Dogs, cats, and guinea pigs

It's been forever since I last updated this blog! I definitely have missed being on here- I have just been busy with other things. Anyhow, I can now upload pictures from my cell phone onto my laptop which I am very happy about since unlike a camera, I always have my phone with me so I can take cute pictures of Muffin and my other babies at any opportune moment and quickly upload them onto my laptop to share them with the virtual world. :)

Another reminder of how long it has been since I was last on here is the fact that when I typed my last post I hadn't yet adopted or even met my Hairless Chinese Crested, Sookie! We adopted her in January of last year when she was eight months old (She will turn two years old this coming May). In addition, last October we took in a black stray cat we named Baby when Superstorm Sandy hit, so we have acquired a few new additions. :)

Below is a picture of Muffin I took today while she was on my bed, along with one of Sookie lying down with my cat, Stray.

Two more videos

These videos were on my Android tablet, and i couldn't figure out how to get them onto my Youtube account or save them onto my computer, so I had to create another Youtube account as it would only allow me to upload the videos on an account with my gmail address linked to it. I'm happy I finally managed to upload these videos, as I think both of them are so cute! The video with Muffin is correlated with the photo I previously posted on here, and the other one is of Cedric getting comfy on his pillow. :-)

Muffin Was Making Weird Noises Last Night??

Last night, I noticed Muffin was making these strange noises that were deeper than her usual high-pitched whistling sounds. She then proceeded to make these gagging noises as if she was about to throw up, but I didn't see anything come out. Yet whenever anyone would go up to her cage, she would suddenly stop making the weird noises and would simply start whistling again and bite at the bars of her cage like she usually does. Today she doesn't seem to be making any noises and is drinking, eating, is active, etc. so I'm just assuming that she is fine and that there was simply something stuck in her throat or whatever...?

Anyhow, here is a video of Muffin that I took a few days ago, which I already posted on Youtube. Just her making her usual adorable little noises (the loud background voice is my sister). :-)

Guinea Pigs Pee A LOT.

I now feel comfortable putting Muffin on the bed with Stray and even with Miracle on the bed at the same time now.. I think she now knows that Muffin is also a pet, not a toy. Still, I supervise them closely when they're on the bed together. But there is NO way I could teach Cedric to ignore the Guinea Pig if he was on the bed with her. That cat is WHACKED.

However, I can only allow Muffin to stay within the parameters of the baby blanket that is specifically placed on the bed for her to crawl on, along with the bunch of towels placed under it, as if she pees it DOES leak through to the sheets on my bed.. even if she is on the blanket with a towel beneath it. But she often drinks over half a bottle of water a day, so I suppose it all has to go somewhere..

Anyhow, I also wanted to mention something else on here that is off-topic, but since I am an advocate for animal rights I felt it was important. If you haven't already heard, Congress is going to legalize the slaughtering of horses in the US. If you are also against the slaughtering of these beautiful creatures, you can sign the petition to ban horse slaughtering here. As of currently, a little over 13,100 signatures are still needed, and the deadline to sign is December 20- so don't wait to sign!

Muffin & her 'stuffed buddies' and chocolate chip cookies!

Last night, Muffin was unusually cuddly. I placed her on my chest, and she actually laid there for about 20 minutes or so, falling asleep on me every now and then. Well, she did end up pooping on me (I never learn), so obviously I threw my shirt in the wash and took a shower right afterward.

Unfortunately I didn't get any photos of her laying on me, but I decided to post this photo I took of her in between a bunch of stuffed animals that I took about a week ago. This is definitely my favorite photo of her. :-)

Where's Muffin?

I also baked a bunch of chocolate chip cookies for Thanksgiving today. They are based off the Original Toll House chocolate chip cookie recipe- in my opinion, it makes the best chocolate chip cookies! You can get the recipe off of the back of the packet of Toll House chocolate chips.

I even took a photo of them:

I can't eat too many, as we are saving them to bring to my relatives' house tomorrow, but they are very difficult to resist!

Vitamins, mites and exotic pets

I'm trying to give Muffin a bit more excercise by letting her crawl on my bed at least once a day, plus it also helps her socialize more with 'mommy' (me, obviously). However, now I've learned to cover the blanket with a towel, as she did happen to poop on the bed yesterday..

In addition, I've also realized that it is far easier giving Muffin her vitamins once she is already exploring on the bed. And as for the yellow stains it causes, it actually will come off of her fur the next day- though fortunately I barely got any yellow on her today.

I'm really thinking that her convulsions are more due to stress than mites, but she does itch, so I will continue giving her the Revolution the next month anyways.. plus, I already paid for it of course. And otherwise, she is still very active and eats, drinks, and goes to the bathroom normally so it definitely appears that she is healthy.

On a random note, I'm watching Fatal Attractions on Animal Planet right now, and it makes me wonder how people could have all these crazy exotic animals as pets- such as buffalo and crocodiles. Yeah, I think little Muffin is about as far as I will go in terms of having an exotic pet. Well, I would also consider getting an iguana or bearded dragon- iguanas are vegetarian so I wouldn't have to worry about feeding it crickets or any other critters, but still, bearded dragons are so sweet!

Oh, and I also really like parrots. Ok, ok, I think certain exotic animals would be cool as pets, but for now it will be just Muffin, the cats, and the frogs.

Muffin Does NOT Like the Vet

Yesterday, we took Muffin to the vet. She had been having convulsion-like movements, and I was very concerned. The vet said that she may have mites, as I had been noticing her itching quite a lot, so she gave us some Revolution, as well as a liquid vitamin supplement (though I'm not entirely sure what that has to do with the convulsions). I also learned today that the vitamin supplement stains, as Muffin now has orange all around her mouth, which mostly has to do with her struggling and squealing while I was trying to place the syringe in her mouth. Water only took a bit of it off, so I will have to do some research and see what I could find that works better.

The vet also said that it could be stress related as well, as it does seem to happen mostly when she is nervous. And she can get very stressed out, especially, I learned, at the vet, where she was screeching as if she was being murdered. They even had to place a blanket over her so that they could clip her nails, which were very, very long. Though even after they had been clipped, she still managed to scratch me up good on the wrist while I was putting her back in her cage after the trip. She's still pretty stressed, particularly when I take her out of the cage, which I'm sure has to do with her traumatic experience at the vet's so I'm hoping she calms down more within the next few days.