He just came back in a few minutes ago… he was so heavy I couldn’t even hold him on one arm and open the door with the remaining hand. To think that he was such a lean little kit just a few hours ago! Now if I wasn’t so sure he’s a guy, I’d assume he’s pregnant and about to give birth. HONESTLY! Those cats beat me up…

Then he quickly lied down and started his slow digestion. We expect him to barf it all out at any moment now, so we locked him up in the kitchen; we thought it was safe until he retreated in a far corner… behind the dryer… and started his ceremonial hick-ups. Now we dragged him out as gently as we could and let him finish his job at a more accessible spot.

On a brighter note, we got a lovely little postcard from our favorite vet who was reminding us that it was time for the kittens’ booster shots.  It’s the first time this ever happens and we are really glad to have found such a caring (and CHEAP!) vet.  Oh well!  Appointment in two days…

That’s all I’ve got to say.  Hope you’re all having a purr-fect day!

The cats are all doing wonderful – say, in FEELING.  But Kashmir has again started to pee on of the litterbox, and tomorrow or Tuesday is another trip to the vet!  This time I think we will get Revolution for the three of them – plus, booster shots for the babies.

No recent pictures to share… with the new school and the pile of homework I get every day, I barely have the time to feed those cats!  But yesterday, we went to the NDG Pet Fair – a yearly neighbourhood party with hotdogs and a doggy parade.  It was rather boring but I met such lovely dogs!  I should have brought the camera, but FORGOT… can you believe it?  The event of the year and I had to go and forget the camera… ah well, it doesn’t take good pictures anyway.  I know what I want for Christmas!

That’s all there is for today.  Wishing you people a lovely week, and don’t forget to hug your pets!  And check out at www.petsweekly.com – there’s a new update on my friend’s lovely website.

Now the trip back home was *ahem* quite exciting. Let’s say, it turned out great at the end, but started quite, let’s say… freaky. We left at about 3:00 PM (needless to say, my dad, the driver, was quite exhausted by then) and we were barely an hour and a half through the drive when a HUGE truck passed us abruptly and slipped right in front of us. It wasn’t really dangerous but when he started going slower and faster and the slowing down again… we wondered what the HELL was going on. Finally when he was going so slow, somebody honked a horn behind us (at least, right then we thought it was because he was going slow… but let me finish my story first), we decided to pass him. As we looked up we saw the guy shaking his arm and gawking at us with enormous eyes, obviously trying to get a message across. So we couldn’t do anything but park by the side of the highway…

So the trucker parked right behind us (I cringed when I saw this MONSTRUOUS machine at our heels, but fear not, readers – he knew how to park…) and my dad got out to speak to him. Turns out we had lost some stuff… See, we are a very messy family. We bring our messes with us when we travel. We have a FULL car. And a FULL trailer. And, also, a FULL rooftop trunk or whatcha-may-callit… You know, a big grey box that you open and close and stick to the roof of the car. And yes, it was not locked! So after a while it finally opened *argh* and stuff flew right out… Thank God for this wonderful trucker. I have a totally new opinion on them now – nope, they aren’t all devils who fall asleep on the highway like one of them once did in front of us… Oh, I’m not telling you they’re all bad. Just a few! If I could go back to any moment in the past I’d like to go hug this very trucker and say thanks.

So we had no choice but drive on to the next exit, which was fifteen minutes away. As we turned in the intersection we saw a car parked by the side of the road and yes, two ladies frantically waving at us. Here are the two thoughts that crossed my mind right then: “What the Hell?” (I think that a lot these days) and “Nooo, please, no more trouble…” But acting as the good Samaritans we might or might not be, we stopped by the side of the road and opened the window. I had the surprise of my life just then. “Did you lose anything on the road?” asked one of the ladies.

They were two kind French tourists who were driving right behind us when the rooftop trunk or whatcha-may-callit opened. And yes, the people who had honked at us. Let’s say, I first thought they had stopped at the next exit to wait for us, but then realized – they didn’t have much choice. Under their car, stuck there… our bicycle bag… So, they’d waited for us and recognized us. We’re very recognizable with our trailer and watcha-may-callit… plus, we’ve got about the oldest car in the neighbourhood. Older than I am!

So, Dad got out and helped them lift the car to tear the bicycle bag away. Let’s say I won’t refer to it anymore as a bicycle bag. By then, it was a bunch of melted, torn fabric… Never mind the “bicycle bag”…

The ladies spoke to us for a few minutes, letting us know about where the stuff flew out and how many items they spotted; they said they saw two helmets (*ahem* and they had to drive over one of them) and an “un-identified object” (my dad is the only person I know who keeps EVERYTHING that has to do with shaving or brushing your hair, in a little leather bag…). So, after having thanked them, away we drive (I never thought once in my life that someday we would spend half-an-hour slowly driving at the side of a four-lane highway… looking for helmets!) and finally we arrive to the spot where everything flew away. Thank goodness, my own helmet was the first thing we saw – safe and sound. My dad found his little leather bag. Thankfully the stuff inside was all okay, but the bag… well, the bag… let’s say I won’t mention how it looked. All I can say is, too bad they don’t make them anymore.

The last thing we found was a little strap of nylon – the last thing we ever saw of my disappointed sister’s helmet. Yes, her brand new $40 helmet… That was sad. But, life’s like that!!

