Outnumbered by Cats now in Etsy shop

Outnumbered by Cats

Outnumbered by Cats, Buster collars and tablets for cats

I usually say that my cats are a distraction and inspiration in equal measure, not so when they have injuries however, when they become pure distraction. Not only down to a need to take them to vet appointments and administer medication, but also because sitting down to write when I'm worried about their welfare is just a bit too hard.

So what have they been up to...?

Well there's Captain, who's on eye drops, and now shuts one eye every time I go near him, so that the only way I can see if he's opening it normally is to view him from a distance, when he's distracted by something else. And while he's fairly accepting of the eye drops - putting a Buster collar on was a step too far. The Buster collar is a hand-me-down from his mum, who only wore it for about 30 seconds, and it's more likely to biodegrade than ever wear out from actually being worn by a cat...

Bumble, not to be outdone, came in sporting a large lump on his neck. It was an abscess, most likely from a fight, and after a trip to the vets, he ultimately burst it himself, and then carried on as if he hadn't noticed that there was a hole in his neck. He did rather enjoy his medication though... The vet suggested emptying the antibiotic capsule and mixing the powder with butter, then spreading the butter on Bumble's leg, as a cat hates to be dirty and would wash it off. I got the butter mixture ready and was just about to start spreading it on Bumble's leg, but first I offered it to him to eat off the spoon - he loved it! He licked the spoon, and then the bowl I'd mixed it in and it became his daily treat, I think he was quite sorry when his medication came to an end.

Boxes - it's a cat thing...

When book characters meet outside of their books

This is what happens when the characters from two different books meet...
Mitzi from Outnumbered by Cats and a sheep from But I'm Not Sleepy.

Cat flap troubles - you've been warned...

Cat flap troubles

When we bought our first cat flap, it was one of those things that seemed like a good idea at the time. It came with full instructions about fitting and measuring. And I don’t just mean measuring the door and the flap, it also suggested measuring the distance of the cats’ bellies from the floor. We dismissed this as a ridiculous, not to mention dangerous idea – we had Gizmo at the time, one of our more feisty cats, who wouldn’t have put up with such behaviour without dishing out severe retribution...
And so naively, we showed the cats their new door and wondered why it wasn’t an instant hit... it seemed that cats would rather have a door opened for them in time honoured fashion than push themselves nose first into the house. Although as time went on the full implication seemed to dawn on them – they could now bring their prey into the house and finish off their hunting games in comfort... sometimes this turned into weekend manoeuvres when they lost a mouse under a closed door, the most memorable one resulting in a mouse scurrying off under our bed in the middle of the night. Cleo was quickly let in to remove the mouse, which she did very efficiently after a quick rummage under the bed.
Another escapee had more luck, and it set up residence in the pantry. That one was only discovered by its own untidiness; it had shredded a plastic bag, and gnawed on some vegetables, then set up home in a vegetable rack.
from Outnumbered by Cats by Anne M Stephenson

Cats and boxes - if a picture tells a thousand words... enough said

The first box is empty, so Kryten gets his box...

If  picture tells a thousand words... enough said.

Book quote of the day

'Pictures started to go flying off the sideboard as it became part of a circuit, of sideboard, bookcase, table.'

from Outnumbered by Cats

Book Quote of the day

'So in a world so obsessed with warnings, disclaimers and risk assessment I feel I may have been let down... on the face of it, it seemed that a cat flap was going to make everyone's lives easier...' 

from Outnumbered by Cats.

The cat flap may not have made my life easier, but it has inspired one book Basil and the Flappy Thing, and featured heavily in the next... Outnumbered by Cats

Basil and the Flappy Thing

Book quote of the day

'One unexpected indoor activity was to turn the kitchen floor into an improvised skating rink.' from Outnumbered by Cats

There's nothing quite like having a houseful of kittens...

It's a kitten thing - weaning onto solids

© anne m stephenson from Outnumbered by Cats

Well what else is a double ended cat dish for...?

From Outnumbered by Cats - the book that emerged from the kitten diaries.

It's a kitten thing - kittens and boxes...

