Moms make good beds

The other day Dad walked into the living room to find this:

What can I say, Mom likes to sleep on the couch and I like to sleep on Mom. She's the reverse of those fancy mattresses that conform to your body, so you can see, I conformed to hers.

In other feline news, I received an award from the Bumpass Kitties. Granted, they gave me this award forever ago, but those furry beasts act like the blog only belongs to them! I always knew I would be famous. I just wonder who will play me in the movie about my life.

Meow,
Wilbur

Maebe's Prescription

Kayla wrote in to the Cure-All Clinic, not for herself, but for her sister. Isn't that sweet? I wonder if my bossy sister would do that for me. Anyway, here's what Kayla had to say:

Dear Dr. Steve,
WOOOO have given some great advice. I think Maebe needs some help diagnosing her foot problem. She treats her feeties like chew toys. It is really quite disturbing.

WOOOOO woo rar rar rar,
Kayla

For this diagnosis, I consulted with Nurse Kat. She is the one at this clinic who chews on herself and rolls around scratching her back the most. Nurse Kat said that Maebe just needs her dad to give her lots of scratchies. While that might work, I think it's more of an issue of Maebe trying to tell her parents that she needs some exciting chew toys. So I prescribed the following:

Maebe, I hope this helps. I also want to see some pictures of you with your new chew things. If you need a recipe for banana bones, look under the Kat's Crazy Kitchen section of our sidebar.
Woo,
Dr. Steve

Last but certainly not least

The Bumpass Hounds and kitties asked about me back when the furry beasts were announcing their careers. The BH&Ks wanted to know what my career choice would be. I really don't need to get a job because I have humans to just pay for everything my heart desires, but I decided to just follow my dreams and do what comes naturally. So obviously, I'm going to be a pilot. Some of you might remember that the furry beasts took to the skies wearing white flying scarves, but they have only flown once and I have flown many times and also flew before they ever even thought about it.

Some of you know that I have been flying since I was about 2 months old. Here I am right before my first flight. Mom's holding a sign that says "Kittyhawk" since it was the first flight of Wilbur, even though my namesake, Wilbur Wright, actually did the second flight at Kittyhawk on Dec. 17, 1903.As you can see, I was a calm, cool and collected co-pilot on that flight.I officially earned my pilots license in December 2005 after I successfully copiloted with Mom when we flew back to Texas after Christmas and had to land with a huge crosswind. The old-timers at the airport were really impressed with Mom's skills, but they didn't know that it was actually all me.

I am so into flying that I even have a cat carrier with a plane on the side!In addition to flying Cessna 182s, I also have flown jets. Here's me in an F-16.Okay, technically that's actually Mom, but I taught her everything she knows, so it might as well have been me. I also have a tailwheel endorsement, having flown in this airplane, a Bellanca Scout.So as you can see, I am quite the accomplished pilot. I might just be the most accomplished feline pilot in history!

Meow,
Wilbur

Shiloh

I had a new patient write in a few days ago. This was one of the most detailed requests for treatment that I have received! Shiloh from the Bumpass Hounds had this problem:

"Dear Doctor Steve, I'm feeling down in the dumps. I think I need your help. Jubal says I need help. Homer J. says I need help. J.E.B. says I need help. Shelby Belle says I really need help. Jack says I'm a pyscho. Sophie says she thinks I might need help. Abby says I should probably seek professional counseling and get help. Radar hasn't met me yet so he has no opinion. All three cats say bad things about me behind my back, I know that they hate me cuz they never want to play tag with me. I'm about 2+1/2 feet tall at the shoulders, about 6+1/2 feet standing on my hind legs. I weigh about 165 lbs. I eat about 6 cups of kibble a day, 3 cups at breakfast and 3 at dinner. i eat about 6 mini-milkbones a day as bribes for going in my crate, going into the pen, etc. I'm definitely a food reward dog. I take one glucosamine and chondrotin tablet each morning with my kibble because I have OCD in my shoulder sockets because I grew to fast as a puppy. I was two years old this past April 24th. I just long to sit under my tree out in the pen that I share with my brother Max. He doesn't say i need help, he just always tells me to get a life. I really, really think that I could use some "puppy uppers" if you don't mind writing me a prescription for a gross of them. What is an "oaf?" What is a " big lummox?" Thanks Doctor Steve. I look forward to your professional evaluation of my condition and a good dose of "puppy uppers." - Shiloh"

Naturally I felt just terrible for poor Shiloh. I mean, look how sad she looks here. If that face doesn't say, "feed me some treats" I don't know what does!I'll admit, I had a bit of a hard time understanding how Shiloh could be sad. Did you see how much she gets to eat?!? I only get 1.75 cups of food per day, plus treats and my kong. That's like one bite for Shiloh! Then I realized that even with all that food, life can be rough if your family is telling you that you're crazy all the time. Now, I'm sure the Bumpass Mom and Dad are quite nice to poor Shiloh, but it sounds like her furry siblings need to make up for all the teasing they give her! So I have prescribed the following:As a side note, I'd like to tell Shiloh to give up on the cats. I'll admit that the Bumpass Cats seem a whole lot nicer than Wilbur, but they are still cats and can't be trusted.

Well, Shiloh, I hope that with this prescription, you'll be back to happy in no time, kind of like you are in this picture!
Woo at ya later,
Dr. Steve

Hiking on Whidbey

After our stop on Coupeville, we drove around the Naval Air Station, trying to see if we could see any cool planes, but we didn't. After Dad gave up, we headed north to Deception Pass State Park. There is a cool bridge there, but Mom didn't get any good pictures of it without trees in the way.

Here's a neat picture from under the bridge though.

We did a hike up to the top of a hill. Steve would like you to think that it was a mountain though so he wanted me to include this picture.

