Happy Belated Memorial Day!

Vante is doing great.  She was having incontinence issues again so we took her to the vet and apparently it is due to her anal glands acting up.  (She is 16 years old!)  One was very full and the other was almost infected.  So now we're going to take her to the vet once a month to get her anal glands expressed.  She's going to hate that!  But it's for the best and if it will solve her incontinence issues then it's worth the effort; that will be money well spent.

Here are some photos of her around the house just doing her Vante thing...

Happy 16th Birthday Vante!

Vante celebrates her Sweet 16th Birthday today! 

She has big plans for today: napping, playing chase, brushing, sunning and eating. 

Vante is living the good life!

Happy Easter!

Vante is celebrating Easter not with bunnies but with some of life's little pleasures: naps, sunny spots and string (even if all she can find is the string from our blinds).  Don't worry, I'll find some painter's tape here shortly and get that string out of her reach and find her something safer to play with. 

Like Mother Like Daughter

My husband caught Vante and I in bed this morning with the exact same body language. 
-Arms crossed
-Squinty eyes

April Showers

I wasn't able to post a photo every day in March.  Please accept my apologies.

Last week Vante was having litterbox issues.  She was scooting, trying unsuccessfully to defecate and licking her bottom.  She was obviously very uncomfortable and her bottom was red and inflamed.  So, I took her to the vet and after x-rays and an exam it was deemed that she had to have her anal glands expressed. 

Needless to say Vante didn't appreciate or enjoy the experience.  She expressed her opinions extremely loudly during the entire process.  But afterwards she was back to her old self.

I'll just have to keep an eye on it and she'll need to have her glands expressed every once in a while.  It depends on the animal but it could be as often as once a month or every 3-4 months.

But other than that slight hick-up Vante is doing great!

March 20th

March 19th

I just ran across this photo from our trip to the ski resort in Utah. 

Almost all of the photos I'm posting this month have been taken recently (Jan., Feb., or March 2011).  Less than a handful are from 2010.

March 18th

March 17th

These photos are from one of our photo sessions (a failed one).  Vante wasn't feeling photogenic.

March 16th

Vante was napping in the carpeted tube by the front window.  My husband managed to get this photo through the hole in the side of the tube. 

March 15th

March 14th

March 13th

Vante exploring drawers that are too small.

March 12th

Vante decided to hang out with me while I was cleaning up some of my scraps and quilting stuff.  She was a good sport about it.  She tries to sit on my lap while I'm sewing but it usually works out better if she naps on a local chair or blanket.

March 11th

In February Vante went to Brian Head with us.  

 

She doesn't mind car rides at all.

March 10th

Vante moved from this nap spot.

To this nap spot.

It took less than 5 minutes for her to be in Dreamland after moving to this sunny spot.

"If there is one spot of sun spilling onto the floor, a cat will find it and soak it up."

- Joan Asper McIntosh

March 9th

March 8th

March 7th

 

March 6th

Vante is doing great.  She's been napping with my husband a lot this week.  On the sofa, on the floor in the living room & I think she has convinced him that naps are the bees knees. 

March 5th

Vante naps in positions and places that I never even imagined possible!

March 4th

Miss V occasionally decides to sleep face-down & it's absolutely adorable & looks very uncomfortable!

March 3rd

Vante is wearing her grumpy face!

March 2nd

Nap Time!

March 1st

Let the Vante-A-Thon begin!

March is Vante-A-Thon

I've been neglecting Vante's Blog but don't worry, Vante is anything but neglected.  I'm going to make March a Vante-A-Thon and post photos of her daily doing what she does - sleep, eat, cuddle in my lap, my husband's lap, chase the other cats and (almost) everything in-between. 

She's doing well.  Really playful and full of herself.  We're having some litter box/living room issues that will hopefully work itself out or will go away with the help of the vet and medicine. 

So, let's start the Vante-A-Thon early!  Here is Amelia & Vante sharing their cat tree. 

 

CRAZY--huh?  There was lots of pawing and growling in between the photos.

Vante has a Sweet Tooth

This afternoon I was enjoying a peppermint stick and next thing I know... Vante is enjoying it too!

I let her enjoy it long enough to take this photo, then into the trash it went.

 (Don't worry, she didn't get sick.  She's currently napping off her sugar rush.)

 

Top 5 Cat Toxins during 2010

Vante is doing great.  She's worked out a timeshare of my bed (it's now hers) and the sunny spots in her room (they currently belong mostly to Amelia, my 7-year-old black cat).  No doors are ever closed in our house and while there is still growling, there aren't any fights or squabbles.  YEAH!

A new article just came out about the top 5 reasons that people called into the Pet Poison Hotline in 2010. 

Top 5 cat toxins of 2010

A+ Dental Cleaning

Yesterday morning Vante had her annual dental cleaning, blood-work and physical at the vet clinic. 

The blood-work came back with no problems.

She had some tartar and buildup on her teeth that they cleaned up but she didn't need to have any teeth pulled.

The vet assistant who spoke to me told me that she was very vocal and irritable in her cage.  Apparently it wasn't to her liking - neither was the vet clinic's live-in cat.  The good news is that she was all talk; she wasn't mean or aggressive towards the staff (thank-goodness).

So, I breathed a sigh of relief and picked her up from the vet's office before 3 p.m.  She spent the evening napping in her favorite box on top of the bookcase and hanging out with my husband while he played StarCraft. 

This morning I removed the bandage from the spot where she had her IV (she had a hematoma there & the bandage needed to remain in place overnight) and her back foot was TWICE the size it should have been!

Apparently that is  normal and it will go back to normal size shortly, according to my vet.  Thank-goodness!

So Vante is doing great, we've rearranged her room and changed out some of the furniture & she seems to love it.  Especially since she now has more sun spots to lay in, meeting her New Years Resolution to take time to enjoy sunny spots. 

Happy New Year!

Vante and I want to wish everybody a very Happy New Year.

May 2011 be filled with simple pleasures like naps & sun spots.