Fred And Alfie

 I'm going through my old photos to delete some and make space for my upcoming trip!

I try not to delete photos of my kids or the cats, but do I really need 20 photos of a stray cat?

As I was going through them, I noticed that there are a lot of photos of Fred and Alfie together, especially when Alfie was a kitten.

I thought I would share some here.

I love this photo; they both have the same pose. 

These two photos show them snuggled up together. 

The top photo looks like Fred is complaining about babysitting Alfie; the bottom one looks like Fred has resigned himself to being the big brother!

Somehow I like looking through these older photos.

I have to ask does everyones phone have a massive number of photos of their cats, with just a few of family members and friends thrown in? Or is that just me?

The Cats Have Recovered

They are all better; Frodo and Alan still have slightly croaky voices, but they are as vocal as ever. 

The weather is very cool. I can always tell when the weather is cool, as the cats start to snuggle together and fight more. The snuggling is cute; the fighting is not so cute!

We had a thunderstorm the other evening. Mama, Alfie and Toast squeezed into a box. I guess that's the same as me hiding under the bed covers!

Toast had gotten out when this photo was taken.

This morning Fred and Frodo were fighting again. I tried to distract them by playing with them for a few minutes. It kind of helped, but I then realised that the cats hadn't been fed since 5 a.m., and it was lunchtime!

Trying Another Cat Game

 Another idea from Instagram for entertaining the cats is to put treats in the empty middle of a toilet paper roll.

Hannah and I tried it out with Mama; that was more successful than Fluffy and the paper bag!

She got the treats, but it took effort and time, which I think is good for her.

I worry that the cats don't get enough entertainment or exercise in this house. The house is small; the cats are fighting more and marking a lot. Makes a lot of extra work for me. I want to add a sunroom onto the front of the house that can be a dedicated cat room, with walkways and shelves for them to jump on! But that will take a lot of money!

I guess I'll have to sell a lot of T-shirts!

Cat Enrichment

 I've seen these Instagram posts about providing indoor cats with fun things to do. Most of them involve hiding treats in something to make the cat work for them. I considered buying food puzzles, but they tend to be a bit expensive, so I thought using ideas from Instagram would be better.

One idea is to put treats into a paper bag and let the cat get them.

I tried this last night; it turned out to be very funny!

Poor Fluffy was just going round in circles! She got most of the treats; the rest I gave her for trying so hard!

I'm going to try a few other ones over the next few weeks. All the cats have now recovered from whatever they had, so now the fights are starting! I need to redirect their energy without exhausting myself!

Recovering

 The cats are getting better, slowly!

Frodo, who got sick first, is back to jumping on laps and wanting love! His voice is still a bit croaky, but he's always had a strange meow!

Mama and Sam are better. My son said one way to express good news and bad news in one sentence: Mama's voice is back! It's good news because that means she has recovered, bad news because she is very vocal!

Steve and Fred are a bit better; they had energy to start a fight yesterday, but their voices aren't that good!

Alan is still doing the silent meow and lying around a lot; Alfie and Toast are down, but not as miserable as the other cats- maybe a milder version. Fluffy is alright; she doesn't interact with the other cats so much!

I'm glad they are recovering; vets are too expensive to keep going!

Fluffy on the fridge

I didn't know she was up there!

I came into the kitchen last night and heard this meowing from above! At first, I couldn't see Fluffy; she was behind the box. When she came out, I jumped, she really gave me a fright!

Just the cats lying around!

Still Sick

 Most of the cats are still sick, but a lot better than a week ago.

Frodo, who was the first one to get sick, is a lot better; he's purring again, eating, drinking and using the litter box. He still isn't 100%, not racing around or fighting, but not hiding or just lying around.

Mama's voice is a lot better, but both Alan and Steve have lost their voices.

I think another week, and things will be back to normal; at least I hope so!

Having sick pets is not fun. It's so hard trying to figure out what's wrong; they can't say where it hurts or how they feel. It's a case of just watching them.

Fluffy drinking my water, as always!

Frodo looks a lot better.

Steve

 Steve has caught whatever the cats have been passing around.

He looked awful last night. He was lying with his mouth open and drooling.

I checked for an emergency vet, but the nearest place was 2 hours drive from here, and I didn't think the stress of being in a cage that long would be good for him.

I checked on Steve every couple of hours; he managed to sleep, which I think helps. This morning he was eating and drinking alright.

David took him to the vet; it's some kind of virus that the cats are passing around. Steve has antibiotics. 

Now seven of our nine cats have been sick. It's so quiet, as they have lost their voice. Frodo, who was the first one to get sick, is a lot better, still sleeping more than usual, but his appetite is back. I think in another week, everything will be back to normal chaos.

Steve