I'm first! I can't believe it....I don't even care that much, but so many other people do, I have to care a little bit...
Soba is just like my Delaney who rules the house with her 5lb little body.

Love the Kitties!!!!!! Looks like you eill have to put all the cat scratchers out to keep the peace!!

and she's a tortie, too....something so commanding and dictatorial in their peach-y, brown-y mixed up fur.

We have those chocolates at Central Market in Texas. They will make you blush with ecstasy. I am not kidding, ya'll!

My kitties love their cardboard scratchers too, although ours aren't curved. They do however, have the added bonus of catnip. We have more scratchers than we do cats, just to avoid the standoffs and hostile takeovers!

Great pictorial!! I felt like I was watching an episode of Wild Kingdom!!

Regarding the dark chocolate truffles: can I borrow your garage key for a second?? I'll give it back to you as soon as I'm full I mean done!!

Those truffles really are amazing. My holiday wish is for all people to experience the peace, love and harmony which is that CHOCOLATE! hee.

Love the chawklit and kitty drama!

But the photo of "storm damage" from yesterday just slayed me.

Great big inappropriate hugs and Merry Christmas from your homie here in Weatherland, USA!

dictators cannot have red eyes. ha!

I just love that Sobakowa to bits. Nice to have her back in the pictures. I was worried when we didn't see her for a while.

That Bob has just blossomed! So handsome! And the girls are as pretty as ever. I lurve me some cat pics.

Have you all seen the photo in the news of the black hole at the edge of one galaxy reaching out and smacking the next galaxy upside the head?

"What we've identified is an act of violence by a black hole, with an unfortunate nearby galaxy in the line of fire," said Dan Evans, the study leader at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge. He said any planets orbiting the stars of the smaller galaxy would be dramatically affected, and any life forms would likely die as the jet's radiation transformed the planets' atmosphere.

It just reminded me of Sobakowa, is all. I want to be just like her when I grow up.

Perhaps to be on the safe side, you should send your minions (surely, you have some) to the other are Targets to stock up. Bob needs his own, being the only boy in the house and all.

Okay, I need to go back to Target today and get me some of those cat scratchers. They will be a big hit here, too, I suspect.

But, I have found the ultimate Christmas gift for furry children: http://kittywigs.com/wigindex.html

I think I like Pink Passion the best....

http://www.catclaws.com/cat-scratching-pads.php

Not the same as what you found, but what cat doesn't want a whale or racecar shaped scratcher?

catclaws.com has curved scratchers too. We have a cradle shaped one and this year we got the reindeer shaped one and the sleigh. My kitties love them! Catclaws also has the coolest toys and other types of scratchers (and no, I don't work for them!).

I was just at Whole Paycheck, er, I mean Whole Foods and somehow I missed those Truffles! *sniff*

Kisses for your herd. Poor Bob. He wants so much to be the king!

Gotta. Love. Cats. You know if they each had one of their own they would likely decide that a particular one was better than the others and fight over the one...just like children :D

I wish I didn't live in the pits of despair - also known as a city that has neither a Whole Foods NOR a Trader Joe's! I am so envious of your dark truffles.

It's such a joy to find a toy that makes cats that happy. They can be so particular. Thanks for the photos of their early Christmas present!

This is so true:
http://www.comics.com/wash/pickles/archive/pickles-20071215.html

That does look like a pretty hot ticket item. I'm dying to know if they are just laying on it or if they're actually scratching on it.

Yay! A kitty pictorial and storyboard!

I love my Whole Foods which is less than 10 minutes from my house. I've seen these truffles there but have not bought them yet. I must now! Thanks for sharing your esctasy!!

Well Laurie, my husband and I saw those at our Target, too. We don't have cats, but he used to and commented on that scratcher. I've searched to the best of my ability, and can only find a link to this place, which sells these cardboard scratchers for $139!!! I think I'm in the wrong business if I could be turning refrigerator boxes into multiple products each priced that high. :-)

But, at least you know that you are tres chic with your very hip cat scratcher! :-)

http://www.marmaladepets.com/

If I come across the scratcher that you and I saw at Target, I'll post it here.

Well Laurie, my husband and I saw those at our Target, too. We don't have cats, but he used to and commented on that scratcher. I've searched to the best of my ability, and can only find a link to this place, which sells these cardboard scratchers for $139!!! I think I'm in the wrong business if I could be turning refrigerator boxes into multiple products each priced that high. :-)

But, at least you know that you are tres chic with your very hip cat scratcher! :-)

http://www.marmaladepets.com/

If I come across the scratcher that you and I saw at Target, I'll post it here.

'face down in a vat of french fries." Mmmmm.

At my house there is one cat toy that is like a kitty magnet.....and it's the Christmas tree. Fortunately, there's room enough under it for both to share.

