Mika's New Toy

Mika's got her pounce face on.

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

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

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

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

Can you tell she likes it?

Mochi: Can I play too?

Making New Friends: Dorian

The weather was so nice this weekend, we took the girls to a park not far from home.

Our friends Amy and Anthony came along and brought their lhasa apso with them.

His name is Dorian.

Dorian did his best to make himself as small as possible when the girls were around.
He wanted so badly to be friends.

Mochi wasn't sure what to think at first.

But it didn't take her too long to warm up to him.

Mochi even tried to rub against him a couple times, but he got so wiggly with excitement whenever she got close, she changed her mind.

Mika, meanwhile, was wandering the sidewalks surrounding the park with Matt.

Both girls seem to prefer to be on paths.
I think having a clear direction to go makes them feel more comfortable.

Mochi and I actually had ourselves a little jog around the path at one point.

Mika let us know when it was time to go.

She led Matt directly to our car and waited for him to open the door.

Mochi followed close behind. Both were panting a bit from the hot day.

Mika spent the rest of the evening napping just like this.
Mochi was at the other end of the couch in her cat bed.

Poor tired meows.

New Digs

Mika: O HAI. Have you missed us?

The past few weeks have flown by in a blur of busy - I was in Boston on a business trip and then came back and signed a lease to a new place and MOVED! Life (and the blog schedule) should pretty much return to normalcy now.

The best part about the new place? Loads of windows for Mika and Mochi.

Their short tower now lives in our dining room.

Gives them easy window access and keeps them off the table. Mostly.

Their favorite spot is the living room window.

Especially when our resident scrub jay is hanging around in the tree outside.

We're thinking about buying him a bird feeder to increase the entertainment factor for the girls.

Of course, they still enjoy their taller tower too.

Peekaboo, Mikachu.

Thanks for posing, girls.

Trying to blend in, Moch?

The first few days they were pretty nervous.

But they seem to be settling in pretty well now.

(PS: If you're wondering about poor Mika's nose, she's had a chronic dry nose issue since we got her. She's otherwise perfectly healthy, so we try to keep it moisturized daily with glycerine per our vet's suggestion, but it leaves her nose a little snotty. I help her clear it very couple days which, as you can imagine, she just looooves. And by love I mean detests.)

Reclining

Wanted to squeeze in a kitty post before I take off for Boston tomorrow morning (going to/speaking at an immersive education conference), since I'm a week behind. Didn't want it to turn into yet another week.

For those wondering about Mochi's eye, it's all healed up nicely. She had to wear her collar for a full week, but she was shockingly compliant about it. Once we took it off she went absolutely nuts for about 3 days straight. Furry ball of energy racing around the house full speed. Mochi the blur.

Recently, though, the girls have found a new favorite place to nap: my recliner. They have figured out how to get the back to go down and think it makes a fabulous place to curl up.

Mochi: What? It's not like you were sitting here.

Mika: Ooh. That looks comfy.

Mika waits her turn.

Biiiig kitty smile.

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:

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

Sad kitty cry.

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

Woodland Meadow Park

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.)

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

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

Mika found herself a bird to stare at.

She's always alert and excited for new adventures.

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

It's an off-leash dog park.

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

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

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.

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

Meow!

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.