weekend Cat Blogging

Check out the bunkbed kitties.

Mr. Mao was tucked into the zebra blankie quite peacefully when Madame Dutchie came along and plopped herself down right on top of him and fell asleep.

The Nerve!
Do yourselves a favour and head on over to What Did You Eat? and meet Sher and Upsie.

Sher always has the greatest recipes and food pics, and Upsie has the best expressions I've ever seen on a cat.

There are plenty of tuna appetizers to go around!

WCB #81

Mr. Mao and the Dutchess would like to wish all of our BlogFriends a very Merry Christmas! We hope that the Holidays bring you warmth and joy.

We'll put on our happy faces again once we're out of this crazy gear!

Head on over to Tiggy the Tiny Tiger's place for more WCB, and also to welcome Tiggy and Sarah J to Toronto.

Weekend Cat Blogging #79

Mr. Mao is back for more Weekend Cat Blogging!
I'm working on figuring out how to download pcitures, and I think it might be easier than I think. I'm so smart (never mind that it's only taken me two weeks!)
Here is a pic of Mr. Mao's first snow experience. I snapped the picture really fast as he was goose-stepping his way across the deck and shaking each paw with every step. It was quite funny, but I'm not sure how much he liked it as he came running inside pretty fast.

For more Weekend Kitty pics head on over to Belly-Timber's

Weekend Cat Blogging #72

Guess who's King and Queen of the Castle? (That would be Madame Dutchess, and Mr. Mao, of course!)The kitties know that something is up...when they are not perched on top of boxes, they are perched on our laps, or at least have us in their eyesight. No chance of us leaving them behind!For more Weekend Cat Blogging, go check out Jelly and Kamikaze who have very kindly volunteered to host this weekend. That Kamikaze! What a Rock Star!

WCB #71

Okay. I've decided not to panic. I absolutely did not save my original template, but I have figured out how to add links again. Trouble is, I've had to rack my brains trying to remember the All the Blogs that Make me Purr. So, my apologies if you are not on the list, and if you'd like to be added, let me know!

I'm supposed to be packing today, but haven't gotten very far as Blogger has kept me distracted. Rosa, from Rosa's Yummy-yums is hosting this weeks' Weekend Cat Blogging. I know she wanted pics of Cat's looking silly, however, this one is of Madame Dutchess watching me madly trying to re-do my whole blog. Guess I was the one who was silly today...

WCB #69

Here are the Couch Potatoes...need I say more? Actually, this is Mr. Mao's usual position, Madame Dutchess just likes to park herself on us when she wants to be fed, lest we forget about that. Head on over to The House of (Mostly) Black Cats for this weeks roundup of Weekend Cat Blogging.

WCB #68

Mr. Mao would love to wish Sarah Jane a very Happy 3rd 24th Birthday, and would be very happy to help Tiggy blow out some candles! Thanks for hosting WCB this week!