Jingle balls down

I've written about how much Gus loves jingle balls.  By that I mean the little cage like balls with a bell inside that jingle when you touch them.  Up until recently, if you touched or accidentally jingle jangled a ball, Gus would come running, quickly assuming the position behind a barrier so he could pounce. 

One of us would stand at each end of the hall to throw jingles for him to run after, swat, and pounce on.  It was a joyful time for Gus. 

Then, disaster struck.  Right on his nose.  He got smacked two times in a row right in the schnoz.  Now, he is terrified of jingle balls. 

You can only imagine how many jingle balls my tiny apartment currently holds.  It feels like hundreds.  Now, I can't even jingle one without Gus looking around and slinking behind the couch.  It breaks my heart. 

He still loves his feathers though.  With his new bird obsession, at least he has a feather he can catch!  I'm afraid of the day a bird does come around.  If a jingle ball to the nose is all it takes, I can't imagine what a beak to his nose would do! 

He still has his catnip toys I guess.  I can't imagine what those could do to his nose!

swatting feathers

leaping towards feathers

Healthy boy

So my husband and I were looking through the pics of Gus when I first brought him home. We noticed something.  Gus looks healthier now.  Here is a pic of him the day I picked him up.  He is in his carrier sitting at the airport.  Look at his color and the condition of his coat. Even his brilliant violet blue eyes look faded.

His color is almost brown.  He is most definitely lavender pointed.  Now after four months of premium cat food and regular brushing, he looks like this:

I guess we are doing something right.  He even feels healthy. He eats a lot, and his body feels muscular.  You can feel the ridge of the edge of his ribs, but it is covered with muscle and his stomach is firm.  Of course he runs through our house like he is being chased by cheetahs.  Often.

Besides playing hard, he loves to sleep hard.  He likes to do it stretched out with his feet up.  I'm not kidding. 

Kitty obsessions.

I haven't blogged for a while. Not because Gus isn't the cutest boy ever (see above), but I'm a teacher at the end of the school year.

So, Gus has a couple of new things he's discovered. The first and the best for him are the snowbirds.  Yep.  Every spring, the snowbirds come out up here in the arctic (I know nothing about them.  I don't know if they migrate or hibernate.  Not a clue.)

Officially they are called snow buntings. They are the cutest little bundles you've ever seen.  They are a small mostly spherical, black and white bird. Approximately the size (and shape) of a racquetball ball.

They flit and flirt and sing so sweetly.  They fly in a sort of short jerky flight, and it drives Gus nuts!  He runs from the back window in the bedroom to the side window in the living room trying to get a little snowbird nugget.  He frets and chirps and huffs at them.  I have to close the blinds at night so he won't watch  them all night. (It's light all night long).

He is utterly obsessed with them.  I love them too, because their song is similar to the meadowlarks where I grew up.  I could listen to them sing forever.

His second obsession is cat treats.  He's liked cat treats for a while.  I have an issue with cat treats that may be just superstition.  I think I may have killed Raz with cat treats. He would preferred treats to meals, and we sometimes let him get away with it. He loved them so much, and we liked to spoil him so we gave in and fed him countless tons of cat treats. 

Cat treats are not designed to be food. They don't have the best ingredients.  It's like a person surviving on a diet of McDonald's french fries and ice cream.  I  fed him good food, but ruined it by giving him all the cat treats he desired.  And the cat treats I chose, were whatever I got at the grocery store. I was stupid. 

I don't want to do that with Gus. I'd like to think I can learn.

I like to give my cats treats because I like to reward them and make them feel special.  Gus has toys and a tree and lots of hugs and squeezes, but food is an easy reward that he can appreciate right now.  

Since I can't bear not to give him treats, I give him the best treats I can.  Freeze dried meat.  That's right. You can get treats that are just freeze dried meat!  I've gotten him chicken, turkey, salmon, and shrimp.  Guess which one he likes the most?  Yep, the smelliest one.  The joke's on me!