Scruffy The Legend

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The kids were all screaming in unison “We want see Thanta!  Thanta! Thanta!

So we took them to visit Santa.  Would I lie to you?

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 Two magazines recently featured Ruby and Charlie (above) and Leo and Jade (below) on their covers.  This is truly amazing.

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I know this looks like a cat.  You may already know his name is Chicken.  I have not posted anything about him in quite a while.  I am a dog person and this blog is mainly about Charlie and Ruby.  But don’t think for a second that Chicken doesn’t know all of this.  For his entire life he has been trying to become accepted by the dogs and treated like a dog by them.  He succeeded immediately with Ruby.  Its only over the last month or so that Charlie has decided that Chicken has finally earned his wings.  The two now play together like two dogs.  At the same time, Chicken has come to demand from me the same treatment I give the dogs.  He demands petting at the same time as I am petting the dogs.  He demands treats at the same time I am giving them to the dogs.  He has even started snoozing next to me on the sofa, as he has seen me do so many times with the dogs.  He is now demanding that I let him outside whenever the dogs go out.  Chicken is an indoor cat and has been declawed.  I know it clearly says in my book that I don’t believe in declawing cats.  This was done initially for Ruby’s protection because their play fights posed a risk of accidental eye injury to Ruby.  Karen does not believe in letting cats outside, claws or no claws.  I have no solution yet to Chicken’s desire to go out, but I am working on it.  Although Chicken has attained honorary dog status in this family, I hope he never forgets his roots - he is a cat, and certainly one of the most beautiful ones I have ever seen.

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Was warm and beautiful today so we went to a park. 

Note: That white thing on bottom of Ruby’s mouth.  Not a tooth.  Its the beginning of a drool that eventually got to be several inches long.

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Charlie has really started to understand English well.  I am sitting in a chair in the living room.  Suddenly Charlie appears and sits in front of me smiling.  He is saying something like “I wanna do something Dad, what’s there to do?”  Without making any motion or looking in any partuclar direction, I say “Charlie go get a bone.”  He runs under the coffee table and starts vigorously chewing on the large bone that is always there.  He keeps looking up at me, definitely saying “This is a great idea.  I love this bone.”  He is rolling it between his paws and trying every angle to get the best chewing parts of the bone.  Soon he tires of the bone and comes to me once more smiling again and looking at me intently.  He is certainly saying “That was fun!  What can I do now?”  Again without any motion from me, I say “Get your toy.”  An excited look comes over him and he starts running all over the house to find his barbell toy.  Soon he appears with it in his mouth.  He doesn’t bring it to me, but goes under the coffee table and starts chewing it as vigorously as he had the bone.  When I see he is getting bored, I say “Charlie has a toy! Charlie has a toy!”  On hearing this he renews the vigoruous chewing.  Eventually, he gets tired of chewing altogether and comes over to lie at my feet for a rest.

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We are happy to report that Sebastian (a few posts below this one) has been adopted!  A couple who had lost their  16-year-old Keeshond adopted him.  Thanks to all who were involved and especially to Sebastian’s new parents.

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http://www.ramsey-furkids.com/auction/auction.cgi

This Auction benefits Keeshond rescue.

Many great items to bid on including a book by me.

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Now that Charlie is back to normal, we can get on with normal life activities such as learning new tricks.  I don’t teach Charlie tricks; he invents his own.  His newest:  He takes his barbell toy outside with him, but refuses to bring it back in like he used to.  His old trick was making believe he forgot his toy so I coud remiind him.  Then he would run and get it to bring it back in the house.  His new trick:  He refuses to get the toy once outside and makes believe he doesnt understand me telling him to get it.  So he come in without it.  This is so he can consantly remind me in the house that his toy is missing.  So I open the door and he goes flying out to get his toy which he now brings in the house.  I have also noticed that he knows several English words now: toy, bone, walk, good dog, bad dog, upstairs, bed. sit, paw, cat, down - there are more I can’t think of right now.  These are words that don’t require hand signals.  For example, when I see the shankbone under the coffee table, I may say “get the bone Charle.”  Frequently he will  stare up a the TV cabinet becasue he thinks I was referring to the rawhide “bones” that we keep there (which I also call “bones”).

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Charlie is now eating his special diet with voracious appetite.  Amylase was about 1500 with normal of 1200 (I didn’t know normal could be so high - maybe different from humans or depends on units used).  Anyway, he does not appear to have had the acute pancreatitis of the severe variety that requires intensive treatment andcan be fatal.  The importatnt thing is that he seems to have completely recovered.

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