It is nearing the end of October so I need to write a blog post...I have spent most of this month vomiting more than I should (now my human has me on a different combination of dry foods in addition to my wet food...not sure how I feel about it, though I admit it is nice not to feel the urge to throw up ever day)...and sleeping. Chewie has been bad and as a result numerous new furniture to scratch on have appeared all over the apartment. But when he is not being bad he too is sleeping. I can admit the little guy is pretty cute--here's a recent photo:
September, 2017
September! Oh no, it looks like I haven't posted in a while, but then again neither has my human. Not that she has an excuse considering she has been off social media since 2013, though she claims she has just been busy. I, on the other hand, have a much better excuse...
I had a tumor! My human found a cyst by my neck and a tumor that she and my vet worried could be cancerous, so I had to get it removed. As it turns out, I had a benign tumor typically found in dogs. Amazingly, I was so well behaved at the vet, they were able to take off the tumor without need for general anesthesia! Even more amazingly, my human was allowed to take out the one giant but intricate suture placed to sew up my wound 10 days after it was placed. It took her two different types of scissors, tweezers and a headlamp, but she managed to do a good job (my calm demeanor didn't hurt!).
As for Chewie, blank stares and a cute face, same as always:
May, 2017
Chewie might be a little too attached to our human. Here is how she wakes up most mornings:
Nothing much to report, so here is a close up of yours truly:
March, 2017
Our human got me this loop to help my arthritis. Amazingly, it appears to be helping!! And I'll admit, I do sort of enjoy it...
As for dum dum, he has been busy taking selfies of himself while laying on our human…
February, 2017
Trump is not my president. Nor my human's…still, stupid humans...
January, 2017
My human found this photo on the internet and I like it because it captures the essence of me...
This month my human also transferred my "vomit log" into a moleskin notebook. She seems very happy that for each of the last 2 months I have only vomited 2 or 3 times. I think it is because of how much I love my new-ish new dry food, a hydrolyzed protein diet by Royal Canin...
and she brought a Roomba robot vacuum into MY apartment. Not sure how I feel about this yet...
I know it has been a while since my last entry, so I just wanted to assure everyone that all is well in my world. When my human left Facebook in 2013 I was afraid I could no longer write to the masses, but thankfully I talked her into giving me this blog so I can continue to write to my adoring virtual public…at least those who manage to stumble upon this blog. Here is a photo of me and Chewie. He doesn't like to give me much personal space. What can I say, he finds me irresistible…That's fine except I draw the line when he starts chewing on my ear...
June, 2016
Would you just look at this photo of my belly?! Last week I went to see my vet in Virginia (yes, I have two vets, one in DC near where we live, where I go mostly for emergencies, and the vet where my human has taken cats since she was little in Virginia). They said I needed to get a dental exam, since unlike when I was a kitten I no longer allow my human to stick her finger or a toothbrush to apply toothpaste, and my human decided to get me an ultrasound "while they were at it". I suppose I was happy to learn that I am cancer-free, but it may take me a long time to recover from the indignity of the shaving job the vets did on my beautiful belly, which exposed all of my man nipples for the world to see!
The vets also expressed my anal gland since I no longer choose to do that myself, and they clipped my toenails as a "courtesy" for my human. Finally, they examined a mysterious lump that sprouted suddenly on my side that my human discovered while grooming me recently. But again, cancer free. The ultrasound confirmed that I just have a bad case of Irritable Bowl Disease, which makes me vomit, so it's a good thing my human discovered transdermal medication, which I will probably be on for the rest of my life.
May, 2016
The other day my human thinks she remembers skydiving in her dream and woke up at 4am to find that she couldn't move her head/neck at all--she must have pulled her sternocleidomastoides. Anyway, here I am being loyal while she watched Netflix documentaries and rested her neck:
In happy news, my human finally discovered steroid cream that she can rub inside my ears. I still put up a fuss, but I recover much more quickly than when she was giving me oral steroids. Though I do find it violating that she must wash out my ears before giving a new dose. Sigh...
...and here is Chewie on the new scratcher our human gave us. Maybe one day I will sit on it too but for now I don't want to give my human the satisfaction of knowing how much we love it.
April, 2016
My human took us to the vet last month for our annual physical and ever since then I have only vomited a few times, thanks to the miracle steroid creme that our human applies to my face every day.
Chewie is such a dork, but I thought I should include a recent photo of him too...
I haven't vomited for over 3 weeks. I still have arthritis so I can't move around quite as well as in my youth, but aside from that I am back to my old self, thanks to my steroid creme. For those who may be wondering, the miracle creme that seems to be affecting me systemically as well as helping the fur on my cheeks grow back is called Quadritop Ointment (Nystatin-Neomycin Sulfate-Thiostrepton-Triamcinolone Acetonide).
