LadyGypsy.net – the blog of Kimberly Dowd of New Jersey

I have no idea how this happened (okay I do) but Charlie’s now 30 lbs. Not too sure how to deal with this, as he, Misty, and Max share the same bowl of food.* He’s not much of an exerciser, either. Obviously. He’s 10 years old and in good health. They’re already on cat “weight control” food, more for him than Misty. Misty’s pudgy, but not overweight.

Has anyone out there been successful with helping one cat lose weight in a multi-cat household?

*Yes, Max eats cat food. He ignored the dog food and only ate cat food once I brought him here. So I took away his food and how they all eat from the same bowl of food. Okay, trough of food.

It’s 11:30pm, and I’ve blogged 5 days straight. In case you couldn’t tell, I’m trying to blog more. So since I’ve been picking up a few new readers lately, let me (re)introduce you to the supporting cast here.

Misty

Misty will be 12 this October. I adopted her from Gloucester County Animal Shelter for $5.00 and a 10 lb bag of cat food at a pet shop. I originally wanted an orange kitten, but they were gone. So I picked a little girl to be BFF with Noelle, my other cat. They were not BFF. Misty is middle aged now and likes to lay around. She picks a spot and stays there for what seems to be weeks at a time. She’s your stereotypical aloof cat. Sometimes, however, she’ll climb up on my chest when I’m about to fall asleep and purr and purr until we both pass out. Misty tolerates Charlie, ignores Max, and drools when she purrs.

Charlie

Charlie will be 10 in July. He was about 6 months old when I took him home from my then-job because the original owner’s kid was “allergic.” Right. He’s also mid-life, and has suffered from some middle-age spread. He’s a large cat to begin with, though. Yes, I’m making excuses. Charlie’s a scaredy-cat. If anyone he doesn’t know shows up, he dashes into the closet and will stay there until they leave. He sleeps in bed with me, always making sure part of him is in contact with me. Charlie likes Misty, likes Max, and completely worships me.

Max

Aliases: Maximillian, Maxine, Poochus McDoofus, Lightning McPee.
Likes: Rousing walks. Rawhide. Tearing up beanie babies. Tearing up napkins. Stealing food from my trash can. Snuggling close when he sleeps. Paris Pillow.
Dislikes: Sticks. Pouring rain. Strongly scented human food. Being away from home for long.

Max came to me from the Animal Orphanage in Voorhees 4 years ago when he was about 1 or 2 years old. We’ll never know for sure. He was a stray before that, so we had a few behavior issues to deal with. But honestly, he’s come so very far in the last 4 years that it seems unfair to keep cataloging what he used to do. Max is a social little dog. He constantly bares his teeth, but thankfully never uses him. I think he tries to compensate for his small stature. He’s all terrier. Possibly Australian Terrier, but we’ll never know for sure. He’ll curl up on my lap and snooze while I surf the web. Max sleeps in bed with me too, on the opposite side of me as Charlie. I am completely enamored with this little street dog.

***
Going to bed now, as I have a headache behind my eye. This is a new thing for me and I fully expect to wake up and have my eye lying on the pillow. If I’m going to lose an eye*, at least it could have been on the same side as my bum ear. I wonder if my new glass eye can have a hidden mickey as the pupil? Or maybe I can get a spinning one…like spinning hubcaps?

*I kid. I know I’m not going to lose my eye. I overreact about things for approximately 5 seconds. Then it’s all cool. Except for, well, the pain behind my eye.

By popular requests…more pics of my new apartment.

The apartment is white. Stark white. Sanitarium white. White walls, white carpet, white blinds. So what better to jump out than a red chair (Poang, IKEA, $79.99) and a red ottoman (Walmart, $29.98). Note the absolute absence of a TV. Have to fix that before Dancing with the Stars!

The glider was my Grandmother’s. The breakfast nook features red placemats and red napkins in one of my hella expensive Longaberger baskets. I’m going to try to always keep daisies here. Love daisies. Love em!

The table is also from IKEA and cost $29.99. I picked the red legs because, well, red’s cool! The yellow “K” cost me 97 cents at Walmart. Still trying to figure out a good setup for my webcam. Note presence of Wawa hoagie, Diet Mtn. Dew and Mouseketeer Mickey with tabard and rapier. I’m SUCH a geek. Guys will flock to me now, I’m sure.

This is my bathroom. Everything in this place is Holy White except the tile. This coral tile is the same exact tile in the bathroom in the house I grew up in. In fact, Mom just had it broken out of the bathroom a few months back. And here it is again. Rather than downplay the weirdness of the color, I bought a fugly $5.99 shower curtain at Target with orange, pink, and coral acid-trippy swirls and a fugly box of Kleenex. Embrace the ugly! Note the Bactine for continued care of the navel ring.

Chicka-pow-wow! It’s my disheveled bedroom featuring Kronk the bear that gets around. Longtime LadyGypsy.net readers will recognize it as the Guest Room from Hell. Furniture from IKEA.

They are really pissed at me. REALLY pissed. That’s Charlie’s posterior and Misty’s anterior underneath my bed. Oh my God…they are SO very INTENSELY angry with me. Misty yowled the whole way here last night. Charlie yowled until I started singing ABBA songs to him. I think Charlie’s gay. But that’s okay. “Now we’re old and gray, Fernando…for many years I haven’t seen a rifle in your hand…”

Moving was mostly done on Saturday. My parents were absolute heroes to me on a very very tough day. And Baron vonPlaque and I are still on good terms. It can be done.

By the way, I had an appointment with an Ear, Nose & Throat guy today and it turns out my suspicions were correct: I have mild hearing loss in my left ear.

I am SUCH a dish. I really am.