RIP Annie

We put Annie down Thursday. She was dying of kidney failure.

She looked and acted like her usual, long-suffering self when Nora and I left for California a week before. When we returned Tuesday evening, our roommate Erin reported that Annie had been hiding in the bathtub, shunning the cooler downstairs. When she came out of hiding long enough to greet us, she looked thin and frail. Nora took her in to the vet on Wednesday. He gave her fluids and kept her overnight for monitoring. Annie came home Thursday morning, and seemed to be recovering. She napped on a cold air vent for a few hours. But when she woke up, she started howling, vomiting, and soiling herself. Erin and Nora picked me up at the lab and we all went to the vet to put her down. Nora and Erin dug a hole in the backyard while I returned to work. They cleaned her up a bit, wrapped her in an old bedsheet for a burial shroud, and laid her in a box. Nora and I put the box in her grave and buried her after dinner than night. We left an old brick as a marker.

Nora took a few photos of Annie while she was napping, just a few hours before she died.


She looked at us like this all the time. She always looked maligned and long-suffering.


But she also looked very peaceful and content when she was asleep. We had her for almost a year. Nora sent a nice note to Lindsey, Annie's previous person. Annie seemed generally happy while she was living with us, and we were glad to be able to give her a nice retirement home. We're all sad to see her go, and it was especially sad that she had to be in so much pain the last day or two. But we were glad that we could all be there together with her at the vet when she died. The method of euthanasia was an overdose of barbiturates, so at least she had some relief could die quickly and painlessly.

Friday Cat Blogging

This week, we present both cats being catly, each in their own way.

Nora finally caught Annie sitting on the bed and actually posing regally for a photo:


Earlier in the week, I was mean to Hodag. I put him 5 feet up on a ladder in the office (the ladder is there because I need to fix the ceiling fan). He was unable to get down until I grabbed him to carry him to safety. But at least he got to be tall for a few minutes.

Friday Cat Blogging

This week we have some Mardi Gras cat photos for all of you out there in internet-land. First up is Annie, looking glamorous with her fabulous Muses beads which match her lovely golden eyes.

Next we have Hodag, featured here in an Endymion throw bag. Throw bags are the reusable plastic bags which hold all of a krewe members loot on a float. Once the bag has been emptied it is thrown over the side of the float where parade goers inevitably retrieve it. Although it is not clear in this photo, the bag has the Endymion logo on it, and a tag which lists the contents in dozens of beads. (And you just thought it contained an alley cat!)

Finally, as a special bonus this week, we feature the adorable little snake I found while cleaning up some leaves on Mardi Gras day. I was raking away when I overturned what I thought was a small plastic snake toy.

Isn't he cute? He was a bit nervous in the Tupperware, but he perked right up when returned to the backyard near some mulch debris.

Friday Cat Blogging: Finals Edition

Because of finals, we almost forgot about Friday cat blogging. This week I present a new spin on a relatively regular occurance. I often make tuna noodle casserole. Both cats, it turns out, love to drink the tuna water. It's just like Calvin and Hobbes: they hear me opening the tuna can, and come trotting in expecting a treat.

Annie is usually more strategically located when this happens, so she gets the tuna water first. This time, however, Hodag was lucky, clever, and bold. I was collecting all the tuna water together in a bowl, and then was going to set it on the ground for the cats, but Hodag jumped up onto the counter to start drinking his fill:


Annie was stuck on the ground, to frail to jump that high. She looked very indignant, seeming to say, "Meep! Why must I be so frail? Hodag, you cheated."


But not to worry; Annie did get her tuna water in the end.

Friday cat blogging

Check it out everyone, I was finally able to get some photos of Annie that look halfway decent! Part of my problem is that she is all black, so it is hard to get a photo where she is lit correctly with her features recognizable, rather than a black blob. Also, she is oddly camera adverse, and runs away when I try to take her photo. She is the only cat I have ever had who does not sit and pose for her glamor shots.

Also, we have the obligatory Hodag looking adorable photo. This week he fell asleep in a garbage bag of clean laundry. Colin and I washed basically every item of clothing we owned last Saturday, and ran out of laundry bags to fit clean clothing in, so we resorted to extra large trash bags. Hodag did not seem to mind.

The elusive Annie, finally caught on film!

mmmm, clean warm clothes.

Friday cat blogging, Fern edition.

Ahhh, fall in New Orleans. The humidity has finally broken, and a delightful breeze has picked up to tame the warm weather. Since it has been so lovely, the cats have been lounging on the porch, often sleeping under the shade of my fern. I was able to catch Hodag hiding under the foliage, but when I tried to capture Annie, she got up from under it, and Hodag took her place.

Hodag being a jungle cat.

Annie soaking up some sun, while Hodag hides behind the fern
(look closely, and you will see him)

Friday cat blogging, Politics addition!

Now, I know that I swore I would never mention politics on this blog (because I feel that far to many people use their blogs as their own little HTML soapbox), but I have to mention politics just this one time. Today I conducted a little experiment, the results of which you can see in photo format below. I decided to determine if our cats were democrats or republicans. Therefore I placed in front of them a stimuli that could be interpreted as positive or negative, depending on your political affiliation. The chosen stimulus was 'Lefty' a beanie baby in the shape of a donkey.

I tested Annie and Hodag with this stimulus to determine their political leanings.

As you can see, Annie at first investigated the stimulus, and then promptly got up and left it. She remained uninterested in the stimulus despite repeated presentations.
Conclusion: Annie is a Republican.

Now we see Hodag's response to the stimulus. He investigated it and then proceeded to mark it, a universal sign of cat affection. Conclusion: Hodag is a Democrat.

Oh, also as Kevin Drum reports the Hemmingway cats have resumed their rightful place on Hemingway's property in the Florida Keys.

Friday cat blogging

Recently the weather has been lovely. I do not know if it is early fall, or only a temporary respite of relative cool, but it has been great. Due to the nice weather we have been using no air conditioning and keeping the windows open, including the window that leads to the second floor Hodag porch. Both cats have been taking advantage of the lovely weather to explore these new sitting places.

Hodag on the porch.

Annie exploring a window in the office.

Friday cat blogging

OMG, the very first Friday cat blogging from the new house! For your enjoyment today we have photos of Hodag and Annie on recently moved objects.

Annie relaxing on the mirror for my dresser, in the living room.

Hodag, happily napping on wrapped dishes in the kitchen.