February, 2016
Woah is me. The picture on the left shows you what happened to my poor sensitive cheeks. They became bald and my human took me to the vet to figure out what to do. I was originally supposed to get some steroid-based topical creme, the same kind that our human uses on Chewie's paws when he gets allergic reactions after eating bugs, applied to my face and an increased dose of the original liquid steroids I have been on to control my GI issues. We did this for a while but then I convinced my human that I no longer needed the liquid steroids since starting on the creme, I haven't vomited once! The vet even agreed with this logic and said that as long as I continue not to vomit I can receive just the creme. Take a look at the picture on the right - it's working! Humans can so easily be manipulated...
January, 2016
Snowmageddon #2 - so much snow outside of our apartment, how is it possible? Still, as I wonder this I slumber, snuggling with my stuffed owl:
Though I suppose my human's absence on Facebook is a good thing for me, considering I now have my very own blog, I lament that I do not have a proper platform to upload this video so it can go viral for all the world to see. Still you, dear readers of my blog, are in for a treat. Here is a video of yours truly giving our human a bath:
December, 2015
I get meds often every day, at least every other day. I don't like them even though they are meat flavored, but I hear they will keep me from vomiting. For Christmas our human gave me this big crinkly owl, love it (but don't tell our human I said that):
November, 2015
After several days of vomiting and getting steroids, I seem to be temporarily ok again and get to live for at least a little while medicine-free. A few weeks ago I grabbed the Pepsid and hid it under the stove, but our human managed to find the bottle, so that didn't last too long. I have started to LOUDLY purr in my sleep, which our human found adorable. Perhaps if I continue doing this she will not notice if I vomit occasionally, though for some reason I doubt this trick will work either. Woe is me.
October, 2015
I finally emerged from my not-so-secret hiding place under our human's bed and received both steroids and Pepsid. Our human tells me that this will make my tummy feel better again. I remain skeptical.
Alas, I have started to vomit again and fear this means going back on daily steroids, which at least tastes like chicken though I protest, but also Pepsid to calm my digestion. So I hide under the bed in hopes that I will be left alone. Our human keeps checking in on me and I purr, but I think she knows all is not well with my tummy...
Earlier in October:
Good news! Our human called the vet and she said that I could go off the steroids, at least as long as I continue not to vomit! Now I am a happy cat again :)…well, happy that is until our human left us with her parents over the Potomac in Northern Virginia for a week while she went to Kansas to talk about orangutans. I didn't vomit while there, but I did figure out how to turn on their stove twice the first night our human was in Kansas. I did this in order to teach Chewie (who likes to sit on the stove in our apartment) a lesson, but our human's mother separated us and made me stay upstairs for the rest of the week before I could carry out the extent of my devious plan.
I hatched my evil plan in the first place because Chewie took a swipe at me (he thinks he is just playing but I am too old and sophisticated for this) while I was trying to hide in a bookcase, so I decided to take out my feelings of abandonment (Kansas, really?!) on Chewie and my human's parents for the rest of the week. Although I growled and protested every time one of our human's parents checked in on me, I finally let my guard down and purred all evening the night our human returned just after midnight. I did hide under the bed when she came to put me in a carrier and threw up as soon as I got home, but I don't care how fun she is to snuggle with, she deserved this for leaving us for a week!
September, 2015
I now must take steroids every day, but only every other day. It used to be every day and for the first two weeks twice a day! I hate the medicine but I love the new venison food our human gives me. No more vomiting for me! But my human says I may have to take the steroids possibly every other day for the rest of my life. Woe is me.
Chewie got his paws stuck in our human's shoes the other day, pretty silly...
It's also a good think our human doesn't use the stove much...
August, 2015
Most recent news on the feline front is that my doctor tells me that I have either IBD (Intestinal Bowel Disease) or Lymphoma (the big C). My human isn't sure she wants me to go through kitty chemo if it turns out that I do have Lymphoma and for now has decided to treat for IBD and see if the daily steroids help. If not, I will have to get an abdominal ultrasound to see if I have cancer. The vet gave me a shot of Cerenia and an initial dose of steroids so I will stop vomiting and I will have to get a squirt of oral Pregnizone every day. I am not particularly happy with any of this, but the good news is that I also get to try a new food - although I will eat the hydrolyzed protein Z/D wet food I am given as long as it is mixed in with Turkey baby food, I am going to try the D/D venison and see if my tummy can handle this as a novel food. I sure hope so, since I liked the sample D/D dry food I was given to try!
