Merry Xmas Kushi!

Our camera sprouts legs and wrestles Kushi for the toy

Cat self portrait

Sheboo takes a turn with the camera while the humans are away...

Montage of warm snuggles

Pawz under Chin for maximal cuteness

Wet canned food

We decided to start supplementing Tigger and Sheboo's diet with some wet canned food, since it has almost no carbs compared to the kibble (cats as carnivores don't need carbs). Supposedly, wet food also helps make sure the cats ingest enough water, which helps prevent kidney-related problems. Before, we had allowed free feeding of kibble, which was fine for Tigger, but Sheboo had become, for lack of a better word, obese! We then bought an automatic kibble feeder before to help Sheboo lose weight by feeding small regular meals. The feeder dispenses a total 0.375 cups of kibble for each cat a day (< 200 cal). Though Sheboo has lost weight over the year, she is still fat (though I guess no longer obese). We can only surmise that she must be eating some of Tigger's share. So, after some research, we decided to get a case of Nature's Variety Instinct and a case of Evanger's canned cat food, since they both seemed to have meat as the primary ingredients and minimal carb fillers.

Trying out the Instinct canned food Tigger happily chowing down

Tigger loved the wet food, but Sheboo is a very finicky eater for such a fat cat, and does not like to try any new foods. We tried to entice her by mixing in some canned sardines and dried bonito flakes, but in the end, the only thing that would work was to basically wait till she was starving enough to eat it. So, for now, we are feeding them the wet food in the morning and the kibble in the evening. Overall, the total calorie intake will be reduced from the all kibble diet, so hopefully we will see some results with Sheboo.

A Pink Chin

Poor Kushi has diarrhea, and got a spoonful of Peptol Bismol. Half of it ended up on her face: Update 10/28: After a week, Kushi's diarrhea has finally gone away. It started after a certain someone (ahem) fed her some spicy mutton. Her diarrhea was so bad that she would poop wet puddles all over her grass sod outside on the balcony, and while I was busy cleaning up, she couldn't wait for me to finish and deposited another poop puddle on the carpet inside. Yaargh!!! By the way, I would highly recommend this product for cleaning up pet poop/pee/vomit accidents:

8 in 1 Complete Stain & Odor Remover Spray

We've tried many other brands (ahem, Nature's Miracle, Simple Solution), and this is the only product that does a reasonable job of cleaning up stains AND more importantly, removes the pee odor, as opposed to just masking the smell. It has a fairly strong citrus odor, and I would prefer no odor, but otherwise, it does a good job of getting rid of the pee smell.

After googling for how to deal with doggie diarrhea, we fasted her for 24 hours (but with free access to water). We initially tried to give her a spoonful of Peptol Bismol once a day, which did not seem to have any effect. It was difficult to get her to swallow the Peptol Bismol (see pic at top!), since we didn't have a syringe to feed it to her. Then we fed her exclusively half rations of her homemade supplement meals, skipping the kibble. I mixed in some plain canned pumpkin, which has a lot of fiber and suppposedly helps firm up the poop. I'm not sure how much it helped, but Kushi's poop soon looked/smelled like canned pumpkin. I also mixed in a spoonful of nonfat plain yogurt (with active cultures) every meal, and that seemed to help. Her poop steadily improved until it back to normal after a week. After a couple days of normal poop, we transitioned her back to her usual combination of kibble and homemade meals.

A romp at Albany Bulb

After a quick dunk into the bay

Spreading the wet love...

A boy and his puppy

Cat tongue lickin' good

Sheboo and some canned sardines

Evenings with Jeopardy

How Kushi likes to spend her evenings: Jeopardy and Pork Chop Parmigiana

If you can hear the Final Jeopardy answer, the "question" is listed below the recipe... Pork Chop Parmigiana Serves 2. 2 bone-in center cut pork loin chops, approx 3/4 inch thick (8-10 oz each) salt 2 slices of bread, or approx 1 cup bread crumbs 1/3 cup flour 1 egg, beaten 1 Tbsp chopped flat-leaf parsley (or dried oregano) garlic powder for seasoning 2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil 1 cup marinara sauce, heated 1/4 cup shredded mozarella cheese or 2 slices Take the pork chops out of the fridge and season with salt. Let come to room temperature. Meanwhile preheat oven to 500 degrees F. Pulse the bread in a food processor until crumbs form. Set up 3 plates for the breading station: put the flour in the first plate, the beaten egg in the second plate, and the bread crumbs on the third plate. Season all three plates with salt and the bread crumb plate with half of the parsley and garlic powder. Dredge the pork chops first in the flour, then the egg, then the bread crumbs. In a pan (preferrably oven proof), heat over medium heat and add the oil. Pan fry both sides of the pork chops until the bread crumbs turn a light golden, about 1-2 minutes on each side. Put the pan in the oven (or transfer the pork chops to a foil-lined baking sheet if the pan is not oven-proof) and let bake for 7-9 minutes. Take the chops out of the oven and ladle 2-3 Tbsp of the marinara sauce over each of the chops. Add the cheese over the chops and sprinkle the rest of the parsley over the top of the cheese. Add back into the oven and continue baking for another 2-4 minutes, or until the pork chops are barely pink and the cheese is melted. Take the pork chops out of the oven and let rest for a minute or two. Transfer the pork chops to heated plates (microwave the plates for a minute), and ladle the rest of the marinara sauce on the plates around the base of the pork chops. FINAL JEOPARDY QUESTION: What is Moby Dick?

