Your Tuesday Tonkinese

Hello friends! Things have been crazy around here. Raymond's bloods are getting tested for all kinds of stuff. Everyone is all stressed out. 

See how stressed I look? 


Happy Tuesday friends! xoxo, Busby

Mancat Monday

Hi friends! Well I went to the Vet on Friday and she took blood and I gave her some of my pee. The results were interesting. My alkaline level dropped from 8.5 (which is high) to 5.5 (which is the lowest range of normal) in two weeks. Guess the new food has worked. However, my blood work showed I am anemic. So now there is talk of other things, and they decided to run a few more tests on my blood to see if I am hyperthyroid, or a kidney cat, or why I am anemic. 

I will say my peeing inappropriately has stopped, so that's good. My energy level is still not great, but Mom bought me some raw liver and will give me some as a treat. Meanwhile, I am happy to say that the plastic cover has been taken off my favorite recliner and Busby and I are snuggling as I speak. 


Thanks for all the purrs, xoxo, Raymond

Thursday Dibs and Dabs

Hi friends! Well, I haven't been myself this week. I am going to see my Vet on Friday and get x-rays and/or maybe an ultrasound to see if I have stones. 

My Moms are exhausted from cleaning up the pee every night when they get home from work, plus doing laundry night after night. They are also very worried about me as you can imagine. 


We're taking Friday off from blogging. We'll update you as soon as we get some answers from the vet. 


xoxo, Raymond

Wordless Wednesday

Your Tuesday Tonkinese

Hi friends! Things have been a bit wacky here lately with Raymond having some PEE problems and our Moms working a lot. Then there was some football stuff over the weekend that Mom got all in a twist about. Ugh. 

They really need to learn to relax, like us cats, don't you think?

Thanks to everyone for the diet suggestions for Ray (and ME, since they are making me eat the same stuff Raymond is eating!) Our Vet wants us to stay on the Royal Canin SO for at least four weeks, until she checks our numbers again. We are having our Moms check on all of your suggestions and links though, so really, thank you very much!

xoxo, Busby

Mancat Monday

Hello friends! Happy Monday! This is how I spent my Sunday, wedged on the couch between my Blog-Mom and the arm of the couch. Watching football. Lots and lots of football. Mom was bummed because the SF Forty Niners lost. Then she remembered that she is really more of a Chicago Bears fan, so she didn't feel too bad anymore. 

As for me, I am on some weird pink antibiotic and some "anti spasmodic" capsule. And some delicious canned food that my Moms don't like because it makes my poop smell like the cat food. They didn't realize just how much they LOVED feeding Busby and I the homemade raw food until now. We don't know what they are griping about, because Busby and I love the new food. In about three more weeks it should have brought my alkaline level down a bit (a pee test will be given to both Busby and I, we are studying hard!) and then some decisions will be made about our food. 


We can't find a raw food recipe that can be eaten daily that doesn't contain some grain. Our Moms would love to switch us to a high quality grain free food that isn't Royal Canin. They will listen to the vet and make a decision after my next lab results are in. 


Jeez, I'm wordy lately. Did I mention all our furniture is covered with plastic now? I guess when you pee on the couch and the footstool and the bed they just don't trust you for awhile. 


xoxo, Raymond

Hello friends! Happy HAPPY Friday! It's been a long week. I am doing pretty well. The new food is okay, but I am hungry all the time now. I used to eat a half a cup of raw food every day and now I eat about a cup of the prescription food and it doesn't fill me up. I was hungry at 3am and tried to get my Moms to feed me. They would not. I gave them the look you see in this photo. 

FEED ME!

Anyway, hopefully no more trips to the vet, emergency or otherwise for awhile. I will get my pee retested in four weeks. My Moms are busy looking for the least expensive place to buy Royal Canin canned SO. They think the "SO" stands for "Sort of OUTRAGEOUSLY expensive". 

Thanks for all the purrs and the advise and stuff. We read everything and really appreciate it!

