i just died

cute overload is my new favorite daily distraction.

not vegan

this week i was vegan for six days. and during the first five and a half of those days, i really felt that i would be vegan forever. and then just as suddenly as i decided to forgo milk and cheese, i changed my mind and ate some banana pudding. and that was that.

is anyone surprised that i caved? no.

this morning lionel and i played a spirited game of fetch with a fake mousie. my cat understands that if he brings the mouse back to me after i've thrown it, i'll throw it again. my cat is a genius. well, one cat is. the other one watches us play this game with a look of utter befuddlement on her fuzzy face.

cats of amsterdam

i recently spent a week with laura in amsterdam. from what i remember, it was a good time. the best part of amerdam was... of course... THE CATS. laura and i took pictures of all the kitties we saw. this guy was my favorite:



see, everyone really does rides bikes in amsterdam. even the fuzzy felines.

one night we were having dinner at this greek restaurant and there was a man sitting alone nearby. but he wasn't alone for long, because mid-meal a cat sauntered out from the back and sat right across from him. the cat was keeping the man company! how thoughtful!



we met this guy at a coffeeshop. he was super friendly, just came right over and plopped down. we worried that perhaps a coffeeshop was not the ideal environment for a cat to reside. but he seemed alright.



the next few photos are from a series i'm calling "cats in windows." these guys we came close enough to see, but unfortunately could not touch.





look at that last guy! i just want to bite him, he's so cute.

tail chasing

you know how they say that animals take on the qualities of their owners? what does it say about me then that lionel needs antidepressants to deal with a compulsive desire to gnaw on his tail? like, when we take his cone off, he licks and chews his tail and bleeds all over the apartment and needs an emergency trip to the vet. and the more he goes to the vet, the more stressed out he gets. have you ever seen a cat pant? it's really sad.

we don't know why he began gnawing on his tail in the first place, but his initial wound wasn't healing well, so the vet amputated a few inches of his tail to make a clean wound which should have healed all nice and neat. but lionel is a rascal and managed to rip his bandage off numerous times and mess with it. now it's mostly healed, but he's sill fixated on his tail. what the fuuuuuuck???

giving him his medicine is difficult. the vet said that bigelow's would concoct a liquid version of his medicine with a flavor of our choosing. we chose chicken. but apparently the flavor does not completely mask the taste of the medicine, because he foams at the mouth whenever we give it to him.

but today he climbed into bed with me while i was taking a nap and curled up and purred for the first time since this debacle began. maybe he's getting better?