Morning Repose

Le Cru et le Cuit

How do you feed a cat? This was a question I asked, literally, when four five-week-old feral kittens ended up in our bathroom, badly in need of feeding. I had never owned a cat. Since I work with a lot of vets, all of whom have pets, I got a lot of advice quickly. This brand is middle of the road, fine, better than this one but not as expensive as this one, top of the line. Mush up the kitten food with water, really make sure they’re getting plenty of fluids. No, you don’t need to supplement milk; at five weeks, they’re practically weaned.

I went to a talk last night at the Co-op about feeding your pets raw food. Diego’s been vomiting again, and this is worrying me since the hypoallergenic food he was prescribed by the vet was recalled just before we got back from Colorado due to the melamine pet food scandal. (I am really, really glad we always mixed it up with a lot of different dry foods, all of them wheat- and corn-free; if he was exposed, it was to tiny amounts.)

There was a lot of interest, predictably, in the wake of the melamine thing (one horrifying thought is that all the tainted food is now going to be combined with hog feed, here or abroad, and there’s no way to stop it or even trace it under current regulatory practices. This poison is headed for the human food chain, folks…). Postscript: actually, it already has: see this story

This is a vegetarian household. Cats are carnivores. Kibble’s easy, but what the hell is in it? (A hint: if it says “beets” it means “sugar.”) And why on earth is Hills filling its expensive white-coat-sanctioned food (think Clinique of the pet world) with corn, something as humans we should be eating a lot less of, but is basically indigestible for carnivores? Got it in one: it’s cheap. (Just like buying wheat or rice gluten from China is cheap. This has been a personalized crash course, for me, in the consequences of a global economy…)

I don’t know if we’re moving towards feeding the cats raw food or not. (To Numenius’ great dismay I did buy a bit with my friend Mary, beef heart with chicken; the cats turned their noses up at it this morning.) But I’m definitely interested in learning more about animal nutrition. One place I won’t look, probably, is any school of veterinary medicine whose funding for nutrition research comes primarily from the pet food company with the white coats. Sad, since I work for one of the most prominent such schools in the country…

Felis quiltensis

Charlie finds a good nook under the down comforter while the sheets are washed.

Farewell to Ernie

Ernie’s gone. We had wonderful times taking care of him while Barbara was away. I’ve never heard such a loud purr, or seen an animal like such a vigorous brushing. We’ll miss him.

Phil Gross kindly compiled the following tributes:

Ernie was a hard hard hard working cat. He worked real hard at that, and it’s a hard job. We won’t forget what his loss means to the country.
— George Bush

The wanker was a complete fun loving goofball. He did cat very very well.
— Mick Jagger

I would have given him the locker next to me… he meant that much.
— Barry Bonds/Barry Zito

For people on E street, it won’t be the same now that he is gone. I think people will notice his passing more than they noticed my leaving. That goes doubly for the rat population… you know who I’m talking about.
— Suzy Boyd

Margaret Thatcher… a focking focker. Ronald Reagan, a total focker. George Bush, a silly little focker. Ernie Anderson, a very nice cat.
— Bob Geldoff

Ernie was a beautiful vacillating mixture of indoor/ outdoor cat. When he was indoors, he’d scratch at the door to go out… soon as you let him out he was scratching at the door to get in. We have all felt that way at times… but no one was more honest in expressing that feeling publicly… and loudly. Kudos
— Robert Bly

Barb, you picked such a serious professorial picture of Ernie, I fear some will be misled who didn’t know him well.
— Phil Gross

Always the most fun person to visit at that address.
— E Street neighbors

Further Adventures in Colored Pencils

My Derwent Coloursofts arrived this week. A beautiful set of 72. I decided to avoid intermediate quantities based on reviews by Bob and Katherine.

I’m quite familiar with how Prismacolors function. There are some super-creamy ones, such as Indigo, Canary Yellow and Tuscan Red, that glisten off the pencil onto the page; others, such as Vermilion Red, seem to have been made with micah and won’t leave a trace on the paper without a lot of effort, without almost scrubbing the color into the paper.

The Coloursofts are, in general, much chalkier than Prismacolors, but are very smooth. Their waxy bloom is slower to grow. The result is a little brighter (see apple on left as opposed to right).

I tried working at the Farmers’ Market this morning. A drawing of this size takes a long time, and people were constantly moving in and out of view, barring the cooperative gentleman in the black vest. It’s better to have an obvious sitter or obvious photograph to work from.

The cats, on the other hand, spend a long time in each position. I was able to do this drawing this morning, in Prismacolor. Black cats are hard to draw and this black was a combination of indigo and tuscan red with a little burnt sienna thrown in. (The warm colors are on top as the cat was close to me, not further away, in which case I’d have done the routine the other way around.)

This sort of discussion seems so arcane when most people around me are talking about megapixels, digital Nikon lenses, and the need to buy external hard drives. I am pondering relative softness of leads and the long, slow, buildup of layers. It’s a different world.

(Note: all the paper used for these drawings was Canson Mi-Teintes, wrong side.)

Kitty Basket

For a holiday present my folks gave us a gift basket filled with pasta, olive oil, and other Italian food goodies. They did not however realize that it turns out to be the perfect transportable cat nook. We unwrapped the gift basket last night and Charlie has since spent many hours dozing within!

Happy Thanksgiving

Unlike in this photo from yesterday, the kitties were fiesty today — Charlie went up a tree and Diego insisted on jumping on the clean sheets of our cat-allergic guest. I meanwhile dropped the ‘e’ from ‘Thanksgiving feast’ and didn’t eat all day.

Kitty Playdate

Quina from across the road came over tonight. It was a short meeting, during which she rarely left Mary’s shoulders, but there was no hissing, and if this works out, it might be a good solution to alternate cat-sitting ventures.

A friend is coming this weekend who is allergic to cats; I have lots of cleaning to do to get the house as mellow as possible, though it will be the tent for sleeping, I think…

Lap Kitties

Diego is turning into a regular lap cat, often seeking Pica’s lap when she does her rounds on the web early in the morning. Charlie is much less so inclined, but one day last week he joined his brother.

Settling In

Charlie knows how to make himself comfortable in the rocking chair.