Welcome to another Tuesdays with Dori. I'm yoor host, Dori. *wavy paws*. I hope yoo all enjoyed a nice Independence Day weekend. At Wonderpurr Life, we posted a lot of social media giving hoomons a heads up about how fireworks can frighten not only pets, but also wildlife. Momma's sister lives on a lake, and she said before the weekend she had a lot of swans, and a lot of squirrels and birds around her home. But by the morning of July 4th... the lake was very quiet. The poor creatures fled! And her own pets were traumatized, even though she turned on the radio and teevee, and added calming essences to the air. There is nothing we can do about this. It's TRADITION to celebrate with fireworks, and hoomons will continue to do so forever. But, I also think that hoomons are now becoming aware of how us furs react to loud booms and loud bangs, and taking necessary measures to help us cope.
Hi evfurryone, time for another Tuesdays with Dori. It's me, Dori. *wavy paws*
So, last week I mentioned I had something rather exciting to meow about. But after what my momma did to her paw, what I'd planned to show you pales in comparison. So let me give you my report on the sordid details of what will live down in history at my house as BLOODY FRIDAY, and then I'll show yoo what I was hinting about last week.
So now that we have that gruesome piece of bizness out of the way, I want to tell yoo about Chevy and Nikolas' Man Cave.
When we lived at the house where I ... and evfurrybuddy else except Wabbit was borned, my daddy Nikolas and Uncle Chevy were always outside kittehs. And Uncle Jesse, too. Always outside because they were all a bit on the wild side, plus they started a Garage Band, so they'd be out caterwauling throughout the night.
But when we moved here to Flory-Da, because there are dangerous creatures like alligators and snakes and HUGE birds of prey, nobuddy is safe outside. Unfortunately that meant Chevy, Nik and Jesse had to become indoor cats. Not an easy transition because Chevy is still pretty feral, plus he's FIV+. And he once rolled Hwermie, so Mom says she won't trust him not to do that with me or my sisfurs. And daddy Nikolas likes to squirt his mancat juice on stuff. So they are not allowed even in Jesse's cat apartment.
The trouble has been with my pawrents worried about their mental health. How to keep them stimulated. Mom carries them to the Catio to have sunshine and smell the fresh air, but Nik doesn't like the Catio and immediately begs to go back to the garage. Chevy likes the Catio, but only while Momma is out there hanging with him. She takes him for walks in Mosey the stroller too. But my pawrents still didn't think that was enough.
They bought sod and created a grass pool in the garage, complete with sun lamp. And they brought in moving toys so the boys can hunt. Daddy made a cool box tunnel, and there is a radio playing. But it still isn't enough.
So then Daddy says, "Let's give them the old TV." They'd had a small one since 2006, and it was still working. Momma and Daddy are now into Roku, so setting up the TV in the garage was not a big deal. Daddy installed a shelf, and Mom insisted on putting stuff on either side so the boys couldn't get behind the TV and send it crashing to the floor.
And yoo know what? The minute the TV was on, and Momma set it to a Zen-like Aquarium channel, Chevy immediately settled into his cat tree right in front of it. And Nikolas seems to enjoy it too, although for some reason he won't lounge on the bench in front of the TV. But the soothing sound is nice for them all to enjoy.
Momma has been playing around with different channels, since the Aquarium channel can get kinda tedious. So she found more animal channels, and was thrilled when Chevy took a particular liking to a dog channel, watching the doggo's play and bark and run around like dog's tend to do.
So, while some may think it's crazy to give feral garage cats their own TV, it wouldn't be the first time deeply devoted cat pawrents like ours went to the extreme to provide mental enrichment for their fur kids.
We at Wonderpurr Life have Janet and Tom and the Kitties Blue in our prayers that Sawyer returns from his unplanned adventure. This is a nightmare we have also had, so our hearts go out to the stress and worry they are experiencing.
I recently had the worst nightmare ever. The reason why I'm even bothering to write about this is because... usually... I'm the nightmare someone else is writing about in their diary.
It all began after I'd enjoyed a particularly nice afternoon. The sun was shining, the birds were chirping... Opie hit a new decibel screaming cuz I'd dared to look at him. Seriously, the Ginger Wuss doesn't need anything more from me than a side glance to get his tiny tail all knotted with stress... which I actually take as a compliment. His hissy fit came on the heels of Dori complaining to Mom that she didn't appreciate me putting the bitey on her neck without first asking.
Happy Tuesday, evfurryone! Well, Summertime 2021 is underway. We were at our old home this time last year, getting ready to move to Flory-Da. Now we are here, with a Wonderpurr Catio complete with two huge water bowls. Here, let me demonstrate for yoo:
This past week I overheard Momma telling Daddy that we needed something grassy to enjoy. I haven't touched paws on grass since before I was rescued at 3 months old. The first grass arrived as a test plot to see if anybuddy would use it as a litter box. *shyly raises paw* Hey! I had to go!
But I'm so cuuute, my pawrents went ahead with Opurration Grass Pool. They bought a hoomon kiddo pool in the small size, and spread soil on it, and then laid a wedge of grass over it. Here in FloryDa the grass is harsh because it has to take intense heat. Momma bought some grass seed that would grow into a lush lawn, but Daddy took it back, saying we would roll in it, and the seed would never grow. He's probably right. Me and Momma are in agreement that Daddy is always...ALWAYS right, even when he's rong, cuz he's a men, and mens are nebber rong if yoo want them to do stuff like fill a kiddo pool with grass for yoor already spoiled cats.
Where was I?
Oh! Opurration Grass Pool. Here is me demonstrating how to use it:
Daddy thought fur sure I would use it as a litter box. Actually, I kinda wanted to -- hey, I dwink a lot of water cuz it's summertime and it's best to stay hi-dwated. But Momma watched and when I swatted, she said, "Dori. That's not yoor litter box, that's yoor grass pool." And I didn't widdle. I'm a good grrrl.
So the Grass Pool is a huge hit with all of my fur sibs.
Here are Opie, Peaches and K.C. nomming grass before bweakfast is served. Opie says grass is good ruff-age for digestion purrposes.
And here is Candy, demonstwating the lying on grass for relaxation.
Yes, Wabbit has played in the Grass Pool too, but this is Tuesdays with Dori, not Diary of an AssWabbit, so no pikchures of him allowed.
I can't wait for next Tuesday, because I have an exciting report about my daddy Nikolas, and his pal Chevy aka The Garage Band. After being outdoor cats their whole lives, they are now only allowed to be in the garage, and its very boring in there. Yes, they are offered Catio time, but Nikolas doesn't like the Catio and yowls to be let back into the garage, and Chevy will hang out with Momma in the Catio, but he mostly wants to get inside the house and explore. Chevy is not trustworthy because he's kinda feral, and strong and FIV+, plus Fwank wants to fight him, and Chevy wants to filet our resident AssWabbit. So Chevy is under strict supervision. Anyway! After a year of trying different ideas to entertain them in the garage, my pawrents finally knocked the ball out of the park.
Before Ray retired I knew I had from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. to get my blogging and writing done before he came home, but now it's a free for all where at any given moment he will pop in to my office to see if I'm hungry because he is (hint hint), or to let me know that one of the cats barfed cuz he heard it but isn't exactly sure where the barf is. He might need help doing something on his laptop because while Ray is fantastic at fixing stuff, he is clueless when it comes to anything techy. Or maybe he wants me to drop everything and film the snake-eating bird in our front yard. I know you're dying to see that video, so I will post it here with a slight warning: It's rated PG for ... you guessed it. Pretty Gross.
