Frodo

 Having nine cats means that there is always some drama!

Fights, racing around, knocking over water bowls and the occasional litter box accident. That's normal; one of the first T-shirts I designed said "81 lives, endless chaos", and it is!

The past couple of days, however, the cats have been very quiet, especially Frodo.

Frodo is one of the cats that always greets David when he comes home from work. Frodo purrs and meows, wanting to be held and petted. This morning, however, Frodo just sat, looking at David. No purring, no jumping up to get on David's lap, just sitting there. So David took Frodo to the vet; he thought that Frodo might have a cold. The vet checked but no cold, so they did a few tests, but there's nothing wrong. The only thing I can think of is the dramatic change in the weather, almost overnight! For the past couple of months, it's been in the upper 30℃, yesterday in dropped to the lower 20℃. 

I hope Frodo feels better soon!

Frodo checking out the box, hoping for cat food!

Alfie

 Alfie is my other grey and white cat.

He's usually very quiet; he isn't a people cat. He likes a few pets, but definitely on his terms. No sitting on laps, no belly rubs either.

However, over the past couple of weeks, he has become a terror, usually attacking Toast as they are similar in size. Occasionally he'll go after Steve, who is a lot bigger! He actually seems to win these fights!

Alfie, looking serious.

Most of these attacks are at night, which means I'm constantly being woken up! 

I've had to separate Fred from Steve, Alan, and Frodo; I don't have enough rooms to separate Alfie from the other cats as well. 

I'll try to spend more time playing with them and see if that will help. I really don't know what else to do!

He is cute, though.

Toast

  A few weeks ago, Toast got out and stayed out for about a week!

During that time, David tried to get Toast back. He put out food and water for him, even bought a trap, but ended up catching one of the neighbour's cats instead.

At one point, David chased Toast, but of course Toast was faster and got into a small space where David couldn't reach!

Finally, David caught Toast and got him back inside. Now, however, Toast is scared of David. Whenever David comes into the same room as Toast, Toast takes off! If David feeds the cats, Toast won't eat until David has moved away!

This was Toast the other day! David was standing behind me in the doorway, so Toast couldn't get out!

Poor Toast, he looks really scared!

Fluffy

 Fluffy is doing a lot better. 

We've been giving her the medicine she got from the vet twice a day. Actually, David gives her the medicine; he can just put it in her mouth and make her swallow it! If I try, I mix it with some wet food, but somehow she manages to eat around the medicine, and I'm never sure she has taken the full dose.

A lot better

The sores on her head are almost healed, but she is still scratching too much, so we have to keep the collar on her for a bit longer.

She is alright in herself, eating, begging for chicken, drinking, and using the litter box alright! With Fluffy, I know that she isn't well when she isn't shouting at me when I get chicken out to cook!

We've had this problem with her for the past few years. I'm going to look into some preventive ideas, as I hate seeing her suffer like this every summer!

Poor Fluffy

 Fluffy had to go to the vet's today, again!

She went last week as the sores on her face and leg were open and red; every time she got her collar off, she would scratch at her face like crazy, making the sores bleed again. I was worried that she'd get an infection.

Hannah took her today. According to the vet, Fluffy might have atopic dermatitis, a skin condition caused by environmental allergens. The vet gave an injection and some meds but asked that we bring her back next week after the holiday; this week is a holiday in Japan.

I feel so sorry for Fluffy; she is such a lovely cat, very laid back, and seldom gets into fights or runs away.

She loves a bit of chicken and a few treats; she also loves drinking out of my water glass at lunch every day. I have 2 glasses of water on the table at lunchtime because I know I'm going to lose one.

I hope she gets better soon, as she is really miserable. It's heartbreaking to see how bad she looks!

She got her collar off and scratched her forehead.

Peaking out of her bed!

I know having pets means being responsible for them, making sure that their lives are well lived. I forgot how much heartache they can cause.

Yet Again

 Mama and Toast got out!

This time they were out for just a couple of hours!

What I don't understand is that they cry to go out, they find a way to escape and then sit outside crying like they are the victims!

There's a door to the outside in the bathroom; this house was built as a farmhouse, so having an entrance to the shower/bathroom made sense. You can step into a wet room without tracking mud all through the house!

When Mama got out, we could hear her near that door. My daughter decided to close off the bathroom and leave that door open so Mama could get in. Good idea, but we have a lot of wild animals in this area: wild hogs are the scariest, but raccoon dogs, snakes, lizards, and, of course, other cats! I told my daughter that if any of the other animals come in, she has to deal with them!

Fortunately, just Mama came in!

Mama

Toast came back about an hour later.

I'm glad that it wasn't another week of looking for them!

Quick Update

 We, both humans and cats, are suffering from the heat!

It's been so hot here; last Monday it was 40℃, that's crazy hot!

We bought an air conditioner for our main room, but the cats prefer the corridor. Typical cat behaviour; we bought the air conditioner because of the cats, but they prefer the corridor.

I think that with the air conditioner in my room at one end of the corridor and the new one in the room at the other end of the corridor, the corridor feels a bit cooler, without feeling cold!

Alfie found a box to sit on!

Just hanging out in the corridor

David walked toward the cupboard where the food is and got surrounded by cats!

Poor Fluffy!

Fluffy looks a lot worse than she is! She has some ointment for those scratches.

This morning I was chopping up some cooked chicken; Fluffy charged from the other end of the room, full meow! Yes, she's being fed, but when it comes to chicken, she acts as if her last meal was days ago instead of a few hours!

Any tips for keeping the cats cool?