Enjoy the holiday!

If you’ve read Mama Bear’s profile, you know that she’s got an anxiety licking problem which has left her practically bald all over her haunches, her belly, and under her arms. In fact, her nickname is Baldy.

Well, we’re going to have to take that back.

Over the past few weeks, we’ve noticed that Mama’s hair is mysteriously growing back. Here are some before pictures of her bald legs and stomach.

Notice that you can see her skin, she’s so bald.

Now, introducing [drum roll] the new and improved Mama Bear!

Look at how nice and hairy her legs are. She’s even getting peach… er, gray fuzz on her belly. How cute!

We couldn’t be happier to see her all hairy again. In fact, we’re just going to have to take down her nickname of Baldy and replace it with Hairy Girl. Rogaine does wonders!

With 5 cats, the annual trip to the vet is like having our own 3-ring circus. First, we have to capture them and put them all in their carriers as fast as possible so they don’t catch onto anything. Then we load up the car and listen to a symphony of howling and meowing.

Once we get to the vet’s office, we load them into shopping carts and wheel them into Banfield. Banfield is a chain veterinarian inside of PetSmart . . . more about them later.

Needless to say, the cats are not happy. Being the only cat that goes outside, Hot Dog needs to get tested for FIV (Feline Immunodeficiency Virus– basically, feline AIDS). Of course, Hot Dog is also an extremely large and powerful cat. It takes three vet techs to hold him down and draw blood. At this point, he has also peed in his carrier to show his extreme discontent, so his long, thick fur is covered in cat piss and the techs are trying to dry him off at the same time. We can see him through the small glass window in the exam room. At one point, Hot Dog gave us stink eye with a look that said, “You f#$&@!s are going to pay.”

Meanwhile, Mama is completely paralyzed with fear. She curls up next to her boyfriend for comfort. Vince, of course, couldn’t care less. He’s about to get stabbed with 3 needles, but he’s made himself right at home at the vet’s office.

In his carrier, Kramer is practically hyperventilating. Not surprisingly, the vet pronounces Kramer overweight. He’s just under 14 pounds, and while Vince is also 14 pounds, he carries it differently. Vince is built like a linebacker; poor Kramer’s just fat.

When Toester got on the exam table, he proceeded to drool about 1/2 cup of fishy-smelling kitty slobber. He gets a little nervous at the vet’s office.

Now, about Banfield… We really should know better than to take them to a mega-chain veterinarian, but we took them there once when we first moved here and it just seemed easier to keep going back.

After we saw the bill though, we’d had enough. $384 for SHOTS. Granted, it’s five cats, but almost FOUR HUNDRED BUCKS???? It shouldn’t be so shocking, but really, we do think Banfield is a massive rip off. They might be competent, but they’re also taking their patients to the cleaners. And being a chain operation, I get the impression that they’re not really concerned with your pet’s health, or your feelings towards your pets. They’re more of an assembly line. If one of our kitties needed surgery or, god forbid, had to be put to sleep, Banfield is not the kind of place I’d want to do that.

Rant over. If you have any Banfield or vet stories, share them with Crazy Kitties. We’re also looking for a good vet in the Sarasota, FL area, so if you have a recommendation, that would rock.

Let’s face it - a sleeping cat is a cute cat. Then again, a sleeping cat can also be a totally crazy cat.

Take a look at these sleeping cat photos. Kinda makes you wonder what YOU look like sleeping….

This is the belly-up sleeping method. It is designed to trick humans into thinking they can rub that cat’s belly. When the hapless human reaches his hand close to the fuzzy cat stomach…. SWIPE!!! The cat lunges at the human’s grubby hand to show her feline superiority.

Like many people, Mama Bear likes to fall asleep with the TV on. Watch out though… once she’s got the remote, it’s Animal Planet all freakin’ night.

This soon-to-be world famous photo of Vincent sleeping is just too much.

For some cats, sleeping together is a way to express their affection for each other. What if we could read their minds? Would it be something like Days of Our Nine Lives?

Got sleeping cat pictures to share?  Send them in!  We’ll post them right here on CrazyKitties.com.

Mama is by far our shiest and quietest kitty. She’s the only girl cat in the house, so she tends to always be on the defensive.

But when Mama sleeps, she SLEEPS, and she’s vulnerable and so cute.

Here she is, just a pile of cute kitty. Mama actually snores when she sleeps– we’re trying to catch some video of it because it’s hilarious.

Mama got propped up against the pillow to do her sleeping Spock impression. Guess she’s a closet Trekkie.

Check out other cats sleeping here, and feel free to share your sleeping cat photos!