Second best is a ping-pong ball. They are simple kitties.

this isn't the same model but looks pretty good too:
http://www.thecatconnection.com/page/TCC/PROD/BED/PLAY-7467

Ooo. We have that company's ScratchPod at my house. Occasionally Natasha allows Boris to use it but mostly it's hers. And we use the sisal. Because when I bought a cardboard one before, B&N decided that meant that all paper, especially LP covers, was fair game for shredding purposes.

the kitty pictoral made my day.
I can see all three of the scratchers lined up, with a cat on each, in your near future. Do you know for sure they don't have a key??
I need an intervention from cookies. Too many cookies...

Oh, Soba looks so sweet when she's dominating the world!

And those truffles are the absolute BEST. Sometime the Whole Foods near my office puts samples of them out. The don't last very long! Doesn't have anything to do with me being in the store . . .

C'mon Laurie put all the cat scratchers out! Please?? Now I want six of them for my furry kids!!

Poor Frankie. Always low cat on the catpole. I hope she got some lint rolling love after being displaced.

I can't get a parking spot at Whole Foods or Trader Joe's to save my life (zero parking karma). So I hafta be slummin at Safeway all the time. Grump.

All hail the Sobakowa!!

You crack me up! I will rush out to Target at lunch, hope for the same entertainment value out of my 2 cats and 1 pug

I love, love, LOVE those truffles. They're all truffly filling and no outer shell. When I brought them to work, I had the most popular cube on the block...for about 5 minutes!

I've seen those cat scratchers! I didn't know if it would be big enough for the cats to be happy though, you know? Good to see they like it.

We never got the fancy-schmancy sisal scratchers, but our Taka loves our Alpine Scratcher to death. It's the same idea as that one you have; the sides of corrugated cardboard pressed tight together. Only ours is basically a ramp shape, onto which you sprinkle the 'nip (it comes with a zippy bag of Cosmic Catnip, and that is some crazy stuff), and you buy replacements as needed. Happily you can use each insert twice, and inside the holder (which is also cardboard, so it's oh-so-expensively in the $20 range) is hollow, with holes cut in each side and a little mouse-shaped thing dangling inside.

Fezzik, though, he likes his pop-up tent. It is his house, in all its lime and teal glory (I know cats are relatively color-blind, but WE are not, dear cat toy manufacturers), and everything in a plastic bag belongs in his house. He spends all night finding squishy things in plastic bags (buttons, t-shirts, biscotti, ribbon, brushes) and stashing them in his house. For...um....later?

Whole Foods, a.k.a. "Whole Paycheck."

Tee hee I always root for Sobakowa! I think it's cause I have a weakness for Tortiseshell cats...I've always had them and they are the coolest cats.

Bob...banished to the carpet. Boo hoo. What would happen if all three of the cardboard scratchers were out? Wld Soba stalk all three?

I dare say Soba could not defend all three if they were side by each. Come to think of it, you probably would not be able to capture the ensuing mayhem on film. MEOW! LOL

I share your addiction to french fries. My Mom craved them when she was pregnant with me and now I'm over 160 pounds. Go figure!

Anyway, whatever you do, do not dip hot salty french fries into Wendy's frozen chocolate Frosty... you have been warned!!!

BTW, were there really 365 truffles in that bag or what?!?!!!

What happens if you put out two of the cat scratchers???

Man, Soba will KICK your BUTT. At least if you're poor Bob.

You have such an attractive family, Laurie!

I am so totally in love Bob and Soba! They look like a pair I had before: Blondissimo and Cleo-Patchwork.

Now, in regards to *organic* truffles... Chocolate is natural, right? I mean, it is a cocoa bean. Am I missing something? What is more natural and organic than chocolate??? It balances the diet!!!

I saw those at our Target just last night. I opted for the "Wheel of Fun" instead. It's this odd modern art looking cat jungle gym. A big circular condo area with a shelf in the middle and a hammock type space on the bottom. So far they are willing to come close enough to lick catnip off it and sniff around.

Do you think the cats would appreciate a "kitty wig?!?"
http://www.kittywigs.com/wigindex.html
I have been chuckling all day after seeing this!
Farmgirlnow

You can get the Original Scratch Lounge
http://www.scratchlounge.com/why.htm
at Modernica on Beverly Blvd., west of La Brea. Its' $25. Mary Jo told me about it and I bought one for Darcy's cats. The guy that invented it, Frank, is a friend of Brit's!!!

Oh thank goodness NashVegas just got a Whole Foods - I am heading over there tonite to get some of those little bites of chocolate heaven, they sound fab!

