My Chunky Lads

 I wrote before that Steve, my white cat, was getting rather chunky! Looks like Fred is following in his footsteps!

Steve, a couple of years ago

And now

Fred is the same.

Fred before

And now

One suggestion I've received is to switch to wet food, as it contains more water, so they fill up but eat less. This makes a lot of sense to me! I eat a lot of soups because I'm trying to lose weight. I feel full quicker, but I'm not eating as much.

Also, I'm trying to get them to move more. But I think I'm getting more exercise than they are. I run up and down the corridor with one of their wand toys, hoping that they will follow me. They do for a bit, but the other cats get in the way, so Fred and Steve give up. The only time they really run is when they hear the food cupboard being opened!

This was Steve this morning. He's being all lovely and purring because he wants breakfast!

Sorry, the video isn't that great. I really have to learn how to take better videos!

Even More Photos

 As I said in my last post, I have 1000's of photos of my cats. I have more photos of my cats than I do of my kids!

Here are a few more!

This is Mama Cat's second litter.

I have 3 ginger cats, so I'm not sure who is who!

They get cute very quickly!

Fred is the older cat, Alfie the kitten

Fred and Alfie always seemed to hang out together!

Playing

I was worried when the second litter was born about the older cats. I was surprised to see the older cats were rather gentle with the kittens, until the kittens could fight back. 

Looks like Steve, the white cat, is babysitting!!

I'll sort some more photos and post them later!

Photos

 Do other pet parents have the same problem, thousands of photos?

I keep running low on storage on Google Photos. I try to download as many as I can, but still too many! And most of them are of the cats!

I spent an hour moving some to Amazon Photos. I thought I would share some here over the next few posts!

These are from when Mama Cat first turned up and her first litter!

Outside the window, crying!

She was so small

First time inside

Then with her first litter.

Mama and babies

Still with eyes closed

Tiny Alan 

She has a very expressive face.

Fred and Steve

I wonder what she was shouting at!

It's hard to believe that was 7 years ago. I can't imagine life without these cats now!

Fluffy..Again

 As the weather cools down, Fluffy's fur improves a lot. She is the only cat with long fur. She overgrooms in the hot weather, but not once it cools down.  Now her fur is nice and soft.

She prefers people food! Whenever I'm cooking, she hangs about in the kitchen. Until I get the meat out, she just sits and watches me. Once I open a pack of meat, she starts to really meow! She puts her front paws on the unit, standing on her hind legs, begging for meat, especially chicken. I usually cook her a bit of meat, but she gets very impatient! I end up telling her to wait.

She always sits on the edge of the counter or table.

Creeping along the sink

Fluffy's parrot impression

She also gets on the table when we are eating! Sometimes David or I will give her a bit of meat, but I'm trying to discourage her from getting on the table.

I do clean the counter and table after Fluffy has been on there. I tried to stop her, but it's actually easier to clean than to stop her!

Sorry, Long Time No Post

 The past month has been very busy. As the weather has cooled down, I've been trying to do a deep clean of the house.

I'm having problems with my white cat, Steve. He has become rather chunky!

Chunky Steve

I've been trying to limit his food and get him to move more, but it isn't easy! When he's hungry or it's near feeding time, he becomes very vocal.

He can still jump onto the counter, and he is grooming himself alright, but I'm worried that if he gains any more, he could get sick!

So diet time for me and Steve!!!!

Fred

 Fred is the one cat I struggle with. He's a lovely cat but very aggressive, if there's a fight, I know he will be in the middle of it! I think part of it is that he was bullied by his littermates when he was a kitten, and now he attacks instead of waiting to be attacked!

I try to play with him, get him to interact with the other cats in a friendly way, it helps, but then a couple of days later, they are back to fighting!

I've tried the reintroduction method a few times, but it doesn't seem to work!

Today I was looking through the photos of Fred, wondering where I went wrong!

I decided to put together some, enjoy!

I enjoyed making this, it's another skill to learn!!

Catnip Party

  Recently, Mama Cat has been getting out! We aren't sure how, but she manages to escape every few days. I think she stays in the garden, but there are so many wild creatures here that it could be dangerous. My biggest concern is the presence of wild hogs and snakes. Even some of the insects are rather large and venomous.

One of the most frustrating things is that she comes back to the window and just meows. We open the window, but she doesn't get in! This was the situation last night.

She came to the big sliding window in the dining area. David opened the window, but she just sat, out of reach, meowing. The other cats could hear her and headed for the window. This could have gone downhill fast, 5 cats trying to get out, Mama cat mewoing, David, trying to stop the other cats and reach for Mama, at the same time. Finally, David closed the window, but the cats were crowded around it. There was no way to open it again with them charging out! We tried moving the cats, but it was a case of moving one and two took it's place! 

I came up with the brilliant idea to get some treats and catnip. The treats to entice Mama Cat, the catnip to distract the other cats!

This was the result!