Cat Cafe in NYC

catucinnoHave you heard about the Purina Pop-up Cat Cafe in NYC? (My first thought was actually “How is this allowed by the health department?” Apparently because they are giving away the drinks for free and the food is from off the premises). The line is already around the block, so I won’t be visiting (it’s only around for a few days, and if I want to drink coffee and pet a cat, I can head home!) You can actually watch a live-stream from the cafe, though. These cat-uccinos look cute!

Back in Action

Charleycat

 

Poor Charley cat. He’s really been through a lot lately. He’s had to put up with a baby, who is now a toddler, and still freaks him out a bit. He lost his sweet brother. And now, we moved to a new house. Not only did we move to a new house, Charley had to get cat-sat at someone else’s house for a few days while we did some moving stuff… and that house had a dog. A dog! But that wasn’t the end of it. The dog came back to the new house for a few days to be dog-sat! Oh, it never ended for poor Charley. A dog? A new house? What was going ON? Was this dog going to be a permanent fixture or what?! Finally, last night, the dog went home, and Charley had a chance to get used to his new surroundings as the king of the castle once again. As you can see, he’s looking as regal as ever. Rest assured, he’ll be spoiled rotten to make up for all the feline inconveniences. He’s already gotten a new cat bed and a bunch of new toys, and he spent the entire evening last night snuggling with his cat-mom.

Thurston, 1999 – 2013

ThurstonJA

 

I adopted Thurston, along with his littermate Charley, shortly after they were born in December 1999. My beloved tabby has been my constant companion for 13 years. He slept right next to me every night, and as you can see from the photo above, often liked to rest his chin right on my face.

Thurston loved to fetch fake mice in his younger days, and to cuddle up close with his brother in their cat bed or any comfy piece of furniture. Just recently he had begun to accept treats and petting from my two year-old son. He was the sweetest cat ever. He literally wouldn’t hurt a fly – all bug or mouse hunting had to be performed by Charley. He was kind of neurotic, and had issues with canned food, and was very clingy. He loved people (but me most of all) and I would always refer to him as “pure love covered in fur.” He was extremely handsome.

Last night at 3 AM we were woken up by a terrible yowling. I had to take Thurston to an emergency vet where it was determined that he had suffered a blood clot and had a heart arrhythmia; he couldn’t use his hind legs and was having trouble breathing and was clearly in pain. The vet gave him a tremendous dose of pain medication, but he still cried and cried. She said this condition was very difficult to treat and it would be nearly impossible to manage Thurston’s pain, so we decided to end his suffering. I held him and told him I loved him.

Thanks to anyone who ever cat-sat, petted, or just admired Thurston from afar. He couldn’t have been more loved or pampered, and he will be dearly missed.

Cat Yoga

When I received an e-mail with the subject “Cat Yoga on VICE” I forwarded it to my husband, saying “I like that I got an email with the subject ‘cat yoga’ in it – I was kind of like, why have I never before now received an email with the subject ‘cat yoga’? Seems so natural.”

Anyway, apparently the folks at Vice are doing a whole series on cats and… I dunno, cats on the Internet or something? Here’s the video. I also realized I know one of the people interviewed in the video, since I went to college with her. Hello Amy, if you happen to read this, and I’m glad to see we both appreciate funny cats.

Mow!

Somehow, my baby has turned into a toddler! And – no surprise here – he is obsessed with cats.

He loves our cats so much – although the feeling’s not entirely mutual. He gets so excited when he sees a cat – he’ll run over to them, giggle, and say “Mow! Mow!” (his version of “meow”), which will often send the cats flying out of reach. However, we’ve been working on approaching the cats GENTLY and QUIETLY and we do occasionally manage to pet them, or even sweetly kiss them (in Charley’s case). My little guy also calls out  Charley, aka “CHA-CHEY!” all the time.

He also knows where all the other cats on our street live. Our neighbor across the street has two cats, and  a yard/driveway filled with cat-themed objects, including cat planters. My guy will go up to each and every cat object and pet it, and kiss it, and reverently say, “Mow.” He tugs me down the street to the house with an indoor/outdoor cat, saying “Mow! Mow!” the whole way there. He’s delighted if the cat’s outside and disappointed if he’s not! He even kisses pictures of cats. Last weekend, he kissed a bag of cat food I’d just brought home, because it had a picture of a cat on it. “Mow,” he said after he kissed it. Mow, indeed.