Oh, the Cat Wars! I laughed so hard I nearly peed my pants and fell out of my chair. Either of which would not have been appropriate behavior in my office. If someone finds that new catty-thing online I want to know!!!!!!!

hugggssssssssss to you and felines

i love it when kitties sit up on their haunches like that! looks like bob is talking to frankie with his hands! "look, it is this wide! there's not enough room for us both! now buzz off!"

hey laurie - checkout what i found!!!!! go ten rows down and it's the second from the left....and it's seriously cheap. on another note, i know you're in a corporte office too, don't you just love all of the holiday sweets floating around? i had peppermint bark for breakfast today (and yesterday too).

i forgot to post this link...sorry.
http://www.pagelinx.com/cgi-shopper/loadpage.cgi/smileysyarns/ezshopper?user_id=id&file=iriot.htm

Your cats are awesome.

dang! They are building a Whole Foods on my very corner...this very second. This is dangerous information.

Oh my gosh, some innocent looking guy pushed those truffles on me at Trader Joe's. To DIE FOR! Their Oreo looking cookies with peppermint creme are also amazing.

Loved the cat battles.

It's so good to see Soba back in action as ruler of the universe. You just have to love that cat!

I have the same Eiffel Tower ornaments but bought mine in Paris near....wait for it.... the Eiffel Tower. A vendor was selling them as key rings but I have been turning key rings into ornaments for years. Snap off the ring add a red ribbon and voil`e ornament!!! I got ten 'ornaments' for a couple of Euro (this was several years ago)and now Paree glimmers from my tree.

Ooohhh..... I'm spending Christmas in San Antonio, where they have both Whole Foods and Central Market. I'll look for the amazing truffle.

Also, I need to look for one of those curved scratchy things -- Harley loves the her scratchers. BTW - Harley looks amazingly like Soba, but bigger and not so, um....., 'in charge'....

I bought one of those cat scratcher for my kittys and they love it too. I really hope Target keeps carrying it.
BTW I love your blog and read it all the time.
You Rock!

Oh, how I miss Whole Foods!! I moved from Boston, where I was within a short drive of three Whole Foods, to upstate NY where there are none. Sigh.

The dictator looks ~ stoned ~ tee hee

Love the kitty drama, they should have their own reality tv show!

To Jill of the 7 Cats - yup, totally read about the galaxy smack-down thing ... good thing we're all over here on THIS side of the Milky Way.

OMG my dad buys me those exact truffles every year at Christmas and I ration them out to last for weeks!

ok, days.

ok, hours...

Truffles are deadly. A client brought me a whole box of them, the ones from Lindt.

A locked door would probably not keep me away.

GREASE THE DOORS SHE'S HALFWAY THROUGH THE BOX!!!!

Hehehehe...I love it! Way cool pics of the furbabies.

oh yes, nothing like a good Kitty Drama, for sure. I don't know if my girlies would like a scratcher like that; I bought them just a regular dull ol' rectangular one, and they were all "And you want us to do WHAT with this?" and "very nice, now where's the food?" They DO like the sisal-wrapped posts on their cat tree, though. They'd NEVER scratch on the arms of the Ugly Loveseat; those are just disintegrating from a huge dose of Hideous. (If they DID scratch on it, though, rendering it necessary sooner rather than later to *replace* it....I b'lieve I'd give them a couple of little treats...)

Yes indeed - Whole Paycheck, purveyor of Things We Must Have that Cost too Much But are Totally Worth It, Somehow. Those organic truffles ROCK. Central Market rebrands them, but I think they're made by the same place.

Don't get me started on the similar goodness at Central Market...

Go Soba! I love a good Soba story...

I saw that at Target too, I guess I thought SmartyKat made them?

Must rush over to new Nashville Whole Foods for chocolate. Must!

Yup, SmartyKat. Walmart has 'em too.

Cat chaise? Ha!

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=8110818

Be glad cats can't make lists for Santa. The 8 year old still believes. I take a tad bit of pride in that. She tucks notes to Santa in the toe of her Sponge Bob stocking, composes complete letters and all that jazz. But, why, oh why must she always wait so late to do it. I've done my shopping EXCEPT the Santa gift when FINALLY, she presents me with an addressed and sealed envelope to be mailed with the almost too late Christmas cards. After she is sleeping, I peel open the letter. A WHOLE letter and all she asks for is ONE item, which is of course sold out and hard to find. *hanging my head* I wound up paying 2 dollars more on shipping than I did the item. Luckily it was still under 70 bucks total, but GEESH! That girl makes "Santa" jump through some hoops.

Where's MY Santa? : (

It's not listed on the page of the list of products, but then if you go to the product locater page, there's a "lounger" in the drop-down box; I'm guessing that's it?

I have a tortie with a split face too -- what a great series of photos -- I'll be looking for that scratcher myself!

those truffles... they work for a low carb diet. No kidding, check the label. I did, years ago.

