It's been a while since I've posted. New babies will do that. I swear, Flynn caught every virus that went through town this winter. They were all hand delivered by the older kids, despite our best efforts. I think we're through the worst of it now. He's been healthy for weeks!

Flynn's doing really well. He's strong and healthy. He's rolling over and sitting up.  almost 6 months old. He's growing like his daddy, and about to move into 24 month size clothes. I tried to breastfeed, but ran dry after a few months. So, after discovering he can't tolerate cow's milk or soy, he's thriving on Dr Sears recipe for homemade goats milk formula. He drinks half a gallon a day! He drank that much of the other stuff, too. He was just sick, and covered in wicked eczema.

Our 15 yr old cat had to be put down last week. She's been going senile for a while, but just finally snapped and started doing a variety of irrational and dangerous things... Including attacking the kids out of the blue. She's been with us since she was a baby. We had to bottle feed her when we first took her in. Rehoming her would have just been cruel. Her body has been shutting down too. The vet said she might be able to prolong her life a little but we'd have been offering her a slow and miserable death that way. Instead, she fell asleep being petted and loved by her family, with her head in my hand like she always liked to sleep....and never woke up.

Our other cat is handling it well. He's so relaxed and playful. I think watching her suffer the last year or so was worse for him than losing her. He's always been Flynn's buddy, but has stepped it up recently. Sometimes when I'm holding Flynn, Aslan will ask up into my arms, so he can snuggle with Flynn. He doesn't try to snuggle with the baby unless he's in my arms, but he's always nearby. It's really sweet.

How Zoey Joined Our Family

Our oldest pet is Zoey. We estimate she was born around the first of October, 1999. That makes her about thirteen and a half years old. She's kind of a cranky old bat a lot of the time, but you'd never guess she was over five by looking at her. She moves well for her age. She still gets on the counters at night when we're sleeping. She still runs around the house like a total nut, chasing imaginary prey, at least a few times per week. She has some trouble with arthritis, though, and won't go outside in the winter. That's not such a bad thing, because she still brings us "presents" when she goes out. Just this last fall, she brought us a quail!

We've had Zoey since she was about 4 - 5 weeks old. We have no idea who her mother was, or where she came from. The day we brought her home was a day of random chance...or fate. Saturday morning, while we were driving to the local harvest festival, we started discussing maybe getting a kitten. The harvest festival had less to offer the parents of a one year old than we had expected. They really should have called it a brew fest. We didn't stay long, and had no other plans. So, we decided to swing by the local animal shelter and ask for some information.

The gentleman on duty at the shelter that day was very unpleasant. He insisted that it was irresponsible of us to take a pet into a house with a young child and told us that our pet would just end up back at the shelter anyway so we should save our money and not bother. As he was shooing us out the door, another family was on their way in. It was a mom with two little girls, about ages five and seven. The mom was holding a tiny grey kitten. We asked if we could pet the kitten while she talked to the shelter employee. Apparently, this kitten had shown up on her doorstep the previous night. They had no idea who the mom was or where it had come from. It was all alone. They took the kitten in and brought her to the shelter for care as soon as they had a chance.

The shelter employee's mood lightened. He said he'd be happy to take the kitten. Usually they charged people for dropping off an animal, but if she'd just hand the little thing over he would gladly waive the fee. The mom was relieved and thanked him and said she was happy it would be taken care of and go to a good home. The shelter employee explained that was not the case. With growing excitement, he told her that a kitten this young couldn't possibly survive without it's mother and he would have to put the kitten to sleep. He promised that he'd do the procedure himself that very day, though.

The mom was upset. Her children were upset. I was disgusted. +Liam Shepherd was oblivious. He reached out to "pet" the kitten. At that age, he petted by grabbing a handful of fur and yanking. It always resulted in yowls, and often in being scratched or bitten. This kitten, though, just purred. Something in me clicked. I told the mom that since she hadn't signed any papers yet, the kitten was still hers to do with as she pleased. I offered to take the kitten, promising to take it straight to our vet for a professional opinion. If it did need to be put down, we would have it done, but if it could be saved we would take care of it. The shelter employee tried to convince us that the kitten belonged to the shelter as soon as she entered the building. He started yelling at me! The mom agreed to give us the kitten. Her girls told us that they had named the kitten Zoey, and the mom told them that it was our kitten now so we got to pick it's name. I leaned over and told the girls "If her name is Zoey, who am I to change it?" No one was actually sure if the kitten was male or female yet, but I intended to leave her name if she was a girl.

