I moved the dough bowl of mini pumpkins and gourds over to the table yesterday.
My daughter and her family are coming over tomorrow for lunch. I thought it made a festive and colorful centerpiece for the dining table.
Ivy managed to get a pumpkin or gourd stem and has been batting it across the floor from one room to the next for days.
She became Ivy Lou Pruitt yesterday. Sister to Charlie Ross Pruitt. Daughter of Brenda Mae Pruitt. My middle name was for my great-grandmother, who helped raise me.
Ivy is officially part of our little family now.
I love this photo of Ivy. She looks so bright-eyed and intent. She is one mischievous cat.
I now keep the bathroom door closed because she has become fascinated with the toilet. I can put the lid down on the toilet, but she walks all over the vanity, and I don’t like cleaning up her paw prints.
I’m trying to train her to stay off of it.
Miraculously enough, I think I have her trained to stay off the dining table. I hope so anyway. I can eat there and she shows no sign of jumping up on it.
Charlie will not share a bed with Ivy. And Ivy has taken over his couch bed. So something had to be done.
I went to Petsmart yesterday and got Charlie an orthopedic mattress bed for his bad back. I put the beds side by side on the couch.
This is what it has come to, my friends. The pet beds have pretty much taken over my couch.
This is how much space I am allotted to sit on the couch. My butt will barely fit in this space.
And then there’s the fact that Charlie likes to sometimes get on the left side of me against the couch arm. So I was forced to come up with another answer.
I turned Ivy’s end bed around the other way and tucked part of it into the couch cushion. Now I have a bit more room and he can get in the tight spot that he likes when he wants.
Lawsy, the things we’ll do for our pet babies!
When I was taking this photo this morning I did not realize that the shadow of his head was so defined on the quilt.
In the mornings when I have my one cup of coffee, I like to sit on the couch. I put a folded up paper towel under the mug in case some spills over.
Ivy will watch from wherever she’s hiding, and as soon as I lift the mug to take a drink of coffee, she pounces on that paper towel.
If I don’t get it away from her she will shred it to pieces.
I have a funny story. Yesterday afternoon when I came home from Petsmart with the bed for Charlie and two little catnip filled mice for Ivy, Charlie immediately grabbed one of the mice.
He has never shown an interest in toys. I could tell he was aiming to tear it to pieces with his jaws, so I took it away from him.
Could dogs be attracted to catnip? I’ll have to look that up.
I feel bad that Charlie doesn’t play with toys and never chewed the many bones I gave him, even when he had all his teeth.
I feel like I’m not giving him something special, but there’s nothing really to give him except food and treats and a nice bed.
Oh, and love. I give Charlie lots and lots of love. And now Ivy gets her fair share of it as well.
One of my cats loved to drink out of the toilet and after trying to stop her, I finally gave up and let her go for it. I hope Ivy Lou doesn’t shred your toilet paper. I LOL’d when I saw how much space you have on the sofa, that’s me in my chair as well with one of my legs hanging over the side and in the bed I have 1/4 and Molly has the other 3/4; it’s just not fair, but what can you do. The things we sacrifice for our babies, but I love her to death. Have a great Monday!
Carol and Molly
xoxoxo
Congratulations on Ivy’s official adoption!
I’ve had cats and dogs so the only why I have trained them to avoid counters is using mouse traps. I rig them with sticks and foil. Once touched, they go off and scatter with a noise and seem to scare the pet. Periodically I have to get them out again to remind them that the counters are out of bounds.
Love it!! LOL, We have a chair in the dining room with a soft blanket and heating pad under it for our older kitty and another heating station on our couch. Then of course our other kitty has his own bed on a chair in the living room.
Enjoy, Janie
what a great little family you are! I’m glad you worked the couch situation out for all of you! LOL.
these pictures are just wonderful! congratulations on your new official member! and your sweet boy as always is so adorable. life is good.
Happy times❣️ Sounds like everyone happily fits in at your house. ?
Brenda-I love your middle name ‘Mae’! So pretty. Ivy Mae would be sweet but Ivy Lou suits your baby girl. Perhaps Charlie was doing the sibling thing when he claimed a mouse as his own.
My brother’s dog plays with the cat’s mouse toys. The cat does not.
So now it’s official: Ivy Rose is another Pruitt. Congratulations to all three of you!
One of my cats used to sleep in the bathroom sink. I don’t think it was because she was thirsty because I always kept her water bowl filled. When she curled up she just fit the round sink. I tho’t it was so odd. Who knows the mind of a cat?
Your bowl of pumpkins and gourds looks so pretty. And you have plenty of space on your new table for a centerpiece now. Enjoy your lunch with your daughter and Andrew. Has Andrew seen Ivy yet? Does he like Charlie? I can’t remember if you’ve ever mentioned how he is around animals.
My heart goes out to you—being crowded off your own couch!! The adjustments we make for our pets!
Take care. Hugs and Pats
Try double-sided tape around your sink!
We can train our dogs, but our cats train us. Looks like Ivy Lou is training Charlie Ross as well. LOL I hated my cats on my kitchen counter or table, so I put some pennies in a pop can and taped the opening shut. When I’d catch the cats up there I’d toss the can behind them far enough as to not hit them. The sound made them jump down. eventually they associated the counter with the unpleasant sound and stopped jumping up there. It was the only place they weren’t allowed though. Sandra
Love the great photos and congrats on Ivy Lou adoption she has been an awesome addition to the family. My Maine Coon cat loves water and love the bathroom so many other breeds do as well ,I just close the door and try to keep him out .
Cats are strange creatures but great pets !
Happy for all of you ,and Love the stories !
Hope you enjoy your family !
