Never a dull moment!

We added a new pet to our small menagerie. Ok..can I truthfully call it a menagerie when there are only two pets? Regardless, Harley joined our family on December 23rd as an early Christmas present for Claire. He is a 5 month old orange/white tabby cat that we adopted from the Humane Society. He came with the name “Ringo” but was quickly renamed because according to Claire, “he purrs like a motorcycle”.

Already having one pet with a chronic illness, we hoped our luck would be better this time around. It is…maybe. At our first well-kitty checkup it was determined that Harley has a heart murmur. It doesn’t appear to be too significant and could be something he “outgrows”. Or, it could be something we will have to address as he gets older. For now, we hope for the best and our vet will continue to monitor with regular checkups.

Xena and Harley are getting along 23 hours out of every day. That other hour can be iffy if Harley wants to play and Xena doesn’t, or vise versa. They both seem to hold their own very well though and there hasn’t been any bloodshed. Xena loves having another family member, especially one with such yummy food. I don’t think she has touched her dog food more than a handful of times, as she quite often “sneaks” the cat food. I need to do some research as I’ve heard that can be bad, but so far no ill effects for either pet.

It has been alot of fun to get out some of the cat toys from my product box and watch Harley go to town. His favorite so far is the Kitty Calisthenics. During the day he zips across the room and pounces into it, then proceeds to roll around a bit as he bats at the dangling toys within. When he has calmed down, we canoften find him laying on top of it and smooshing it down to create a sort of hammock-like bed. It is adorable!

Did I mention I’m allergic to cats?! Stay tuned for further postings on how to live with a pet you are allergic to.