Dear outdoor kitties,

Please do not eat birds. I say this not because I’m vegan and don’t want birds to get eaten. While I am vegan and I don’t want birds to get eaten, I say this because eating birds could make you sick.

Just over a week ago, Alpha caught a bird. He and Beta ate some of it before one of the humans who lives with them was able to take it away. Last Sunday (a few days after the bird incident), The Big Kitty (TBK) and I noticed that Beta wasn’t himself — he wasn’t talking (i.e., constantly meowing) to us, he wasn’t begging/scolding us to get his favorite toy, he wasn’t eating or drinking, and he just laid down in one of favorite spots and didn’t move much.

TBK and I took Beta to an emergency animal clinic. A vet technician took a blood sample and gave Beta some water subcutaneously because he was a little dehydrated.

We had told the vet about the bird situation, and the vet said Beta could have songbird fever. The doctor told TBK to follow up with the kitties’ regular vet.

That evening, TBK noticed that Alpha was sick, too. Alpha wasn’t eating — and Alpha always eats. A lot. If Beta doesn’t finish his food (as he frequently doesn’t), Alpha finishes it for him.

The next day, TBK took Alpha and Beta to their regular doctor. The kitties didn’t have songbird fever, but they did get salmonella.

So, please don’t eat birds. They could make you sick.

Best regards,

aka Steve, a kitty- and bird-lover

Demolition in progress:

Completion:

In the aftermath, Alpha steals Beta’s hidey-hole:

Alpha jumped onto the kitchen counter near the sink and knocked down a cup filled with water and a couple of flowering twigs. That hit the edge of the sink, fell into the sink, and made the first big noise when it landed amongst the stuff in the sink. That startled Alpha.

Alpha then knocked the soap dish into the sink. More noise, more startled kitty.

Then he backed up and knocked over a container of utensils, almost knocked over the coffee pot, knocked a knife onto the floor (that could have ended badly!), and startled himself even more.

Alpha backed up again and knocked the Brita water pitcher onto the floor, spilling water all over and breaking off a couple of small pieces of the pitcher.

At that point, Alpha left the scene of the crime and was caught by The Big Kitty. Alpha was trying to make it to his hideaway behind the couch. Upon seeing The Big Kitty, Alpha looked scared, as if he were thinking, “Dude, what the hell happened in your kitchen? It sounded bad.”

The Big Kitty has sent evidence (fur and litter) to the lab for DNA testing; we expect the results will confirm the above hypothesis.

Big Kitty has been around a whole bunch lately, he still does not want to play enough, I think he needs more raw food.

I got a new bed for this Christmas thing. We basically got a tree in the house, that we can’t climb. There are boxes with paper that tears easily, that we can’t play with until the Big Kitty says it is cool. Then we get to tear up as much as possible.

Alpha just made a REALLY big noise in the feeding room. The floor was really wet and uncomfortable to walk on. I heard the older one say “Bad Kitty” to Alpha.

We had a bunch of fun playing with bows and paper, the same paper the providers scolded us for playing with just hours before. The big almost hairless kitty, provider of food and warmth, is pretty strange. He kept flashing this thing in our eyes and laughing. Laughing scares me, I don’t want to get into that now. Beta attacked me, yet again. I got this really cool pad, with spots on it, I heard something about it looking like an Ocelot, it tasted and smelled wonderful and was very soft, I would like to eat an Ocelot sometime. Oh and we got to go outside, but it was wet and some white stuff was falling, it scared me.