Me Time. (Rollercoaster Poster)

So far this blog has focused mainly on my kittens, but technically it is my blog. So I can do what I want with it! Nyah nyah nyah!

I think I just lost half of my readers.

Its just that this week was a little rough for me, and I kind of need to vent. It was mostly work stuff, but since I am the kind of person who takes my work home (literally most of the time) it bothers me even when I am off the clock. One thing that was rough for me this week was that we currently have a few mother cats with their litters that are very sick. Its just upper respiratory, but when you are only a week old its something that can be fatal. The mothers are sick and too weak to care for the babies because they don't eat. A cat will not eat if it can't smell the food, and the babies are becoming congested too and not going to nurse. It just breaks my heart to see them so sick and sad. The babies are just barely opening their eyes, but they cry all the time because they are so hungry. Our vets are doing their best, but we don't have time to bottle feed all the kittens every day (there are currently 9 with 5 others being in foster) and force feed the moms, especially when there is a whole shelter to take care of. I wish that we could send them to foster, or that I could help, or that I could be the foster.. but I would never put Zelda and her healthy babies in any danger like that. And as far as helping goes, well I do what I can but I have my work to do and it doesn't leave much extra time. But I know that the vets will take great care of them, and do everything that they can to help the little families. My worrying isn't going to help anyone, so I'll just dote on Zelda and the kids every chance I get.

The other bummer this week was getting bit by a cat. For one, it was embarrassing. A rookie mistake.. well okay, its really not, but when you haven't been bitten in over two years you come to expect a little more from yourself. It also sucks that now that cat will have a "bite file" and he will be a "bite cat". It goes down in his permanent record and often times a bite hinders the chances of the animal being adopted... a lot. I just keep replaying the situation in my head trying to figure out what I could have done differently. I guess there is nothing I can do about it now though, except not get bit again.

Well, it feels like a shame to end on such a negative note. In fact, this whole post seems kind of negative, and that is not what I want this blog to be about. As I said in Blog 1, I am here to document, and if I can teach people a thing or two, well then hey that is winning, right? So here are a few cat-related nuggets of information.

^ Also nuggets! ^

A lesser used (but pretty awesome) word for a group of cats is "clowder". I totally have a clowder. And you are jealous. A group of kittens is called a "kindle". A male cat is a "tom" and a female cat is a "queen".

Queen Zelda? Well excuuuuse me, Princess!

Many people think that cats are nocturnal, when in reality they are crepuscular; meaning most active during dawn and dusk. Trust me, I know because Godzilla likes to chase Snurfle around the bedroom at 5am. All. The. Time.

A cat's tongue is rough because there are actually tiny backwards hooks on it that work like a hair brush for their fur. These spines are called papillae.

A cat's nose is ridged like our fingertips. The pattern is unique, no two noses are the same!

Cat Scratch Fever is a real thing, although its more commonly referred to as Cat Scratch Disease (I think Ted Nugent had it right all along). If you are interested, you can read more about it right here but I won't bore you with all the details if you aren't curious.

Cats spend about 16 hours of each day sleeping, and 30% of their waking time is dedicated to grooming themselves (or each other).

Unless they are lucky enough to have a human to help them with grooming!