Haha, no doubt. I giant ball I have to chase around to get my food. Or a pizza on a stick right in front of me as I run on the treadmill.

Oh yeah, cats. We have 5 cats 3 dogs. One of the cats, Ty, is really over weight, his belly almost touches the ground. But he is 13 years old at this point, figure he lived this long and he's ok. Besides how do you regulate food for 5 cats? 2 of the other cats have slight sag in the belly and they are the youngins. Cole is 3 and and Simmone is 4 years. The other 3 year old Cat, Pixel and the other 13 year old, Rascal are healthy bird catchers. garrr. All cats go in and out as they please.

It's guerilla kitty!!!

mandalin...i know you're a good kitty owner...sometimes however, kitties don't cooperate. Hang in there (:

And a MEOWEE good morning to everyone . . .

I'm a little late getting started around here this morning. Had to drop Jazz at the Vet for his regular blood curve. Although I have no problem with his insulin shots (and he really doesn't mind them), I wuss right out when it comes to the lancet in the ear vein routine to check his BGL. I know that those lancets hurt more than the really fine gauge insulin needles.

Got a real kick out of the Bourbon-drinking cat story. I don't have any drinkers; but Mouse definitely loves romaine lettuce. Steals it right out of the bag before I can even get it into the fridge.

Have a great kitty-kuddling day everybody . . . see you later . . .

What a bunch of cat lovers we are!!!

I have one in the house, Baby. She's solid white and almost 7 years old. She got REALLY sick about a year ago and I found out she has diabetes. She gets two units of insulin/day (one in a.m. and one in p.m.) and is on a special diet of Feline DM. She's worth every penny I spend on her.

My outside cats--the REGULARS--are Possum Kitty, Sissy, Thomas, Wild Kitty, Marla, Momma, Wolf Kitty, and Striped Kitty. Did I forget anyone?.......Hmmmmm........No, I think that's all. I figure at some point Wolf Kitty and Striped Kitty will hit the road (Thomas is VERY territorial!). Anyway, that's 8 outside cats. I didn't count the baby kitten(s).

Oh!! Almost forgot!

Do any of y'all have a self-cleaning litter box? Baby drinks about a quart of water/day, which, of course, goes in her litter box!! Since I've been pregnant, changing that box makes me SICK like you wouldn't believe!

I'd like some feedback on if it's worth the $$ to buy a self-cleaning box. The one I'm considering is a Litter Maid that costs about $80.

4myself, it has been a while - like I am expecting the 4th grandchild soon, but isn't there some reason you aren't supposed to change the litter box while pregnant? Some microorganism that affects the fetus? I was thinking about an electric litter box and I think there are some reviews online. Just google something like "electric litter box reviews".

When Angel had her eleven puppies, I ordered the vaccine material online and gave the puppies their shots myself. It turned out to be pretty easy. The puppies acted like they didn't even feel it. I got a bit over confident, and was yakking and injecting at the same time and ran the needle right through the puppy and into my finger. My DH volunteered to take me to the vet for treatment if I started barking.

Yes . . . I've also heard that pregnant women should stay away from litter boxes. Get DH to take over those chores for the time being.

With only one indoor cat, the automatic litter pan might work well. they are fairly small though and with my six, the cost becomes prohibitive. Jazz leaves awfully large urine deposits in the litter as well. It's part of being diabetic, unfortunately. Luckily I use the toilet.

Actually, when I found out I was pregnant, I called my vet before I called my OB/GYN to make sure I could keep my cat.

I've had Baby (inside) since she was around 4 weeks old. She was barely weaned when I got her. She's a fully-inside cat.

Plus, I'm 31 and have been around cats all my life. Both the vet and the dr assured me that if I were going to be exposed to toxoplasmosis, I already have been and am probably immune to it at this point.

No worries about the cat litter from that angle. It just makes me

Glad to hear that . . . still sounds like a good enough reason for DH to take over litter duty.

Tried that--his suggestion was to get rid of the cat.

No thanks!

Non-cat lovers just don't understand!

Well, I guess your husband is just not a pooper scooper! Roger is always barfing up things that he eats that disagree with him. That makes me feel nauseous and I'm not even pg.

Glad it's ok to clean the box. Given what you say about being around cats etc, I must be the same way and needn't have worried about cat poop during pregnancy.

Very glad, Meowee, that you don't use a litter box. Were that the case, I would say you have more than your weight to be concerned about.

Well . . . I do sometimes making purring-type noises when talking to my cats.

Anyway . . . Jazz is home (and happy to be here I might add) . . . but, at risk of bringing you down guys, I just need to share his update with you because I know you will all understand . . .

Unfortuntely, 3 units twice a day is leaving him way too high again. Two weeks ago, 5 units twice a day was putting him really, really low. Once again I've been told how difficult it is to regulate older cats and not to get my hopes up that he will ever really stabilize. We will now try 4 units twice a day for the next couple of weeks. Guess there's pretty much no place else to go if that doesn't do it.

Think I need to go cuddle a cat right now. . .

I bought them a new toy - a "thing in a bag". Its a paper bag with a little random vibration thing inside it so cats will chase it.

The skinny cat pounced away on it, batting it and having a grand ol' time. The fat cat fell asleep on it, flinching slightly every time it went off.

The pet store only had the treat ball things for dogs, and Bob's food is in pieces too small to be held in, so he knocks it once and all the food rolls out. Sigh.

On the self-cleaning litterbox - we had one with the two cats and we ended up getting rid of it. the little disposable containers fill up WAY too quickly (especially if your cat is drinking so much!) and then start overflowing and jamming...you'd basically have to use a new disposable waste container every day to keep it under control

If I may make a suggestion, have you tried Feline Pine litter? Specifically the Feline Pine Clumping litter? This stuff is AMAZING. Completely changed the smell of the litterbox, biodegradable, clumping, can be flushed...even if the litterbox is fairly dirty, it smells like pine. Our cats like it better, too, and its cheaper than regular litter.

It can be a little hard to find, though. I buy mine at Target.

The self-cleaning litter box would only be a problem when I go out of town--I don't mind the expense if it makes my cat (and ME!!) happy. Even then, though, I think it would be easier to get DH to empty it than to clean the box while I'm gone.

I can't imagine how my house would smell after 4 days of dirty litter .

The feline pine sounds like a good idea, too. And it's flushable??? Sounds too good to be true! I'll have to check it out, too.