21/365: good idea!

Jack has finally figured out a way to play with Pooka without getting scratched!

17/365: Pooka

We haven't mentioned here that we got a new kitty! He showed up in the bushes outside Alex's work. Since he was all black and very loving, we pretty much had to bring him home with us.

A few weeks/months (who's counting?) and a vet trip later, he is a lot bigger than he was in these pictures, but just as much of a troublemaker.

Did I mention this kitty is very good at finding places to snuggle?

It took him about two weeks to realize that the food and water bowls weren't going anywhere. In the meantime we got this balloon kitty, whose belly was always bigger than his head!

Bo gave him a tentative approval to live with us.... but he's NOT going to be friends. We were worried about Bo being mean to him, but it turns out that Pooka is the bully.

Here is Pooka "to scale" next to some of Jack's toys. He really was a tiny kitty when he came to us!

His favorite part about being domesticated? This particular spot on the couch, which he naps in at least twice daily. :)

cantankerous old bastard

Pilling Bo, day.... 5? I don't even know. This is hell. Hell!

I broke open the pill and mixed the medicine into his squishy food, just like the vet said. He took two bites and then declined to eat it. I wrapped him in a towel tighter than a trussed turkey and crammed the pill gun all the way down his throat, just like the vet said. He somehow flipped it into his teeth and bit it, so I had to let him gak it out. I re-trussed him and re-crammed (pill #3 now) and held his mouth shut as I watched 8 minutes tick by on the clock. Finally the stalemate was broken when Jack woke up and I had to go put Jack back to bed. Upon Bo's release, he coughed up a large quantity of perfectly dry, finely powdered spray all over the floor, before running all over the house coughing and spraying medicated foamy drool like some kind of crazy rabid mini-panther.

I got Jack back to sleep and am eyeing the cat now, wondering about things:
How many pills do you let your cat eat before he's taken an overdose?
Is it possible to overdose on urethral relaxant?
Dare I try another pill and possibly suffer him peeing all over the house in the night?
Dare I NOT pill him again and possibly need to board him at the vet hospital AGAIN for round 3 of fluids and meds?
Is there any chance the vet won't hate me for bringing this nonsense in again tomorrow morning? (I feel like I've been there every day this week.)
And speaking of being there every day, how am I supposed to cart a baby and a cat to the vet twice a day all week, all by myself?
Why, why, WHY does my life have to include these questions?

Alex has been hiding pictures on his phone

These give a pretty good idea of what life has been like since the spring. :)

Sparky plays with Jack

Sparky actually does like getting his tail pulled and things like that, so he enjoyed this too. :) Jack worked really hard on getting his hand to grab the tail and wave it around, and all told, this activity was good for at least 15 minutes.... The next day, Jack was taking swipes at Bo's tail, so I think we've started a good game!

BFFs

Bo likes our kitten, now that he's figured out that's what Jack is!

Sparky meets Jack

We don't have any pictures of Bo meeting Jack because Bo was ignoring him when he first arrived. Here is Sparky being terrified, and then getting his bravery bolstered by Alex picking him up.... They're getting along better now, but I think Sparky still doesn't quite get what's going on here.

Bo helps with the baby

He has been leaving dead mice for us on the steps of our apartment building. :)

fearless killer.... ?

Here is a picture of Bo ruthlessly slaying his most recent prey:

In case you can't tell, he's snuggled up on my belly, eating a saltine cracker. What a killer. :P