Through all this the cats were fine. Sacha slept all along under the driver’s seat (waking up at every stop, asking us with his eyes: ARE WE THERE YET?), and the two kittens that get bigger by the day were crammed in their kitten-cage. Soon enough, Kashmir started attacking his brother, so finally I DRAGGED him out of that frickin’ cage and forced him on my knees. He slept peacefully for the rest of the trip. My legs still hurt…

I have to go now… Hopefully this has somehow updated you on me and my kitties. The cats are doing GREAT! And thanks to Stacy who sent em those delicious treats, they are mad about them. That’s why I have to go now – they keep begging… Stacy, it’s all your fault if I gotta go! Just kidding.

Sacha probably won’t agree, though. He is miserable in Montreal… Now that he can finally go back outside (yup, we let him go yesterday morning – it just wasn’t right to torture him so much, and his medication is over now) I worry that he’ll disappear as soon as he spies the trailer hitched up to the car. I know that he understands what it means – a big trip… He enjoys those five hour trips, but only when they lead to the countryside. He knows what it means when we’re in the countryside and the trailer is hitched… Ahoy, Montreal!!

I just can’t wait to be there. It isn’t much safer for the cats but it’s just much nicer… They never go far when we’re in town – just too boring, I’m sure they think – and besides I know that if something happens we’re surrounded by people who actually CARE about cats. People who will try to find the cat’s human. Here, if a cat has a problem, nobody cares. That’s what I hate about the people here. A cat, to them, is a mouse-eater and a creature who digs up their vegetable garden. They couldn’t give a hoot if they saw a kitty in trouble!

I’ll update when we’re back in Montreal – and I’ll transfer some photos, too. It’s about time you see a recent picture of my littler buggers.

Yes, Kashmir has learned how to sit pretty!  The photo above doesn’t show him in his best moment (usually he gets the two little paws up in such a sweet manner) but I wasn’t able to take a better shot of this adorable trick.  But the funniest thing is…  Sacha can sit pretty too!  And since he’s got one BIG bottom to rest on he does it even better than his little brother…  I’ve got to take a picture of that one, but for the time being he’s eaten enough biscuits.  His bottom needn’t get any bigger…

Yup, I am training Sacha too.  He isn’t as lazy as I thought, though I don’t expect he’ll jump through hoops very soon!  I first tried training him “kiss”, but that requires a certain amount of love and trust, and he doesn’t have enough.   Yes, my cat hates me.  To him, I am a machine that fills the food & water bowls, cuddles him when he’s sad and scolds him when he’s bad.  But oh, no never! Never will I be a cat like him!  I am a lowly human…

Ah well, I must say, it’s better than being a lowly mouse.  I wouldn’t want to be bitten to death by this unworldly creature.  Though one thing I discovered when clicker-training him: by far, he’s got the strongest jaws!  Is there any way you can clicker-train a cat not to eat your fingers along with the treats?!

Pollux giving me a high-five (794 KB)

Kashmir kissing me! (623 KB)

Sacha’s rear end coming out from the window – the rest was preparing to jump two meters to the ground… Needless to say, Dad lost no time and snatched his tail to yank him back in. Poor Sacha – once again, he had to accept the fact that he was still our unhappy little prisoner…

Of course, he was fleeting mad! He first attempted to murder his little brothers (who are doing very well with their clicker-training, by the way!), then he tried to commit suicide by climbing up his giant scratchpost for the first time in months, and finally, he decided that the best way to get outside was to destroy the wall.

Obviously I wouldn’t let him scratch my room to shreds, so I picked him up (he was so furious that he was purring!) and placed him on my bed. Sitting down next to him, I placed my hand on his tummy and let him bite me savagely.

“Go ahead, let it out,” I told him as he clawed my hands with fierce relish. He really needed to let out his anger, so I let him do.

Then he started meowing. He growled and he cried plaintively and he howled and he let out deep, painful meows. He sounded like he was letting me know about all of his miseries in his long, mournful song, and as I listened and petted him he bit and scratched softly as he went on with his heavyhearted complaining.

I must admit I was quite amazed; did Sacha really understand when I told him to “let it out”? When he finally stopped chanting his melancholic music and looked at me with miserable eyes, I stood up.

That’s when I noticed that, all along, I had been sitting on his tail…

Silver was found in Aloha, OR. I’m not sure if they made up the name, or if she was wearing a collar with only her name on. Gives us a lesson – a name is useless if your cat is lost, it needs a phone number!

Have you lost a black cat/kitten? This one was found in Mesa, AZ, and wants her mama badly…

This is what Sacha looked like when he came back home yesterday afternoon!  Needless to say, it wasn’t the prettiest of sights (I won’t post a close-up picture, for your sake…) but it feels good to know that he’s doing better.  After having shaved part of his forehead the vet thoroughly cleaned the wound so now he’s staying inside for a long time so it doesn’t infect again.  And I just DON’T want him to meet another fox!!

So Sacha is doing great; we have some pills to give him daily, and the vet told us to rub some antibiotic ointment on the “hole” – yup, it looks like a hole.  (Poor Sacha, I hear him yowling now as he gets his treatment…)

As for the kittens, Pollux is doing great with the clicker-training; he now gives me high-fives and this is just too sweet!  Kashmir, though, has decided to learn everything until the step when he has to high-five, so I’ll have to proceed in smaller steps; right now, he can touch a stick with his nose on command, which enables me to teach him other simple tricks such as “sitting pretty” and “kiss me sweet“.  I hope that he will at least be able to learn this.  It is so cute to be sitting on the floor with two cats at my side, so eager to learn!  I never thought that cats could be trained.  I wonder if sheep could learn how to “sit” and “lie down” – I’m sure they’d be smart enough.  Only, nobody’s ever tried…

I should get a couple of sheep one day just to see.

Anyway, I will update you more tomorrow.  I am kind of tired right now!