Thought I'd touch base and send you some new pics of my two "munchkins" to give you some happy reports.

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Twinkle, (formerly Julia Anna) is doing fine as indeed they both are. � Both are maintaining their weight, have had their annual shots, and �in great health. � No more emergency surgeries to remove ingested foreign bodies for Twinkle, thank God! � All her fur has grown back over the incision and over where she had been shaved for IV and pain medication patch. � So, one would never know she had had any problems. � It hasn't stopped her from wanting to eat fabric items, however. � I now have to put tennis shoes behind closed doors because she chewed off a chunk of a shoelace couple months ago and it took more than a week for it to "emerge," and it was still intact! � They have both have learned how to get open cabinet doors and drawers as well as sliding closet doors. � So, now my house looks like a toddler or other young child lives here. � Guess in a way I really do have two of them, now that I think about it.

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Both of them are very much at home, have the run of the house except for three rooms (I'll get to that later), like to greet visitors, and generally stay in whichever room I'm in most of the time. � Doesn't seem to matter what I'm doing, if they are awake when I move from room to room, they come along. � Neither is too fond of lap sitting at this stage, but Twinkle likes to lay on my chest--never mind that I'm trying to read or watch TV or even breathe, for that matter. � Porters likes to sit on the footrest on the recliner and get head rubs while Twinkle eventually ends up on the top of the back of the recliner using my head as part of her "bed." � That's the way we spend most evenings.

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They both have developed a liking for catnip--I sprinkle some on the two "condos" once in a while and they go at it like crazy--eating and rolling around in it. � That's usually followed by a period of running like maniacs chasing and chewing on each other which is normally followed by a well-deserved nap. � They both have a brushing period each morning, and heaven help if I don't remember to do that! � Boy, does Porters "tell me" about it. � He is definitely a vocal cat. � It's almost as if he requires conversation. � I play with them a couple times each day with a laser light pointer and some wand toys, never leaving anything out where Twinkle can get to it. � I learned early on that she would chew it off the string and devour whatever was on the end of the wand. � But they both know where the "toys" are kept and will come and meow at that place to remind me if they don't get their playtime each day. �

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They also like to sit and look out the back patio doors. � They watch the birds, bunnies, quail, etc. � I even had a couple small bobcats go through the yard one day, and you should have seen these two following them around the house by going from window to window. � I don't know who was more intrigued--me or them.

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Porters likes to cuddle up in small spaces--his current favorite, as you can see from the pictures, is a shoebox. � Sometimes it's a paper bag--in fact he has one that he occasionally sleeps on next to the recliner in the living room. � Twinkle learned to wiggle the sliding doors to my closet by getting her paw in between the door and the frame and then pulling on it. � Eventually she would get it open enough to get inside the closet and chew on clothing again. � So, I now have a dowel rod in the track to keep the door closed. � Only problem with that solution is that every time I want to get into the closet (which occurs at least twice each day) I have to remove the rod and hope I remember to put it back. � She also managed to open the bottom drawer in my bathroom and found (to her great delight) a bag of cotton balls there which were strewn all over the place when I discovered it. � I'm sure one or two made it into her tummy also. � But it was long enough ago that I assume all "passed." � So that closet is one of the three rooms they are banned from. � The other two are the "commode" room in the master bath and the guest bath. � Reason for those two is the toilet paper that keeps getting shredded if I leave those doors open.

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Nighttime usually finds both of them sleeping on the unoccupied side of the bed--at least to start with. � Although I think they usually move off sometime during the night. � But I can bet that around 5-6 am they will be back walking on me or rattling the blinds on the window beside the bed to get me up. � Their internal body clock doesn't seem to adjust for any variations in that schedule, either.

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All in all, I'd say we have acclimated quite nicely. � I love them dearly, they enrich my life, and I can't imagine being without them. � Thank you AZRescue for making our family possible!

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Linda, Porters, & Twinkle

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