Way off topic, but SockWars!

http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB119766934184930123.html

What IS it about truffles? We got some "Jacquot" truffles in a gift basket here at our law office. Oh.My.Gosh. In fact, after I read this post, I had to go get one (surprizingly, there are a few left), even tho it's not yet 10 am here in Michigan and I usually make myself wait til 10 before I snack. I think I had 4-5 of them yesterday. Sigh.

The local dictator likes to snooze in my lap, when she's not laying down the law to the other cats.

Serious question for you, and all my fellow ailurophiles lurking here: what would make a cat suddenly start peeing on our bed? Is this some kind of territorial marking? Short of keeping all the cats out of the bedroom, how do I stop this?

the photos of "the battle" are sooo funny, my hubby had a good laugh over them too :) Merry Christmas to all !!!

Oh, I had forgotten that those wonderful truffles existed. Damn you!

I just finished reading your archives. You are awesome!
I can't wait to buy your book and read it cover to cover.

Lucia, a vet check is first, to make sure your goober doesn't have a UTI or some other infection.

If s/he comes out clean, then it is probably something that upset them or p!ssed them off (sorry about the pun). Have you changed your household set-up or routine recently? Changed cat food brands or litter box brands? Has something about the litter box location changed? (it can be something VERY minor that you would not think about). Finally, goober may have decided that s/he is being neglected (not that s/he is; we are talking perception here. Reality has nothing to do with it.)

Sorry for the book. good luck...
Phyllis
:)

That looks like what happens between Havoc (beautiful tortoiseshell who hates cats) and Bob (beautiful gray tuxedo but kinda dumb). Havoc always wins. I would put all of the scratching pads out, however, to avoid sibling rilvary.

I've lived here most of my life, and I remember from when I was a kid that rainy days usually indicated that many classmates would be missing from school. Like a snow day only with NOTHING AT ALL keeping parents from driving their kids anywhere they pleased... I was always sad that my parents didn't find rain more frightening.

That's so funny. Poor Bob!

http://www.moderncat.net/category/corrugated-cardboard/

You already have links to the Marmalade loungers, but this has several lovely corrugated cat things you might like to see.

There is something about Soba that makes me want to hug her and pet her and and... Of course, then I would have to have someone drive me to the emergency room for I am sure Soba would show her displeasure at my daring to demean her Dicatorship so... maybe I should just stick with wanting to hug and pet Bob and Frankie

I'm loving the cardboard scratchy thing. I pulled the boy away from the tv so he could read the post. Now if we could only get our Lenny to use it.

I have 4 cats and 4 scratcher boxes going at the same time. It is the only way to keep the peace. Does the scratcher *need* to be curved? You can get big flat scratcher boxes at Wal-mart for 10 bucks - complete with a packet of catnip.
I'm just sayin'...

Oh look, I'm last. Yea me!

Well, I think you're only the 3rd blog I've ever gone back and read from the very beginning. I have a bunch of cats, two dogs and a whole load of yarn (used to own a LYS).

Your kitties are darling, although I have a philosophical difficulty with keeping animals penned up indoors. I honor your right to do it, though.

Cats like to keep themselves prepared at all times for a fight to the death with some dangerous foe. That, and they must also be ready to catch and devour any dinosaurs or small elephants that come their way.

They love heat. We burn wood in winter in a woodstove. When we open the stove to add wood, the cats gather round, watching the fire like TV. They nod to each other and comment on the lovely hot glowing coals. Once the door is closed they arrange themselves around the stove body, no more than a few microns farther away than necessary. They toast their tummies until the fur reaches 115 -120 degrees, until you actually find them too hot to touch. During this time they slowly allow all the bones in their bodies to melt, so that the cat flattens, finally producing small fuzzy flat strips of multicolored fur. They will not move unless real food is offered.

A few will arrange themselves on the pile of wood near the stove. Artistic posing as wild creatures of noble mien is the only activity worth moving away from the heat source.

Last year our queen incubated next to and under the stove so much, she gave birth to a litter of cupcakes instead of kittens.

Lin

I had to rush out and buy one of these for my two. I was not even able to get the catnip on before one of them slobbered and rubbed all over it. Then he left and later the orange guy found it and slobbered all over it. He has been sitting on it off and on since. I haven't seen them fighting over it yet, but I am sure that is in their future. Too back Target can't track the numbers and see what a great influence you have! Thanks from Jean and Toby.

I ran straight to Tar.get and bought one of those scratchers (I couldn't afford two so I got a regular one also). My cats now think I am da bomb and have forgiven me for all past wrongs, including an attempted nail clipping that went horribly wrong and ended in a gouged thumb for me and a deeply offended sensibility for one of my cats.