Happy Weekend and Mom says GO NINERS!

xoxo, Raymond

Wordy Thursday

Hi friends! Wow, what a week it's been so far! I had to go to the emergency vet. I am having some issues with my bladder. My labs all came back, my creatine was a bit high but my bun was good. My alkaline was 8.5, which is way too high. Mom just got off the phone with our regular vet, who wants us both to go on the canned Royal Canin SO. Our vet knows that we eat a raw diet, and our Moms don't really want that to change, but right now there doesn't seem to be an alternative. 

It's the grain in the food that causes the alkaline issues. The carbs. Our raw food has two pounds of raw meat and a cup of cooked polenta. We have so many questions for our friends: Are any of you on this prescription Royal Canin SO? Have you gained weight? 

Have any of you been on this diet and gotten better and then switched over to a high quality grain-free cat food? Neither of us, Busby or me, has ever had a full blockage, just irritation caused by the high alkaline in our urine. 

We are open to any suggestions. In the meantime, we have both started our new diet and we like it. Plus I am on antibiotics and sub Q fluids. I am getting a LOT of attention, which is nice. I sure hope I never have to go back to that emergency vet. That place was very scary!

xoxo, Raymond

We're on strike today!

We are protesting censorship today!

On Jan 24th, Congress will vote to pass internet censorship in the Senate, even though the vast majority of Americans are opposed. We need to kill the bill - PIPA in the Senate and SOPA in the House - to protect our rights to free speech, privacy, and prosperity.

Emergency Vet!

Hi friends! Well, I had to make a trip to the Emergency Vet yesterday afternoon. My Non-blog Mom (who was luckily off work for the Martin Luther King holiday) noticed I was visiting the cat box a lot but not peeing. 

My pee results from Saturday had come back (our regular vet called earlier in the day) and my alkaline was high, 8.5. She said I need to go on prescription food. No UTI was apparent in the lab results. Mom brought those with her to the ER Vet. They took my temp (normal) and took some blood. They gave me some sub Q fluids so my Mom's could see if I was peeing okay tonight. They gave me an anti-spasmodic to help my bladder feel better. 


They offered to keep me overnight (NO THANKS!) but they noticed I was pretty nervous and figured I would be better off at home. 


I have been on a homemade raw food diet for seven years now (from Dr Pitcairn's book) and my Moms are not very excited about feeding me canned food. They don't really trust the manufacturers. They plan to have Busby's pee tested to see if he has high alkaline too. His was normal when it was tested in 2010. 


So my blood work should be available tomorrow and I will keep you all posted. In the meantime, if you can spare some purrs I would appreciate it. 


xoxo, Raymond

Mancats on Monday

Hi friends! Well, Raymond was feeling pretty "blah" on Friday. Our Vet saw him on Friday afternoon but he couldn't give her a pee sample. Our Moms collected one on Saturday and took it to the lab drop off box (no, not a Lab like Dexter !) Our Vet told us (like many of our blogosphere friends did) that UTI's can be brought on by stress. She told us about a homeopathic stress remedy called  'Love My Pet" which Mom picked up. She also gave our Moms some antibiotics, but they aren't giving those to Ray until they hear what the pee test results are. We hope Ray gets an "A"! 

Thanks for all your purrs and good wishes. Our Moms really think that Ray is stressed because of the change in our Blog Mom's work schedule. Hopefully he will get used to it and get back to his usual pesky self!


xoxo, Busby and Raymond

Frootbat Friday

Hi friends! Here is the mighty frootbat playing nurse for my Mom post-op. I wasn't sitting there just because of that nice blue heating pad she was using. No, I was being an attentive caregiver!

Well now it's Mom's turn to take care of me. I peed on the couch Wednesday night. Our Moms got up to get ready to work and OOOPS! Sat in my pee. And they know it was me and not Busby because I have been caught in the act before. So now rumor has it that I am going to see the VET on Saturday morning to make sure I don't have a UTI. What can I say? I get a little stressed out by change, and my Moms both returning to work (and my Blog Mom working til way past our normal dinner time) is stressful!