It's a kitten thing - kittens and boxes...

Just one of the videos - many of the photos are in the book - but I couldn't put the videos in, so I'll share some of them here with you.

I want to be more cat...

I want to be more cat...

I

If a picture is worth a thousand words...

If a picture is worth a thousand words...

...enough said!

Cats in book cases - it's a cat thing...

Captain, showing an early  interest in books...

True cat story - excerpt

 Outnumbered by Cats

by 

Anne M Stephenson

Lost in a Book

I met my cat on facebook

I met my cat on facebook – a true cat of the twenty first century. There she was, looking fearlessly back at me from her side of the computer screen.

“So do we want her?” my son Mike asked, hand poised ready to click the mouse and put in a request for this tabby and white kitten.

When the kitten topic had raised its head recently, I’d shocked everyone by saying I’d like to get a female kitten and let her have a litter, of which we’d keep one kitten. Not surprisingly Mike had quickly found a suitable kitten, probably before I had a chance to change my mind, and here she was...  ironic that a mouse was about to change the life of a cat forever. It was one of those pivotal moments in life, I looked at this little stranger, and knew that with a simple yes now, she could become part of our lives, our futures forever entwined, and change our lives as every new arrival does – what I didn’t know was how much she was going to change our lives...

Click – and the request was sent. 

Read the true story of how that decision filled our house and hearts with kittens... written from the kitten diaries I kept along the way - diaries that have chewed edges and paw prints...

Grab a copy now, still at launch price

Buy Now

Outnumbered by cats

The book:

 The Blurb:

I'd like to get a female kitten and let her have one litter," I said to my stunned family when they raised the kitten topic. Not surprisingly a suitable kitten was quickly found...  and Mitzi arrived in time for Christmas, bringing her own brand of fun and chaos, and demanding friendship from our 5 year old cat Cleo.

By summer Mitzi was quite confused, she came into season and started calling shamelessly. But when a hapless tomcat answered her call, she was far from impressed; causing more than one cat flap drama, and a hole in the door where a flap used to be. 

Eventually nature took it its course and Mitzi had kittens. The first few weeks were blissfully peaceful, watching as Mitzi took care of their every need. We had a week of heartache when one of the kittens was poorly, and then not developing properly, and was destined to challenge and inspire us in ways we could not yet imagine. 

Then they grew big enough to escape their box, and the bedlam began... 

The cat waiting for the empty box...

Because cats love to be the centre of attention

Cute alert - mother cat feeding kittens

So lets try something new - here's a seriously cute video of Mitzi and her kittens.

Meet the cast

Meet the cast of the book

Mitzi was a our Christmas kitten.

...insisting on friendship from our 5 year old black cat Cleo.

And getting into everything. What is it about swimming bags...?

Outnumbered by cats - the new book

Exciting stuff - the book from the kitten diaries has finally emerged, well almost, it's at the printers at the moment...

It was another of my learning curves, it's my first book for adults, but it's still bursting with colour pictures. When it came to editing the photos I got distracted all over again, and though I edited them down a bit, there are still 82 colour photos in the book. I tried editing them into black and white pictures, but it was just such a shame, so instead I left them in as colour inserts - a bit self indulgent maybe, but who could resist all those kitten photos...?  

But what about the story - share with me, the journey from meeting my cat on facebook, and her kitten hood, to her becoming a mother, and filling our home with kittens - not to mention all the cat flap dramas along the way... 

Outnumbered by cats

"I'd like to get a female kitten and let her have one litter", I said to my stunned family... and the rest is history.

I entered into this adventure with my eyes open, having lived with cats all my life, and an adventure it has proved to be - and this life adventure is still unfolding...

This blog is slightly late in starting, after finding out that running a blog about kittens, while they are tiny is a tricky thing to pull off. But what I did have time for was a kitten diary, it was easier to write with pen and paper as kittens climbed all over me than it was to attempt to type... and so from those kittens diaries, which have the occasional paw print and chewed corner, and from the many photos that were taken along the way, a book has finally emerged, and now for the blog...