Mom Update

Rocky: I've been very lonely and worried about my human artist ...
I want to give all my friends a quick update but, first, let me thank you all so much for all your purrs and purrayers and good wishes. You brought many much-needed smiles to her face!

She left us for several days to see her doctor at Indiana University Hospital for a series of tests because he's worried that her c-diff infection hasn't cleared up. Then the doctor said he thinks she's going to need surgery to remove part of her colon. I don't know what that is, but I don't want him removing part of my mom! And, even worse, she's on such a strict diet that we hardly ever get any interesting table scraps!!

We're still waiting for the test results, so if you'd like to keep those purrs & purrayers coming, we sure could use them! And we could also use some bites of ham or hot dogs or roast beef or ice cream or pork chops or .... I mean, rice and toast and bananas just doesn't cut it with kitties!!

Beauty and the Beatles

Rocky: We wanted to start off the week with a song. This video is my mom's daughter Tiffany, who is an opera singer in Rome, Italy, singing John Lennon's lullaby "Goodnight" at a benefit for a children's hospital in Rome, where they performed the entire Beatles "White Album". Enjoy!



And here's more from the same concert:

"Hey Jude" in an Italian accent, with Tiffany and a children's choir singing backup ...


Here you can watch all the performances from the concert, including my namesake song, Rocky Raccoon!

Carnival of the Cats #283

Ah, my friends, what a pleasure it is to get out of my Dr. Rocky scrubs for a day, to get my staff out of their decontamination suits and finally slip back into our much more fun Carnival attire ...

Before we begin, all of us at Artsy Catsy want to thank all of you for your huge outpouring of support for my mom during her long illness. You've kept our hearts uplifted and we love you all!

And we want to dedicate this week's Carnival to our dear Auntie Deb, who has been struggling with illness even longer than our mom. Please get well soon, Auntie Deb!

We begin this week's Carnival with support to Spaz and his family during the trials and tribulations of his hyperthyroid treatment. Watch for an update soon at Who Moved My Bone?

Hemi and Cosette at Hemi'sPhere are also having trials and tribulations, where their new human baby, Ari, is cramping their style.

We could all use some smiles after all this illness! In Funny Animals Part 3 over at switch2life, you'll smile at kitties & puppies & lions & tigers & bears & - oh my, what on earth is that?!

More smiles await at StrangeRanger, where Maggie gives Cats in Bags a whole new level of cuteness!

And nothing like a woofie joke to bring a smile to a feline face. Get a good giggle from My Trip to Costco at So You Want to be a Banquet Manager.

Beauty abounds in the Cat Blogosphere. For instance, just witness the magnificence of Boris at The Poor Mouth.

And be sure to feast your eyes on the lovely calico gracing the grounds at Elms in the Yard.

Definitely do not miss the photos of Luna's natural beauty at CatSynth.

Beauty can sometimes be a bittersweet pleasure. Lovely Matata went to the Rainbow Bridge nearly a year and a half ago, and she is missed terribly by all. Blog d'Elisson shares a beautiful Video Memory: Scritching Matata.

Derby the Sassy Cat shares such a heartwarming story, From Bagdad with Love, about a special kitty who found a new home and new friends and, all the way from Iraq to the US, brought people together in caring and love.

Next, however, the Cat Blogosphere is more than smiles and beauty - it's a place for important information on bettering the lives of cats, and their humans, too. For instance, at Catymology, Aloysius reveals that clueless humans hire trainers to teach them how to relax ... when a cat could teach them for free!

Pet Prattle and Products outlines some very important Cat Owner Responsibilities. After all, we need more than food and an occasional cuddle!

And our ever-wise Meowza imparts a week of important lessons at both iMeowza and Mind of Mog ... On Mancat Monday, Meowza exhibits that a kitty must drink when thirsty. On Wordless Wednesday, he shows it is important to scritch when it itches. And finally, on Easy Like Sunday Evening, Meowza illustrates the importance of being silly!

Thank you all for joining us for Carnival of the Cats
and we'll see you at the Aug. 23 Carnival at Mind of Mog!

Dr. Rocky, Back on Call

Dr. Rocky: Hello again, my long lost friends! It's been four months since I've been able to blog, four of the most cat-astrophic months of my life! My mom has been very, very sick and I've been taking care of her ...

She got sick in April and just kept getting worse and worse with terrible pain and spending all her time in the human litter box and couldn't eat or do anything and none of her human vets could figure out what was wrong. All that time, we couldn't even sit on her lap because it hurt her too much.

Finally the doofus human vets found out she has a serious infection called Clostridium Difficile, or "C-diff". They said it can be fatal and they put her in the hospital right away, in isolation because it can be contagious. While she was there, my other human artists had to disinfect everything at Artsy Catsy with a special kind of bleach and - horrors! - now my staff and I have to be washed every day for two weeks because we can carry the C-diff spores :-( I like water, but this is definitely too much! Fortunately, we're now down to just being washed with cat wipes rather than a full dunking.

Then I had to hiss and scratch mom's health insurance because they didn't want to pay for the only drug that will treat her, and it costs over $1200 for a two-week supply!

But thankfully now the worst of it is over and I can get back to blogging and visiting with all of you - and I'm even going to host Carnival of the Cats this weekend, so don't forget to submit your posts to me!

I've missed you all so much, and it's so good to be back!