Da Bird feather toy | WEGGIEBOY'S BLOG by Doug Thomas

Each day since his veterinarian’s appointment last Monday, Andy’s made progress in becoming more active and involved with his toys.

Today, he batted a “Da Bird” feather toy around and tussled with the same toy in a form without a string and pole that you toss and the cat chases. It’s been some time since he did either.

Andy resting after he and Dougy chased each other.

He’s more alert, more playful, and more vocal when he doesn’t get his way. (At this moment, he’s running around trying to locate Dougy for more rough housing.)

Poor light, alert Andy: In a way, this is a good portrait of him.

I’m encouraged! He’s even giving me more of a challenge each morning to locate and capture him for his daily medicine, though I try not to make it stressful for him.

After he takes his medicine, I stroke his ears and head, quietly telling him what a good boy he was.

He still is dang glad when I put him down and he untangles himself from the bath towel (“kitty burrito”, remember!) I wrap him in to help reduce his struggle and stress at being medicated. He doesn’t want me to sweet talk him when he could be wild and free!

Though my inclination would be to discourage Andy from being too active since he has a heart murmur, I’m doing my part instead by letting him decide when he is ready to increase his activity or engage in play with his brother Dougy. It seems to be working out just fine!

Don’t tell my * favorite sister-in-law, but my brother Richard and I talked on the phone yesterday for four hours. Yeah, four hours!

We always have long telephone conversations, but four hours pretty much doubles the usual length for these marathon conversations. No apologies, though. My brother not only is my only brother, he is my favorite one, and it’s been awhile since we talked.

We talked about a lot of things and a lot of nothing, but it was a fast four hours. The best news to come out of it, though, is my brother plans to visit in June. I’m ready! He usually stays around five weeks, but those five weeks fly by. He’s a great guest! (Anyone who does the dirty dishes is a “great guest”! 🙂 )

Though the boys don’t know what I meant when I told them my brother is coming for a visit, I guarantee they will be excited to see him in June! Yes, Richard is my cats’ favorite “uncle”! The moment he walks in the door, they crush against him, excited to see him again. I think they remember how much fun he is!

Here is a video from the first time my brother visited after I got the boys. He’s the one “operating” the Da Bird toy. Andy and Dougy play the crazed cats chasing the feather toy. Under equivalent circumstances, my brother’d be your favorite, too!

Andy and Dougy were a couple of weeks short of one year old in this video.

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* I know: if you have only one of something, technically it can’t be a favorite. This is a family inside joke with my brother and sister-in-law. What isn’t a joke is they’d still be my favorites if I had two or more brother or sister-in-law.

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After I wrote this, I remembered another cat and another time my brother visited. Louie loved my brother’s visits, too. During this 2011 visit, Louie’s favorite toy broke. My brother fixed it, then gave it a test run with Louie. Here’s the result:

I think you get a better idea now why I love my brother and look forward to seeing him! I suspect lions would purr and rattlesnakes would rattle out my brother’s favorite tunes if they met him.

Dogs love him, too! When he was here the last time, my niece’s dog Oreo, who always visits my brother and sister-in-law each day, had some behavior issues because he was upset my brother wasn’t there!