Mini and Noel
2022
Mini Cooper
2021
Noel and Mini
2020
Nine and baby Mini
2017
How incredibly lucky we are to spend our life with Mini Cooper. She is such a precocious playful bundle of fluff. Over her 10 years, she has had some really wonderful adventures, especially with her best buddy, Mr. Nine. Mini has become the only cat in the general population with the dogs, Jolie and Bearnard, since Queen Noel, the Christmas cat, passed over in January. As you know Stella, the lone cat, has her own room, but Mini and Stella ‘play’ and hiss at each other through the door occasionally.
Mini Cooper stay as kittenish as you always are. We love you.
Happy 10th birthday, Kitten.
Just another DogDaz morning at the zoo ❤ 
Tags: cat birthday, cat blog, cats, dilute torte, DogDaz, Gratitude, lorian lipton, Mini, Pet, pet blog
May is a busy month at the DogDaz Zoo.
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The humans opened the pool this week! It wasn’t its usual black algae color. That is probably thanks to a new cleaning crew.
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We found a little bird egg on our walk that fell from its nest but Mom could not see the nest high in the elm tree, so she had to leave it. At least it wasn’t a baby bird yet.
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The cherries are starting to turn red. That means pie soon.
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Jolie was sick with some strange unknown stomach thing and got so dehydrated that she had to go to the vet for fluids. Mini had some tummy thing too. And then the humans got sick. (Are all these things related? We don’t know but it wasn’t fun around here.)
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Because of scary climate change, and since we live on a peninsula on the Magothy River (a tributary of the Chesapeake Bay) and often lose power, we now have a whole house generator. Mom says it will keep us cool in the summer and warm in the winter, even if we lose power. I am not sure what all that means, but if Mom thinks it is good, it must be.
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This was Navy Commissioning Week at the US Naval Academy (which is here in Annapolis, MD). That means the Blue Angels, the US Navy flight demonstration squadron, flew over the house during their air show for 2 days. It is always very loud but amazing.
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Mom did not make that Cat Pizza, but she thought it was cool and wanted everyone to see it.
We have so much to be thankful for. Have a wonderful Memorial Weekend. Remember those who paid the ultimate price so that we can be free.
Just another DogDaz morning at the zoo ❤
Tags: blue angels, cat blog, Cats and Dogs, dog blog, DogDaz, Gratitude, lorian lipton, Magothy River, naval academy, Pet, pet blog, thankful
We love our Mommy and would be lapless without her.
Moms are for napping on – Jolie and Bearnard
Moms are for sitting on and watching the world go by – Bearnard and Jolie
Moms are for laying on and having family meetings – Jolie, Bearnard, and Mini Cooper
Moms are for loving – Stella
Happy Mommy’s Day to the mothers of all creatures. Love the DogDaz Zoo
Mother’s Day 2012 – Louise and Sofie
Just another DogDaz morning at the zoo ❤
Tags: cat blog, Cats and Dogs, Dog People, DogBlog, DogDaz, lorian lipton, Mother's Day, pet blog
Jolie & Bear April 24
Stella
Mini Cooper 2022
Noel 2014
Pink Snow 2019
Nine 2021
Louise & Sofie 2015
Charles 2018
Sofie 2020
Louise & Sofie 2016
Squash tail 2010
Spring Iris and Azalea are wonderful backdrops to the zoo. And I can’t forget the pink snow.
Just another DogDaz morning at the zoo ❤
Tags: Blog, cat blog, cats, dog, Dog People, dog rescue, DogBlog, DogDaz, Dogs, lorian lipton, Pet, pets, Spring
Our day starts like any other, with me, Mini Cooper, and BEARnard, rolling on the floor waiting for breakfast.
Then Beary and I get to spend some time in the sun.
We spend a good amount of time looking out the windows so we can bark at squirrels and other intruders.
We like to go on our daily walks, no matter what the weather.
We spend time waiting for Mom to return from wherever she goes.
We like to be together and cuddle and talk with each other.
Mom likes to read with us on her lap and to look out the window and watch the world go by, just like we do.
And we spend most of our time sleeping the day away in Mom’s office.
We love our life and we are sooooo grateful that we get to spend our days this way.
How do you spend your days? – Always, Jolie
Just another DogDaz morning at the zoo ❤
Tags: cat blog, dog, dog blog, DogDaz, Gratitude, lorian lipton, papillon mix, Pet, pet blog, shih tzu mix, Thankful Thursday
We have so much to be thankful for here at the DogDaz Zoo
We are thankful for cookies, even when we have to sit and wait quietly to receive them.
We are thankful that Mom comes home after she goes out. Though we wait and wait and wait sometimes furever for her to return.
We are thankful for Mom’s lap. Even though we have to share it with a cat.
We are thankful for the foyer stoop so that we have somewhere to wait while Mom gets ready to take us for a walk.
We are thankful for cozy places in Mom’s office to wait for her while she works.
But mostly, we are thankful for our blogfriends who have come to the DogDaz Zoo for years and keep coming back week after week. Thank you!