So wish me luck, and I will fill you in on Monday! Happy weekend! xo, Raymond

Thursday Stroll-less

Hello friends! We're not doing our regular stroll or garden post today. Mom is back to work, and they have increased her hours, so no time for stroll photos this week. While Mom is at work, I have been enjoying some primo Cosmic Catnip that we got for Christmas! Mom put some on our turbo scratcher and it's great! 

Mmmmm, nip. 

Our little second cousin is almost a month old now. We think she has fabulous taste in clothes, don't you? She looks very cat-like in her outfit. Plus she is very good at napping, just like a cat! 

Lenora likes her puss-print onesie. 

Have a great Thursday friends! xoxo, Raymond

Wordless Wednesday

Your Tuesday Tonkinese

Hello friends! Did you see yesterday's post by Raymond? He entered me in the Mango Minster 2012 in the BAD SPORT category! I don't think that's very nice. 

I will admit, however, that about two seconds ago Raymond was sitting here in our swinging triangle. Hey, it looked comfortable and I thought he had sat in it long enough! 


Happy Tuesday friends! xoxo, Busby (a better sport than Raymond!)

Our Mango Minster 2012 entry: BAD SPORTS

Hello friends, it's me, Raymond. I am entering my brother Busby in the BAD SPORTS category of the Mango Minster  2012 competition. Busby is a very BAD sport. He likes to get all of the attention. If I am playing with something, he always comes and spoils my fun. 


I present to you (and to the esteemed Mango Minster judges) this very short silent movie.  (well, not completely silent, there is a soundtrack, so please turn up your speakers.) 




We think seeing is believing. Could there BE a worse sport out there than Busby? We don't think so. Judges, if you have any doubt in your mind, we suggest you watch the movie again. 


Thank you for your consideration, the long suffering Raymond

Frootbat Friday

Behold the MIGHTY FROOTBAT! I am all stealthy in my lair! Okay, to be honest, I am under the fleecy blanket on top of my BlogMom while she is trying to nap. 

Check out my extra GINORMOUS eyeballs! It was kinda dark under that blanket. 


Our BlogMom heads back to work on Monday after two weeks off to recover from her weird surgery stuff. We're going to miss her around here, especially at nap time. 


Happy weekend friends! xoxo, Raymond

Thursday stroll

Hello friends! Our blog Mom has been home recovering from her surgery. We've been teaching her about naps. However, she has also been out walking everyday, so we have some stroll shots from our neighborhood to share. Enjoy!

Mom, you need to learn to relax completely...

We have been having a very warm and dry Winter here in Capitola. The flowers are very confused! 

Confused daffodils

In this part of California we grow a LOT of artichokes. Did you know artichokes are members of the Thistle family? You can really tell they are thistles when you them blooming.

This Crocus seems to think that it is March and NOT January! We have been enjoying the warm sun but we really need rain. Last year at this time we had 13" of rain. This year we have 3/4 of an inch so far. 

We hope you enjoyed this stroll around our neighborhood. Our garden has mustard and fava beans growing as a cover crop. Mom actually had to water it yesterday because it's so warm and dry outside. 


Have a pawsome Thursday! Raymond and Busby

Wordless Wednesday

Happy New Year! Tuesday Tonkinese

Hello friends and Happy New Year! We hope you all had a wonderful Christmas, or Hanukah or whichever holiday you celebrate. We had a pretty LOW KEY holiday, thanks to Mom having her Bilateral Salpingo Oopherectomy on December 23rd. (Google it. It sounds to us like she got fixed!) She is feeling better each day and in about a week she will return to work. 

We're ready to have the house to ourselves again!

Even though we didn't have a TREE or many decorations, we did get a few nice gifts. It helps that our Gotcha Day is Christmas Eve. One of my favorite gifts was this cool organic catnip snake from Purrfectplay ! I love this thing! I can bunny kick it, or lick it, or lay my head on it. It's like a body pillow for cats! 

Mmmmm, organic cat nip!

It's good to be back blogging! Mom's work has decided to increase her hours when she goes back on Jan 9th. That means we may be blogging a bit less frequently. However, the good news is that we are going to keep blogging! Yay! 


Have a great Tuesday friends! xoxo, Busby