Scary Smells

As soon as I smelled my little brother, I knew: he had been visiting the dreaded Uncle Dr. Kraft.

About a month ago, Artie’s bad arm started swelling. So my humans followed Uncle DK’s instructions and iced it as often as Artie would allow (not very often). The swelling would go up and down but was mostly up. Then a small sore/scab developed on the arm and a couple of days ago, the sore started oozing. Throughout it all, Artie has continued to act like a maniac and hasn’t slowed down on any of his crazy kitten antics. Uncle DK said that Artie might already have some nerve loss in that leg, which is why he doesn’t appear to be in pain when he jumps, runs, and walks around on it. Now it has an infection. Uncle DK said we can give Artie meds, but unless he is permanently confined, he will continue to stress that leg, which will continue the inflammation/infection cycle.

On Monday morning, my humans are taking Artie in to have his bad leg amputated. My female human has read many stories about kitties who have lived happy, active lives with only three legs but she is still very scared. She is worried about Artie being in pain or scared/depressed after his surgery and about the adjustment period.

New Brother

My new brother is here. His name is Art Blakey. I'm not so sure about him yet.

Secret!

My female human told me a secret today: Our family will be adopting a boy kit-teen soon! He is ~6-7 months old and very sweet. He was brought into our local shelter when he was 8 weeks old. He had a broken leg that didn’t set properly, so one of his legs is disabled (it is bent at the joint underneath the paw and he is only able to limp on the side of that paw). The humane society vet said the leg is healthy and he is not in pain, and it doesn’t need to be amputated. We will check with Uncle Dr. Kraft after we adopt him to make sure he isn’t in pain or uncomfortable.

My humans won’t hear about their application until early next week but decided to share the news with me because I’m a good girl. *puffs up chest* Not like some cats I could mention (like Hetty Miep “the Cape” Wainthrop or Elvin and his mean Evil Twin).

My human says this new adoption is bittersweet: she is happy to adopt a new kitty into our family but also sad because she still misses my brother Garp.

Cape Fear

Last weekend, my female human and I were hanging out downstairs while the male human prepared to vacuum upstairs. Then we heard him yell, “Cape!!”

I looked at my human and she looked at me. We both knew what it meant: Hetty Miep was making one of the males in the house (either the male human or Elvin) wear the HM cape. My female human sighed and said, “Better them than us, huh Hilda?”

Later, the male human said he caught Hetty Miep in the initial stages of “caping” Elvin: she had her paw wrapped around his neck and was getting ready to climb on him like a pony.

I’m glad I’m not a boy.

Daily Diary Pick…Again!!

Wow—this is the second time this month that I’ve been a Daily Diary Pick! I told my siblings that our household will forever refer to this month as “the month of Hilda” (rather than the month of February). Elvin made rude noises and Hetty Miep said a couple of things, using words that the female human has repeatedly forbidden us (and the male human) from using. I guess they’re staying loyal to February.

Whatever.

Elvin is just grumpy because he caught Hetty Miep’s cold (she no longer has it since tossing it to him). And Hetty Miep is still mad that the female human threw away her catnip mouse “baby” because it was getting too “crusty”. Hetty Miep refuses to accept the new catnip mouse baby (identical to the old one, minus the “crust”).

Thank you, friends, for the rosettes and lovely pawmails!

Daily Diary Pick!

I was so excited this morning to find out I’m a Daily Diary Pick. Then my sister Hetty Miep said that being a DDP means I have to do whatever she says. Elvin was sitting next to her when she said this. He nodded his head and said, “Yep. And you have to let me eat all of your wet food. And you have to let me use you as a pillow all day when I’m not sleeping in your favorite places.”

I almost believed them but remembered that Samoa has been DDP many times and there’s no way she’d let her siblings eat her food OR use her as an all-day pillow OR sleep in her favorite places. What I’m sure it does mean is that one of my humans will need to spend the entire day feeding me treats (probably the male human since the female one is a bit stingy with the size of treats she gives me) while the other human brushes me. My siblings can take turns using each other as a pillow when they aren’t cleaning up the small crumbs that I might be generous enough to let fall from my mouth. I can’t wait!

In other news, I’m pleased to announce that my brother’s VO has finally worn off and we’re back to snuggling.