I love the pet pictures!!! Always have and always will. You capture such playful moments with Ivy and such pensive thinking moments with Charlie. I will be interested to see how you feel the new bed for Charlie works out. I have looked at them and considered buying one but it seems my dogs like having something to rest their backs against so I buy the soft sided ones. And they always get a new fleece blanket every few months to cuddle with and they love them. I just buy a yard at Joann fabric stores when it’s half price and that is so welcomed by them to roll with. The toys can lay there for days but the blankets get shoved around every day. I keep antiseptic wipes in the bathroom cause it’s so easy to wipe down counter tops and faucets and kitty paw prints so easy with them.
Well I’m glad that you’re not sitting on the floor, Brenda! Congrats on the official adoption.
Might end up on the floor…
They are so adorable! I love these stories…they are much like little kids…driving you crazy! 🙂 I love the photos also…Charlie is so cute with his little tongue hanging out! And Ivy is a mess! It is too funny how you’ve had to place them around on your sofa while trying to leave room for yourself!! I’m so glad you are enjoying the antics though! Love and hugs!
They are like little kids. Except I spoil my pets more than I did my kids!
I really enjoy reading about Ivy’s antics! Speaking of catnip toys, here’s one you might want to consider– it’s called Yeowww! Yellow Banana catnip toy. You can find it on Amazon. It’s a major hit. If you get it, just put it out somewhere and see how long it takes Ivy to find it.
I’ll sure check it out. Thanks for the tip!
We used to have a cat that peed on the bath mat overnight, every night. I had to learn to keep the bathroom door shut. We got him off the street one winter. It was quite a while before he would allow me to pet him. But eventually he became very loving. I think Charlie has what he wanted, a playmate.
Bless you for giving him a home and being so understanding.
Catnip is harmless for dogs. It has the opposite effect though.. Supposedly helps calm them and relieves their anxiety. My friends dogs play with her cats nip toys all the time. I see no difference.
Might be worth trying the nip to see if Charlie responds. It would be most useful when you have to leave him at home alone. Well then, Ivy’s presence may work better for him than the nip.
I almost just let him go ahead and tear up the mouse. She has about five.
Yes, as several people here have mentioned, dogs do like catnip. Of note, however, is that while catnip is a stimulant for a cat, it can act as a sedative for dogs so caution should be used.
Ivy is adorable and she is going to keep you on your toes for sure! Charlie is the sweetest little boy and it is lovely the two of them are getting along so well. Perhaps Ivy will teach Charlie to play a little more.
I hope she makes Charlie be more playful. That would be nice.
Oh you made me laugh with the pet beds and your very small allotted space! So funny! Hope Charlie likes his new bed and that Miss Ivy doesn’t seek it out to enlarge her empire – haha!
Congrats on the official adoption – it is so good for all of you. Enjoy your family tomorrow at that nice new table!
Mary
She got on his bed once, but she seems to prefer the soft flatter bed.
I think it’s very kind of them to let you have space on the sofa at all!?
Ha ha……… Cute.
It probably is. I’m thankful for a little bit of space.
Welcome to the family, Ivy Lou Pruitt!
I have often come home from a long day on my feet, aching to sit down with a cup of coffee, but, alas! Every chair TAKEN! So, I stand in the doorway, gazing at the peaceful furry sleepers and ruminate on how this situation came to be. In my heart, I know I should woosh one of them off and claim what’s mine, but of course, I never do!
We love our pet babies and want them to be comfortable. We do spoil them!
Congrats she is a very lucky fur baby. What a sweet addition to your family.
Hugs and Happy Saturday.
Kris
She acclimated so easily and that really relieved me. I was afraid she’d be skittish. Not Ivy.
I understand about giving up your space on the sofa; my 2 dogs prefer to sit by me and take up more space than I would like, but oh well. Charlie looks pretty comfy on his new bed! Enjoy the time with your daughter and family tomorrow!
That’s the way I look at it…oh well.
Enjoying Ivy’s antics and Charlie’s reactions. My puppy is 4 1/2 months old now and getting very large. She is a Golden Doodle and I think I may have underestimated her size. She keeps taking the pumpkins off our porch and carrying them around by their stems. I also have more pumpkins now then I started with; I am afraid she is a pumpkin thief as well as an escape artist.
You have a pumpkin thief. I have a paper towel, fingernail file and bookmark thief. So far.
My Golden retriever, Luke prefers cat toys and loves catnip. It may be because I had cats and when I brought him home, there was only cat toys. But I went out and got dogs toys and he still preferred cat toys.
Since then we’ve added to the family, 3 dogs and 3 cats! Still when I bring a cat toy home, the dogs grab it. We have a big basket of toys under the tv but they like the little ones.
Funny that the dogs like the cat toys. I guess, why not?
Congratulations Ivy Lou Pruitt. You are one lucky girl!
Thank you! She is a lovely little girl…when she’s sleeping!
Putting a sheet of crumpled tin foil on the bathroom counter will help… she’ll jump up and be startled by the noise and the sensation!
I’ve read online that dogs don’t respond to catnip, but our pug certainly does! Our bulldog doesn’t, so we’ve wondered if maybe only little dogs do?
Love to you and your beautiful little family ❤❤
I had tin foil on the counter, and it didn’t seem to bother her.
Good luck at training Ivy to stay off your bathroom counter. My cat won that battle. I just keep a container of antiseptic wipes handy. She prefers to get her water from the bathroom faucet than from her water bowl so she trained me instead. At least I was able to get her to stay off my kitchen counters and dining table.
We have a calico cat her name is checkers and the bathroom sink is her favorite place to drink her water. She is 12 years old and I give in and let her enjoy the little things . Antiseptic wipes and the counter is clean in a minute.
I don’t want to be too restrictive with Ivy.
I’m just keeping the door closed for now. Yes, I’d rather have her on the bathroom counters than the kitchen counters too.