Monday, April 25, 2011

Mochi's Weekend Trauma

We had a bit of a kitty emergency this weekend that required a (rather expensive) trip to the 24-hour Willamette Veterinary Hospital. We noticed Mochi was squinting and occasionally rubbing at her left eye. At first we thought she'd just gotten a hair or dust or some other minor irritant in it, but the squinting continued for a few hours. Since we didn't want to risk any permanent eye damage, we took her in late Saturday night.

It's a good thing we did. She somehow had managed to get a scratch on her eye, which we were only able to see when they put a special dye on it that lights up under a blacklight (it also makes the nose light up, since tear ducts are what keep kitty noses moist, so that was kind of neat). Our best guess is that Mika may have accidentally clawed it when they were rough housing (they get pretty wild sometimes).

They gave us a soft Elizabethan collar to keep her from pawing at her eye and some ointment to apply directly on the eye twice a day for week (which, let me tell you, is no easy feat).

WVH (located on 3rd in south town Corvallis) was wonderful, and I would happily recommend them for any pet emergency you may have after usual vet hours. They were very nice and helpful. They even called and let our regular vet know that we had been there. They called me this morning and we have a followup appointment with our usual vet at Corvallis Cat Clinic on Friday.

Matt's been calling Mochi by some new nicknames since she this happened - mainly Winky and Umbrella Cat. Poor Mochi. You can see her patheticness for yourself:

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She's not looking too squinty here, but that's because she was curious about what I was doing.

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Sad kitty cry.

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She's also been sleeping a lot, and super extra affectionate. I'm sure the pain is tiring.

Saturday, April 23, 2011

Woodland Meadow Park

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Bought some new retractable leashes so the girls could have a little more leeway when we go outside. (If the leashes look taut in the pics, that's why. We're not actually tugging them.)

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And then, of course, we had to test them out, so we went to Woodland Meadow Park.

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Mochi always spends the beginning of any outing in crouch mode.

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Mika found herself a bird to stare at.

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She's always alert and excited for new adventures.

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Woodland Meadow Park is lovely, but there is one thing we didn't know about it (having never gone there before).

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It's an off-leash dog park.

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So whenever a dog came by, we scooped them up until the owners let us know the kitties were safe.

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There was much crouching and widening of eyes whenever a dog passed by.

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All were very well behaved, though. No one chased our kitties. There was one very large dog who was actually scared of them (and all cats), which we found amusing.

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The kitties were torn between intrigue and apprehension at every passing dog.

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Meow!

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They did pretty well though.

Eventually Mochi lead us down out of the park and wanted to walk around the neighborhood, so we did. Got a lot more actual walking done. They were pretty good about staying on the sidewalk and keeping up the pace.

I'm proud of our girls.

Sunday, April 10, 2011

Canon Kitties

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Borrowed the new work camera to get to know it a little.
(Canon Rebel T2i for those wondering.)

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Figured there's no better practice subjects than a couple pretty Bengals.

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They are extra pretty under such quality equipment.

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Mika kept wanting to walk into the lens.

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There was a bird in the tree out back keeping them entertained while I shot.

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Pretty, pretty kitty face.

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Played with the standard kit lens to start with, then switched to the macro.

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Macro chin?
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I love this shot.

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Had a hard time getting the girls to be still so I went out back.

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And shot through the glass. Mika didn't like being ditched.

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Meow!

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Poor abandoned kitties.

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MEOW!

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Someday I will own my own copy of this camera and macro lens. Hopefully someday soon.

Saturday, April 9, 2011

Backyard Explorer Cats

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The day was so beautiful yesterday we spent of chunk of the afternoon in the back yard.

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Sniff, sniff, sniff!

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The kitties appreciated that we haven't gotten around to mowing yet.

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There was some good grass nomming.

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A loud truck momentarily peaked their concern.

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They had a good time running around playing attack the sticks.

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Kitties look so pretty in the sun.

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Cracked Out Kitties

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ZOMG catnip!

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Mika and Mochi loooove the nip.

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Om nom nom nom.

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Mochi turns into a total spaz.

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Mochi: Not true!

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I happened to catch Mika mid-sneeze.

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Eventually they start to chill a little.

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Well.... Kind of.