Tuesday was the visit to Hawaii Kai Veterinary Clinic to see Dr. Ann Sakamoto.

The patients this time around were Bessie and Kiko. On the drive to Hawaii Kai, we were serenaded throughout the drive by the feline chorus. Interestingly, on the drive home it was total silence,

In this picture, Ann is checking out the spots on Kiko’s feet!

Kiko weighed in at 10.8 pounds. Bessie was 11.8. They aren’t small cats, but they are way short of Romoeo’s 19 pounds in his prime.

Both have had dental issues in the past, and still do, but they were doing better than expected. No need for a separate dental appointment this year, although I’ll be shifting then back to eating Science Diet TD, which is supposed to reduce plaque & tartar build-up.

They also both got vaccine updates. Kiko’s was a double whammy. Ann warned us that Kiko’s leg be a little sore where she got the injection, and both might feel a bit under the weather for a day or so. They seemed fine when we got home, but by late afternoon Kiko had gone to sleep in the Amazon box, didn’t come for food, was in the box all night, and was still in the box when I got up the next morning. It took her most of the next day before she started moving around to display her limp.

We knew she was on the mend when she was able to jump onto our bed and join Kinikini in a late Wednesday afternoon nap, but wasn’t until Thursday morning that she appeared to be back to “normal.”

So here we are on Feline Friday, and the cats are ready to make their appearances.

It is now clear that our cats are evenly divided into two camps.

There are the Boxsters, Kali and Kiko, who somehow naturally gravitate to the former Amazon box that is now well aged and filled with finely processed brown packing paper ripped into shreds. Althought there is an occasional conflict when they both head to the box at the same time, they somehow are able to share the box experience most of the time. It’s like there’ a schedule somewhere and they each reserve time in the box. And when they do arrive at the same time, it turns into play instead of fight.

The other two, Kinikini and Bessie, seem to be anti-Boxsters. Well, that’s not really accurate. They simply ignore the box. They don’t pay attention to it, never step into it, and have been disinterested from the beginning. They are, somehow, just wired differently when it comes to nesting behavior.

Next week I’ll have a vet excursion to take Bessie and Kiko to Dr. Sakamoto for their annual checkups. I’m not looking forward to the chorus of complaints when the cat carriers come into the house. But it’s time.

In any case, here come our Kahala cats. Enjoy your Feline Friday!

We arrived home Thursday afternoon after a long flight delay on Wednesday resulted in missing our connecting flight to Honolulu, and requiring a night in a San Francisco airport hotel before continuing our journey Thursday morning.

I plead guilty to not rushing around to collect enough fresh photos for Feline Friday.

But I can share these photos demonstrating the welcome we received.

Kinikini reacts the most to our returns because he hides from our cat sitters. The three females–Kali, Bessie, and Kiko–all accept treats and pets even in our absence. But Kinikini is a hard case. He carries the lessons of his early years in a cat colony. Don’t trust any of those humans unless they’ve proven themselves. The result is that our cat sitters almost never even catch a glimpse of him, and he certainly doesn’t get any of those treats or pets.

So our homecoming is a big event for him.

I should point out that Bessie is rarely seen in our bedroom. Kiki, Kali, and Kinikini, yes. Although Bessie sometimes sneaks in to sample some of Kinikini’s food, she is not allowed to join the other three on our our bed, and otherwise stays out of the room. It seems to be part of their stable balnce of power.

Anyway, here are a few photos to serve as Feline Friday placeholders. The cats will be back in force next week.