Just another DogDaz morning at the zoo ❤
Tags: cat blog, dog blog, DogDaz, Gratitude, lorian lipton, Pet, pet blog, thankful
Stella is going to be 13 in September. She is a wonderful cat (as long as she isn’t with other cats). She likes the dogs when they come to visit and Bearnard and her seem to have a thing going on lately.
Sadly, we just found out that Stella has Feline lymphoma. It is affecting her gut. The feline lymphatic system is a complex network of components that transport all those life-sustaining substances throughout a cat’s body and help prevent the circulation of harmful agents. Among these components are the spleen, bone marrow, and what veterinarians call “gut-associated” lymphoid tissue, which lines the surfaces of various areas of a cat’s body and prevents its exposure to infectious agents. It mostly shows up in cats around 10-12 years old.
Dr. Sims, Stella’s Vet, said a definitive diagnosis requires a biopsy of the intestinal tract. We are not going to put little Stella through that at her age and weight (7 lbs). We are treating her at home with a steroid (prednisolone) and another drug to assist with peristalsis. The x-ray shows that she has considerable thickening of the intestinal tract. We are hoping with the medication and our love and care she could continue on for many months.
Stella does not know that she has cancer and it does not appear to hurt her much (if you don’t touch her belly).
Lymphoma is the most common cancer in cats. You can learn more about it here. Hug your furbabies a little closer tonight. They are such a gift, each and every one of them.
Just another CATDogDaz morning at the zoo ❤
Tags: cancer, cat blog, cat health, cats, DogDaz, feline lymphoma, lorian lipton, Pet, pet blog
Jan 2024 – Noel Staying Warm
Noel has been gone for several weeks now. She was one of our oldest and longest cats. I was thinking about all the events and other animals she lived through in her almost 17 years. She outlived 4 dogs: Squash (2010), Sofie (2022), Louise (2022), and Charles (2023), and left us with 2, Jolie and Bearnard. She outlived her fellow felines Zackary (2010), Cuddles (2010), The Muffin Man (2012), Constance Kitty (2012), and Nine (2022), leaving us with Stella and Mini Cooper. The human children were only in middle and high school when she rescued us and now they are adults with cats of their own. She also had time with multiple Guinea Pigs, Mr. Moto, Georgia, Checkers, and maybe others.
We have been thinking about her a lot these last couple of weeks. Her not being here is very evident.
Dec 2023 – Noel telling Bearnard to get off her spot on the couch
No one really likes to talk about the loss of a beloved pet. No one tells you how much you will cry. That a companion will leave a hole in your heart way bigger than their little 10-pound body.
Oh, and then there is the guilt. Few of us are lucky enough to have our animals pass away peacefully in their sleep. So we feel guilty that we had to ‘put them down,’ or that we ‘let them die.’ Guilty that we didn’t play with them enough or didn’t pet them enough, or this, or that, or any one of a million possible things we could feel guilty for.
No one tells you that you will second guess almost everything you’ve done since they were a kitten. Did we give her the right food for her particular issues? Did she have issues? Should we have done more?
Look Mom, I brought you some birds!
The one thing I can tell you about grief and loss and the continued ebb and flow of missing Noel after being with her daily for 16 years, 10 months, and a bunch of days, is that she is burned into my memory and heart forever.
We all grieve differently, but grieve we do. So if you have ever lost a pet, or several, I offer you my heartfelt condolences. Please know that over time your sadness will lessen and your tears will flow less. And know that the best thing you can do for you, and to honor their memory, is to go on and not get lost in that sadness. For me, I go and hug my other dogs and cats and humans, and let the love that I felt for Noel translate into even deeper love for the others.
Here’s to you Queen Noel: Your memory is a blessing. “yehi zichra baruch”
Just another DogDaz morning at the zoo ❤
Tags: Blog, cat blog, DogDaz, grief, lorian lipton, losing a pet, Pet, pets, rainbow bridge, white cat
Unexpectedly, on Thursday, January 11, Noel, the Christmas cat, the Queen of the DogDaz_Cats2 zoo, left this earth and passed over the rainbow bridge, to the big cat tree in the sky.
Not that you can say the passing of an almost 17-year-old cat (3/17/2007) is unexpected, but we really thought she was going to be our 20+ feline. It seems that she just started to go downhill healthwise since the summer and she developed diabetes and kidney issues (dropping 4 lbs in the last month). The poor sweet thing was just so unhappy and needed to be at peace.
Noel came to us on death’s door all those many years ago (Christmas 2007), with feline herpes. She was maybe 9 months old and we rescued her with another cat, Constance Kitty, who left us back in 2012. Click here to read Noel’s Story
She started out as this shy little white thing who didn’t know how to play but over her many years, and the many animals, she became the boss; the blogger; and the Queen. If you search Noel on the sidebar you will find years and years of stories and pictures. She saw us through 3 growing children and many many rescues.
Noel & Jolie 2023
Sleep my precious angel and know that you added so much love and happiness to our zoo.
Noel and Mr. Nine 2020
Noel & Muffy 2010
Noel In Charge 2013
Just another DogDaz morning at the zoo ❤
Tags: cat blog, Cat People, cats, DogDaz, lorian lipton, nature, pet blog, rainbow bridge
DogDaz Zoo 