Category Archives: Kako

Wylie

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Meet Wylie, Rick's dog, who I take care of anytime Rick is indisposed.  He's truly the best dog I've ever been around: well behaved, well trained, and otherwise a sweet, caring animal.  He's the "puppy" in my life.

While he's visited with The Kids on more than one occasion, sadly it was Wylie who lost that battle — Loki stalked and hunted him, did wage battle with him, and otherwise left Wylie with a bloody nose and bruised ego to prove it.  It was probably an entirely unpleasant experience for the alien intruder.

Grendel, on the other hand, didn't care.  He ignored Wylie and made clear that he would lie about the house regardless of the canine's presence; if Wylie somehow interfered with that simple activity, only then would it get ugly.  That only happened once; afterward Wylie left him alone — perhaps because Grendel was too boring compared to Loki.

Kako and Kazon want nothing to do with any dog, especially one so much larger than they as Wylie.  They will generally find a place to hide (under the covers on the bed, for instance) if he happens to pay a call.

Loki's response, however, hasn't stopped me from bringing Wylie home, but it has certainly given me pause to consider his welfare in light of Loki's relentless attacks.  In this case, if he's at my home, it's Wylie who needs protection despite the fact that he loves cats.  Loki doesn't care and will hunt the trespasser so long as he's here.

Wylie making a u-turn as we leave Rick's house on our way to the lake for some Frisbee action (2004-05-30_011)
Wylie returning the Frisbee for another throw (2004-05-30_015)

By the way, Wylie loves to play Frisbee (along with a plethora of other games, like tug of war, fetch, catch, blankie [this game takes on many different personas due to the versatility of his blanket], and a myriad of other games).  But he needs to play Frisbee, and he's quite exceptional at it.  No matter how many times per day you engage in this activity, he never gets enough until he's had enough — then it's time to go in for a treat.  Smart dog.

Airin’ the pootie

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Kako loves to sleep on her back.  She's done this since she was a kitten.  Derek originally started referring to it as "airin' the pootie."

This is the best way to see her blonde roots.  Kako has a beautiful coat of fur.  As I said, she's a black tabby with ferret-like hair.  While it's usually extremely difficult to see her tabby stripes, it's always simple to see the lighter roots at the other end of the dark hair she normally has on display.

Anyway, here are some pics of her doing just that — airin' the pootie.

Note that the first several are from years ago and taken with a disposable camera; therefore, pardon the (lack of) quality.

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Havin’ some bottle cap

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I've said it before and again: Kazon is a bit slow.  But, while there are brighter lights in the harbor, he does have his moments.  Still, sadly, there are times when I must admit that he never will get better.  This is one of those times.

I began "collecting" plastic bottle caps, the kind you get from sodas and bottled water, only a year or so after I adopted Kako and Kazon on November 15 of 1998.  While giving up all interest in soda of any kind, I began keeping quite a bit of bottled water in the house.  Anyone with cats knows that you often discover that, when it comes to toys, the best ones are those you didn't buy for your feline friends.  This includes straws, packing straps, strings, shoelaces, wrapping paper and newspaper, and… shall I go on?  You know what I mean if you've ever had a cat.

In the spirit of always searching for the next cheap toy, I tossed a cap recently freed from bottled water down to The Kids.  All of them inspected it.  All of them played with it a bit, as if to wonder aloud whether there was some intrinsic entertainment value in this cheap, meaningless trinket.  It took only minutes for all of them to discover that this was truly powerful with the play-hunt-kill mojo.  But Kazon took it a wee bit further, discovering some as yet cloaked form of nutrition or general yumminess.

There was great humor found in watching Kazon sit and gorge on the plastic tops for what at first seemed like hours.  It was amazing how much he enjoyed them and how many times in a single day he could be distracted like this.  Sometimes he roams from one to the other, taking brief tastes of each, until he settles upon what I can only assume to be the most delicious model available.  I've never let him be without since.

Some of you will find this video a bit boring.  Essentially it's nothing more than Kazon havin' some bottle cap.  Sure, Grendel has two brief and unobtrusive cameos, but it's still pretty much just Kazon being weird.  I've speculated that perhaps he likes the feel of the rough plastic surface inside the cap or that he tasted a few caps early in life that had residual something-or-other on them (fruit juice, millk, soda, whatever), but I can't honestly say I understand this.  The only bottle caps they get now (all of them joyfully play with bottle caps) are from water.  I replace them regularly.  They're all plastic.  Your guess is as good as mine is.  By the way, I don't remember how long he was doing this before I grabbed the camera.

This video is in Windows Media Player (WMV) format. It's 1:37 (one minute thirty-seven seconds) in length and is about 4.35 MB (so be prepared for the download if you're using dial-up).

That was almost another trip to the emergency vet

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After Kazon's trip to the vet yesterday, he spent most of the day resting.  That's not out of the ordinary when any of The Kids go to the vet.  It takes them out of their element and increases their stress.  Spending the rest of the day resting and being quiet is normal under those circumstances.

It was therefore with some level of surprise and worry that I found Kazon curled in a ball and presenting fever (unusually warm ears) around 9 PM last night.  He was lying on the bed where I had seen him earlier in the evening.

At first I tried to move him, but he whimpered uncomfortably — in a way I'd never heard Kazon sound.  In response, I laid on the bed next to him and curled around him carefully.

I began stroking him slowly and speaking to him calmly and quietly in the hopes of soothing him.  We stayed there for several hours, I in tears and Kazon in apparent distress.

Having just gone to the emergency vet with Kako only a week before, I was already prepared to whisk Kazon there if needed.

Kazon isn't prone to being ill.  In fact, outside of the problems he had when I originally adopted him, he's never been sick.  That made this situation all the more worrisome.  I cried while I rested with him and monitored his condition.  He's the baby of the house and requires extra attention as he's emotionally sensitive.  This has formed a very strong bond between us, and it caused me great concern to see him in this state.

He slept for quite a while with me wrapped around him, so I didn't dare move for fear of waking or upsetting him.  I continually monitored his temperature and breathing.

Having received both his rabies and respiratory/distemper vaccinations yesterday, I was confident he was having a reaction to one or both of them.  The only issue with that assumption was that he'd never reacted to them before.

I get all of The Kids vaccinated for rabies every year, but I only get respiratory/distemper vaccinations once every three years.  For that reason alone it was possible Kazon had developed a sensitivity to the vaccination in the three years since he'd received his last one.  I can only assume that's what happened in this case.

It was several hours after this episode began that Kazon started to feel better (apparent by the way he was acting and his reduced temperature).  Luckily, this time, there was no need to run to the emergency vet.

Still, I will have to keep this in mind in three years when he's due for this same set of vaccinations.  I will not put him — or me, for that matter — through this again.  It was unpleasant and didn't help my emotional state at all.  Besides, I can't stand to see my kids suffering like that.  Hopefully there will be other options.