We had another cat in our home at that time, and a wonderful vet only a block from our apartment. I took her into the vet. They were technically closed and cleaning up for the day, but cooed over Zoey. When we told them the story, the staff was so touched that they examined her for free. She was perfectly healthy. The vet sent us home with supplies, instructions, and all the kitten formula we would need -also for free. He said it was thanks for saving Zoey from a shelter that apparently had a pretty nasty reputation. We had to bottle feed her around the clock those first weeks. Liam helped, and took great pride in caring for her when he was little They've always had a deep bond. Thirteen and a half years later, she's strong and healthy, and a happy, loving member of the family.

Cat Genie is a hit!

We were all a little unsure how the cats would adjust to the high tech litter box, and it's high tech litter. The thing is a monstrosity. We measured first, and it fits just like we expected, but it's still bigger than any of us were imagining. It's not nearly as loud as I had expected, though! The cleaning process is whisper quiet, except when the water is draining. Even that isn't bad, though.

We have 2 cats. Zoey is an old lady, nearly 14 years old. I don't think she even noticed her cheap, open top box was replaced by the Cat Genie. Aslan is barely a year old and into everything. He's quite the talker, too. He mews and chirps and you can carry on long conversations with him, if you are listening for vocal tone instead of words. That's him, in the picture. He spends a lot of time, now, standing just like that. He sniffs every surface of the interior, including each individual granual, about an hour after each cleaning process. He doesn't enter the room during that first hour for the same reason none of the rest of us do. It has an overpowering musky smell that takes nearly an hour to dissipate. Even though Aslan is neutered, I imagine it's a product of cleaning adolescent boy cat urine off the granuals. We're using the unscented cleaning solution, and I think the reviews would have mentioned if this was common for others.

Aside from an hour of musk after cleaning, the Cat Genie is everything is claims to be. Aslan was confused at first, and wandered around the laundry room mewing piteously the first night. I had to shove him into the box a couple times before he understood that it wasn't just a cool new cave to play in. After that, he's had no problem using it. He's also incredibly intrigued by the cleaning process. He absolutely HAS to be present every time it's run. We aren't using the auto clean feature. It's not recommended while your cats are getting used to the box. Also, we want to be in control of when the musk is released. I would hate for the timing to align with dinner or company visiting.

This box is much like a standard box. The cats don't track out as much litter, but we still have to sweep the area once per day. You can't just use any litter, so it makes sense to sign up for one of the Cat Genie "Very Important Cat" subscriptions. Running the Genie once per day per cat is recommended, but we are finding once per day to be appropriate for our household. So a single year subscription should actually provide us with enough product to last 2 - 3 years. That means we'll spend far less than we ever have on supplies. Even cleaning it twice per day, we would spend (at most) what we were spending to upkeep a regular litter box.

Project Day - Cat Genie

It started off like any normal Tuesday. +Liam Shepherd alternated between eating, attended classes, and reporting on his every thought and action while not in our presence...and eating....and sometimes telling us about things we were there for...and eating. It was a generally positive and productive day. Cora is whipping through her new courses and had an exam to mail off. That puts her 1/6 of the way through a full year of Freshman Psychology in 2 days.

Mail drops off at our house, but we have to take things to the post office to send them. Liam joined Cora for the walk, while I enjoyed the rarity of a completely empty house for a bit. And that was when the excitement began! That was when the packages arrived. A late Christmas present. Something we've been wanting and talking about getting for as long as it's existed, but could never bring ourselves to splurge on. A Cat Genie.

If you're not familiar with a Cat Genie, let me explain. It's the most ridiculously expensive and indulgent litter box ever invented. It looks like a giant toilet for cats. I say giant because it's bigger than a toilet for people. It plugs into the wall, and taps into the water, and has a drainage tube that dumps liquidized waste into the toilet. If the data I've read is accurate, after the initial insanely expensive purchase, it shouldn't actually cost us any more than the litter we already buy. In fact, we spend a little more than most so we can have super environmentally friendly litter, and I think this thing will end up reducing our budget a bit. It takes a special kind of litter that it washes clean after each use, with a special kind of cleaner. It's pretty darned environmentally conscious for a litter box, is self scooping, self cleaning, and it even disposes of the waste for you. We can barely fit the damn thing in our tiny bathroom, and I don't think we'll even be able to attach to cool privacy dome accessory it came with. It possibly the most indulgent thing I've ever suggested. Our cats have no idea how good they have it.

There was jumping and screaming and roaring with excitement when the kids arrived home. I let them set it up as much as they could by themselves. They're always chomping at the bit for a new project. They're waiting until +Jason Shepherd is home from work to deal with the water and power issues, though. He wants to work on it, too, and the kids aren't 100% confident they can set it up without flooding the bathroom....again.