August has been very hot and humid in DC until very recently. Our human, who is almost always too cold, even resorted to using the AC, at least leaving it on for us during the day. I am looking forward to the fall!
July, 2015
Sometimes I make fun of Chewie, but I really do like spending time with him.
June, 2015
It is very hot and humid here in Washington. I spend most of my time in this position, letting my belly's surface get the most of the AC that my human leaves on for us during the day:
Chewie was very excited when our human got some new shoes. I tried to tell Chewie that he is a little too fat for the shoebox, but he didn't listen to me:
Chewie is also too big for his favorite bed:
And Chewie being Chewie…
For two days this month I limped around the house, made sad noises every time I landed on my right front foot, and our human almost took me to the vet. But then my limp went away and suddenly I was ok. My human says I am a drama queen…
Chewie was pretty oblivious to the whole situation:
Our human just brought home the mat on the left for our food/water with little kitties whose eyes follow us everywhere:
Chewie kneading our human's tummy:
late May, 2015
Two entries in one month, I sure do have a lot to say for a cat. Our human has finally started open our window, which is where we spend most of the time during the day, gazing out of the bedroom window at the Zoo where our human is working most of the time.
I like to use our human's radio as a pillow so I can lay under the open window and sleep all day.
May, 2015
I am healthy again! No more vomiting. I do still spit up sometimes, but who doesn't?! The trick seems to be some combination of going on a completely hydrolyzed protein diet and getting FortiFlora probiotics sprinkled over my wet food twice a day. I haven't thrown up in over a month and now my human is even giving me occasional treats and Instinct turkey dry food again to supplement the Z/D hydrolyzed food.
Here I am with some of my favorite toys:
And here is a recent picture of Chewie:
Chewie likes to take selfies with our human:
Chewie sure does like his shelf. Our human's father had to drill it into the wall because Chewie and I are so big our human was afraid the shelf would fall off the wall.
This is what happens when humans live alone with cats, even when they have queen-sized beds:
April, 2015
It's April and I think high time for another glamour shot of…who else, US!
Our human tried to take a nap earlier today, but we were in the way and she didn't have the heart to disturb us:
…and this is what Chewie had to say about that:
March, 2015
Our human finally found a food combination that works for Me and Chewie so I don't steal his food, he doesn't steal mine, Chewie's poos are not too stinky, and most importantly I don't vomit…it involves Greek yogurt and canned pumpkin for Chewie (plain or vanilla only, other flavors are not good for kitties!) and hypo-allergenic Z/D cat food, Gerber's turkey & gravy human baby food (only chicken or turkey, other flavors have onion and garlic, which can be fatal to kitties!), and FortiFlora for me.
The vet says I am a little bit obese and Chewie is not, but I don't really understand because Chewie weighs 16 pounds and I only weigh 14 pounds. Our human tells me it has something to do with my belly flabs and tells me that one day she will put me back in my dog harness (I don't fit into a cat harness) and walk me on a dog leash through the apartment like she did when we lived in PA.
Here is a photo of me in my dog bed:
And here is a photo of Chewie, who really doesn't fit in this cat bed:
We like to sit in front of the space heater:
…and we like Amazon boxes:
…especially boxes that come with bubble wrap!
Our human took Chewie and I to our primary care vet in VA this morning to have our exams and get updated on some shots. It seems like just yesterday I was at our emergency vet in DC, so I do not understand why I had to go again and I put up a big fuss, making noises my human didn't know could come out of a cat all the way from our apartment in DC, over the Potomac, into the VA suburbs. When I got to the vet I got to watch some dogs in the waiting room, which was pretty fun. Energetic puppies remind me of Chewie. I don't have quite that much energy anymore. One of the shots I got made me sleepy, so I didn't protest on the way home. We got stuck in traffic at the entrance to the White House behind what my human thinks was the presidential motorcade.
Here is a picture of me resting after my exhausting morning:
And here is a picture of Chewie playing with a toy I used to love when I was a kitten. I still play with toys sometimes, but not when Chewie is watching. I don't know where he gets all of this energy...
February, 2015
First, here is a recent photo of me to prove to my fans that I am alive and well, just tired of having senior cat issues (the human doctors tell me that I am "elderly", though I am only 12, so I expect to live another decade!), as you can tell from my expression:
I am ok, but my human had to bring me to see the vet on an emergency basis twice in the last month. I am told that I have IBD, Irritable Bowl Disease, yet even after my human paid a lot of money for lots of tests, nothing conclusive was found. My human insists on keeping a vomit log to keep track of my episodes, but ever since I started on a diet of hypoallergenic food, I haven't had to vomit as often and my human has stopped squirting liquid Famotidine (that's a fancy word for Pepsid) into my mouth.