Kushi's favorite puppy sitter

While we were away, Kushi was also on vacation...boarding with her favorite puppy sitter Sara: She seemed in no rush to come back home: More pics from Doggy Lama.

Hamachi Kama lickin' good

After broiling some hamachi kama (Japanese amberjack collar): I decided to give some to Kushi. Fish seems to be her favorite meat (based upon the scientific measurement of time to finish licking her bowl clean): Kama lickin' good! Tigger the cat loves it too. Quick Marinated Hamachi Kama: Hamachi Kama (often available at the asian supermarket) 1 tsp grated ginger 1 clove garlic, grated 1 Tbsp soy sauce 2 tsp sugar or honey dash of any chili sauce Turn oven on to broil to preheat. Meanwhile, mix together the ginger, garlic, soy sauce, sugar and chili sauce in a bowl. Lay out the hamachi on a foil lined baking sheet. Brush or spoon the marinade over the hamachi. Broil for 8-12 minutes, or depending on the size of the kama pieces.

An uneasy truce

A rare sight, all three animals sleeping together.

Visit from Amma

Kushi's "grandma" visiting from India

Ode to Tongie Beast

Our favorite fat black cat, Sheboo (aka Tongie Beast): gets her own painting after Steinlen's Tournée du Chat Noir:

"Introducing the belly of the black cat (of Tongie Beast)!"

Schnuggle time @home

Fourth of July

Kushi sits in the shade, patiently waiting for the grill to be ready

Hokke fish and bacon wrapped filet mignons with veggies

The grilled food with all the delicious fixin's

On the way to the lake, Kushi watches the road so she won't get carsick!

Kushi and co. out on the lake

Kushi shows she prefers to be high and dry:

Kushi trying out the new Ikea pillows

Cat tunnel of love

Ordered the Cat Tunnel from petsmart.com

Sheboo holding her breath to squeeze her tummy through the tunnel

The humans also tried to squeeze through, with mixed results

Princess Kushi and the Pea

Since Tigger doesn't do the sharing thing with Kushi, especially with the pink pillow...


Kushi went off to make a pillow nest for herself...

and settles down for a nice cozy nap.

Waiting for Summer

Spring has arrived...

...and now Kushi waits for summer.

Memorial Day BBQ

Waiting to see any wayward meat will fall off the grill wagon...

Grilled seafood, tandoori chicken and grilled veggies, mmm...

Tandoori Chicken recipe:

2-3 pounds bone-in, skinless chicken thighs (approx 6 thighs)
3 Tbsp unflavored yogurt
2 Tbsp lemon juice
1 Tbsp grated garlic
1 Tbsp grated ginger
1 Tbsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander seeds
1/4 tsp cayenne powder
1/4 tsp ground green cardamom (1 pod)
1/4 tsp ground cloves (4 cloves)
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1 bay leaf, ground
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground turmeric
optional: 1/4 tsp red food coloring
Sliced red onion, lemon wedges and chopped coriander leaves for garnish

Mix together the yogurt, lemon juice, garlic, ginger, cumin, coriander powder, cayenne, cardamom, cloves, black pepper, cinnamon, bay leaf, salt, turmeric and optionally the red food coloring. Score shallow parallel lines into the chicken meat so the marinade will soak into the meat. Put the chicken into the marinade, coating well, and let sit for 4 hours or more (or overnight) in the fridge. Take the chicken out of the fridge for a half hour to let come to room temperature. You can either bake or grill the chicken. To bake the chicken, preheat the oven to the max temperature setting (550 degrees F for my oven). Lay the chicken in a single layer on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or foil and bake for about 18-20 minutes (15-16 minutes if the thighs are boneless). Garnish the chicken with the raw red onion slices, lemon wedges and coriander leaves.

Bean Hollow State Beach

We drove to the Half Moon Bay State Beach to see if we could take Kushi out on the beach (we didn't look at dogfriendly.com first to see if the beach allowed dogs). We found out that dogs weren't allowed, so we drove south on Highway 1 until we found a beach that allowed dogs, which turned out to be Bean Hollow State Beach.

Finally free!! Kushi lets loose some pent up energy (that annoying snapping noise is me chewing gum, sorry)

Kushi is more nimble across the rocks than her human companions

Exploring the rocks and tide pools

Harbor seals sunbathing