Thursday, December 29, 2011

Fun with Turrets

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Mika and Mochi only got a cheapy fish stick toy from us on Christmas day, since their real present was rather extravagant. (Cheap or not, they adore this new colorful toy and play with it daily. Sorry I don't have any other pics of it at the moment.)

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Of course that didn't mean they couldn't get fun Christmas toys from other sources (thanks Mama).

But this post is actually more about one of Matt's gifts from me: the talking Portal Turret from ThinkGeek.

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It lights up, talks just like the turrets from the game, and makes shooting noises.

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The girls like to be involved in everything. This is the norm. In fact, Mika is standing on my mouse rest right now while I type this and Mochi just curled up next to me in her bed to supervise. They always need to be included!

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Mika checks out the turret, set aglow from the red light.

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Good thing it's not a real turret, or we'd need replacement cats.

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Sniff, sniff, sniff! It's oh so interesting!

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Love how high alert Mika's face is here. She looks a little silly/crazy.

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I swear I didn't pose them. They just took turns stationing themselves by the turret when it would start making noise.

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

The Wheel

Mika and Mochi's Christmas present arrived today.

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The girls don't have nearly as much running around space as they did in our previous house. And now that it's winter, we haven't been spending quite as much time outside. Mika and Mochi have been little furry balls of crazy so we decided to get something to help with that pent up energy.

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Mika wasn't sure what to think for about 10 seconds.

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I grabbed her favorite stick toy and put her on the wheel, and she almost instantly started walking toward the fish toy.

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There are no pictures of Mochi in the wheel, because she is much more uncertain about it. I got her to walk in it a little with much prompting, blocking her exit, and a few inquisitive meows. But as you can see...

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...she's more or less keeping her distance for now, but likes to watch Mika. I'm sure she'll warm up to it over the next couple days. Mika's always been the more assertive one when it comes to new things. Mika has been going in and out of the wheel on her own since my first little tutorial with her.

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So glad she likes it.

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Mika's Nose

UPDATE 2017: I have not needed to use tacro for a number of years now. I manage Mika's dryness with coconut oil and it's never as bad as it was when she was younger. If you can't afford tacro or have a mild case of bengal nose, start with coconut oil! Less expensive and safe to ingest.

UPDATE 09/29/2012: The tacro is still doing the job with our once-a-day applications and we're not even a third of the way through our tube of it after a year of treatment. Totally worth that upfront cost for how long it lasts. We find it's best if it is applied to the bridge of the nose as well as the nose itself.

Original post: 
Mika has had a chronic dry and cracked nose pretty consistently the whole time we've had her. We worked with our awesome vet to find a solution to the problem, first trying glycerin as a moisturizer. It helped a little but didn't solve the problem. She did some more research and discovered that she likely has a breed related keratinization disorder. I'll include more information about that at the end of the post for those who are interested in knowing more.

Here's a picture from before the treatment (originally from this post):

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Our vet's recommended treatment was tacrolimus ointment, which is sometimes used to treat severe eczema in people. It was not exactly a cheap upfront cost, but a little goes a long way. We started with twice a day applications (we started treatment in late September) and have since backed off to once a day. I apply a thin layer to her nose using a q-tip and then hold onto her while it absorbs so that she doesn't lick it. We usually end with a play session, to continue to distract her from licking. Her nose has healed tremendously and is looking plumper and healthier now.

This picture was taken about a month and a half into the treatment:

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Pretty drastic improvement, yeah? I don't have any more recent pictures than this one at the moment. But her nose is free of cracks and is no longer dry and she is breathing much easier. If you want more info about the dermatitis she has, you can read more after the jump.

Also: if you're local, Corvallis Cat Care is the way to go for your beloved felines. They are really great. We love our vet Carissa and appreciate how much time she spent helping us find answers to this problem. :)

Sunday, October 23, 2011

Snuggly Meows

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Caught Mika and Mochi fast asleep in this adorable position and had to capture it. 

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Unfortunately it's the only shot I managed to get, since the camera woke Mochi up. 

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Such sleepy, sleepy girls, wondering why I'm intruding on their blissful slumber.

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Alright, ladies. I'll let you go back to napping now.

Sunday, October 9, 2011

Squeaky Clean

The girls caused quite a bit of drama this weekend.

In the approximately half hour span we were gone in the evening on Friday picking up food for dinner, the kitties managed to knock a large and mostly full container of liquid laundry detergent off of the washing machine and onto the floor.

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As luck would have it, it landed on the pour spout which burst open from the impact and spilled most of its contents onto our kitchen floor. Not only did it make an unpleasantly large mess and waste quite a few laundry loads worth of detergent, but the girls must have walked through the soap at some point.

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Of course soapy paws means a need to get clean so grooming must have commenced. Unfortunately laundry detergent isn't great for digestion, so after Matt and I worked on getting most the soap cleaned up, we noticed Mochi was making weird gurgling noises in her throat while breathing. After some debate and watching her for a bit, we made the dreaded emergency vet call and it was off to Willamette Valley Vet Clinic for Mochi and me while Matt stayed behind to continue scrubbing the suds off the floors (our floors are super clean now!).

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An expensive general check up and xray later ended us with a "wait and see" solution coupled with some pills to dissolve and administer via syringe in the mouth to help coat the throat and tummy from further damage. While this was happening I got a call from Matt telling me Mika started exhibiting the same symptoms. Good times, indeed.

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The girls are doing much better now. They are still coughing off and on and their meows are really pathetic and raspy/squeaky (kind of like how people sound when they get laryngitis), but they are on the mend. And the laundry soap is now safely stowed under the sink instead of anywhere in the open. Curious kitties make for expensive pets - the lazy ones don't cause near so much damage to themselves incurring expensive after hours vet visits. But that's okay. We love our ladies dearly, so they are worth it.

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On the bright side: at least the girls got some good play time in with their new Dollar Tree cat toys before the drama commenced only hours after these pictures.

Monday, August 8, 2011

Mika and Mochi's First Birthday

Today is Mika and Mochi's first birthday!

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Our celebrating started yesterday with a trip to Petco to pick up a few new goodies.

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There must be more good stuff hiding in here...

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Mika: ZOMG toys!

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There was much flinging of crinkle balls and mice.

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And pouncing too.

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Followed by some resting.

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Then today I picked up a catnip plant for them on the way home from work.

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Sniff, sniff, sniff!

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And they got a yummy treat of baked chicken for dinner.

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All in all, a pretty good birthday.

Sunday, July 10, 2011

Porter Park

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We've taken the girls to Porter Park a few times now.

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 But I've been bad about bringing the camera with us. Shame on me.

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Parks always bring out alert kitty face.

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Ooh, a bug. Pounce!

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It got away.

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There was much bounding by both girls.

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Mika always gets frizzy when she bounds around outside.

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Mochi loves to climb the trees.

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Though she didn't make it much further than this yesterday.

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So Matt took it upon himself to help her out a bit.

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Saturday, July 9, 2011

Odd Sleeping Position

This is the girls' first summer, and they tend to get a bit dramatic when it starts getting into the 80s and up. On one of our hotter days, I came into the living room to find Mochi fast asleep with her hind quarters in the air and it was too hilarious not to capture.

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I'm not sure if it was the flash or my laughing at her that woke her up.

Saturday, June 25, 2011

Mika's New Toy

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Mika's got her pounce face on.

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We took the girls to Petco and picked up a couple new toys.

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Mika absolutely loves the little mice that squeak/chirp when touched.

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She wore out her last one so we got a new one.

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This one's eyes even light up with it squeaks.

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Can you tell she likes it?

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Mochi: Can I play too?