Then just as I stopped chronically vomiting (my human is keeping a log), a rawness appeared on the base of my tail, along with black spots around my anus.
My back end is find now, but woe was me when this was taken!
I try to convince my human not to worry and tell her I can wait for my annual exam in March to go to the vet by looking adorable on the sofa. See, I don't look any different than Chewie, except I am orange, 6 years older and wiser, and appreciably more handsome:
In other news:
Here is a photo of Chewie and our human's most recent creation, "Elmer" the paper mache monster (which is larger than us!), finally finished:
…and here is a picture of the nearly-finished monster & ME in the background:
Dan told my human that he can't ever leave his cats out of his paper mache videos or people wonder if they are ok. Its good to see that Dan has his priorities in order.
January, 2015
Happy New Year! Our human has been making a very large creation out of paper mache. I rather like Mr. Paper Mache Monster.
So does Chewie…
I had a little mishap and while trying to get my human's attention by making noise behind the TV, I managed to get several of my toes stuck in the little holes on the back of the TV. I then panicked and shoved my toes in even further, so my human had a very difficult time getting time getting me unstuck from the back of the TV. My human eventually manage to extricate all of my toes and even counted them when it was all over just to be sure that I was ok. But then I regret to say that after I stopped screaming and my human calmed me down, I bit her in the head because I was mad at myself and she was the closest thing available to bite. There was a lot of blood and my human's parents even came over from the VA suburbs to make sure she was ok and to count my toes one more time. My human's head is still in tact, though nicely lacerated, and I still have all of my toes, but hopefully I have learned my lesson.
October, 2014
Fun with Photo Booth!
Selfies with my human…We sent these to my human's friends who were at a conference she couldn't attend this year after they texted a photo of themselves one evening. So nice to get an unexpected call from a group of fellow orangutan nerds wanting to hear my human's best leach story. Of course then I upstaged her with my big fuzzy face.
Chewie also contributed to the cat selfie madness, though in my not-so-humble opinion he is not as amazingly handsome as me…
September, 2014
I sure do get a lot of hugs from my human…it's a good thing I am so photogenic!
Chewie does not like to have hugs quite as much, though my human still tries. But he is ok as long as my human holds him like a feed sack. Weirdo.
I do not like it when my human packs into a suitcase, since I know this typically means she will take us to her parents and Chewie will see the black cat that roams outside and re-direct his frustrations at me. Chewie is not that smart and just likes to sit on the luggage:
August, 2014
I have been a lazy cat and haven't blogged for the past few months. Since my human left social media ten months ago, the number one thing that friends who are still in touch through other means say they miss from her absence on Facebook is MY blogging. So in an attempt to give them what they want, here is a photo that my human recently took of me, up on the very top of the kitchen cabinets right by the ceiling:
March, 2014
We (me--Niko, Chewie, and our human companion) recently moved (back) to Washington, DC (our human was born here). I must say that I do like the hardwood floors and view of the Zoo from our new apartment. We can watch the deer and listen to the peacocks and flamingos every evening and can even see the outdoor aviary from our bedroom window!
Here are some pictures of me and Chewie and our human in our new apartment:
Chewie and I like to listen to the birds at the Zoo and trees behind our apartment on summer days when our human opens the bedroom window so we can feel the breeze through the window screen (next step is for me to go outside with my human on my harness/leash like I did in Philly, but I am not yet sure how I feel about that since I like our cozy apartment and I am a lazy cat):
Sometimes we are so cute that we take selfies with our human:
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This is me, SIR NIKOLAS THE GREAT. But my human insists on calling me Niko after Nikolass ("Niko") Tinbergen, the Dutch ethologist. True story: my human named the first wild male orangutan she found in Borneo Niko and one of her field assistants named his eighth child Niko…after me!
This is my cat CHEWIE, who our human named after Chewbacca the wookie from Star Wars. I like licking Chewie almost as much as I like licking bubble wrap.
I made my human post these entries back when we still lived in the Philadelphia suburbs:
Chewie and I like to hang out together, especially in our tent. I'm not sure we will get to live in a tent when we move to DC, but you never know--humans can be easily influenced by my big purrs and soulful eyes.
Sometimes I get to venture outside my apartment and when I'm good I even get to go outside on a leash, wearing my dog harness (I'm a little chubby for a cat)…and when I am not outside my human buys me organic cat grass to help me digest.
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