We took a family picture at the top of the hill.

Also when we got to the stop, we split up girls and boys. Here's a picture of all the boys.

Here's a picture of the girls. Don't you love how I make my mom carry the poop bags? She's so embarrassed that she forgot to set that off to the side before the picture!

Here's me with my mom with the beach down below. Dad says we will go back and hike to the bottom so Steve and I can go swimming. I can't wait!

So that's how our day trip went! It was really fun and Steve and I were so tired after it was over!
Kat

Exploring Whidbey

Our Missouri grandparents are visiting. We like to make sure our visitors are having a good time, so I've been letting my grandpa feed me bites of the snickerdoodle cookies my mom baked for him. I want him to be happy and obviously he's happy when he's giving me cookies. I'm just trying to be a good host.

On Sunday, Kat and I took our grandparents to Whidbey Island. We let our mom and dad come too. (I think the Bumpass Hounds' dad used to live there, but I'm not sure if any of the current hounds lived there or not.) We rode a ferry over to the island, but it was just a quick trip, so I don't have any photos of that.

Then we drove around the island. We stopped in Coupeville. The humans went inside and looked at a skeleton of a grey whale. Kat tried to chase birds.

We also saw this sign about no swimming and thought that was no fun!

We hung out on the boardwalk with Dad while Mom went inside to see the whale skeleton.

Before we left Coupeville, all the humans got some ice cream. My grandpa gave me the bottom of his waffle cone. Who am I to refuse? It makes him happy to do stuff like that.

Next post Kat will tell you about one of our other stops!
Steve

My first human patient

I got my first human patient, the Mom of Star and Jack. She has been under the weather and here's what Jack wrote in:

Dear Dr. Steve, Mom has a bad cold & won't take us for walks or to the beach or play with us or anything. Can woo write her a prescription for something to cure that cold or at least improve her disposition? Thank- woo, Jack

Well, Jack, I am willing to treat any patient, human or canine. Maybe even some felines. So I've been hearing on TV about the swine flu. Since Jack's mom isn't a swine, I decided she must have human flu. I hope Star and Jack are being very careful because human flu could cause a pandemic within the canine population. You just never know and if a news outlet picks up the story, it will be a pandemic for sure! Star and Jack, you might want to wear a mask around your mom, just in case.

I have prescribed a highly aggressive treatment for Star and Jack's mom. It will take a lot of dedication on the part of Star and Jack, but I'm confident that with time, their mom will be back to 100% in no time. Nurse Kat has proved this treatment works, as she is quite skilled in this area.
So, Jack, I sure hope this helps your mom. And all of the other pups who have written in for prescriptions, I'm working on cures for each one of you. Just be patient and keep an eye out on this blog!

Dr. Steve

As good as a bath can get

Steve and I had to take a bath yesterday.  Now you all know how much I hate baths.  I still don't like them, but we have been going to a new place for our last two baths.  It's a new shop near us called Muddy Buddy Dog Wash.  Even though baths are still pretty horrible (Mom, are you reading this?), the baths at Muddy Buddy are not nearly as bad as a bath in the shower or a bath outside with the hose.

Muddy Buddy has hitching posts so you can be leashed up while you wait your turn.  Here's Steve waiting while I got my bath.

Here I am with Mom while Mom was drying me off. I look pretty happy, don't you think? Mom looks pretty horrible, but I had shaken all over her, so she was wet.

Here's Dad drying me with the blower. It's so relaxing that I almost fall asleep!

Then it was Steve's turn. I told him that he looked like a drowned rat and then he stuck his tongue out at me.

When Steve got to the blower part of his bath, he exploded! Mom had brushed on him on Sunday and then again yesterday before we left the house. She brushed over one grocery bag of fur off of him and she thought he was good to be bathed. Boy was she wrong! There was fur everywhere! Mom and Dad felt really bad for the mess of fur Steve created.

It took so long to dry Steve that I got tired of waiting.

So that's how Muddy Buddy works. Check out their photo page and see if you recognize anypup. I know we have some readers in the Seattle area, so if you are looking for a good place to take a bath where your parents don't have to clean up the mess, check out Muddy Buddy!
Kat

A new patient

Mango wrote in with a problem. As always, here at Dr. Steve's Cure-All Clinic, we are ready and willing to help. Here's Mango's problem:

"Can you help me on how to get more hoomans food instead of boring tasteless kibbles?"

Mango's problem is one that is near and dear to my heart. Don't get me wrong, I love kibble, but I also think I would love to eat a lot of the stuff that my parents eat but do not share. To help Mango out, I have written a prescription requiring him to have lots of good food. I'm still a bit worried that his humans won't feed him what he wants, so I added a bit at the bottom stating that Mango has food allergies. I'm pretty sure this will do the trick. Mango's "food allergies" prevent him from eating any kibble. In fact, he's allergic to kibble, but not to anything human related. I'm pretty sure that his humans will abide by this medical diagnosis.
In other news, we are really behind on awards. Huffle has given us two awards:The first award states that we have to post this information:

Questions & Your Answers:

1. The person who tagged you: Huffle Mawson
   
2. His/her site’s title and url: Huffle Mawson, Explorer Cat http://hufflemawson.blogspot.com/
3. Date when you were tagged: May 11, 2009
4. Persons you tagged: anyone who hasn't received this. (Oh sure, that's lame, but I'm a doctor. Don't argue with me.)
   

For the second award, we are supposed to name five reasons we love blogging.

1. Meeting really cool pups and cats from all over the world.
2. Sometimes meeting them in real life (like we met Huffle's humans and Mom met the OP Pack but didn't take us)
3. Sharing our adventures with the world
4. Learning more about other breeds of dogs
5. Helping dogs in need, through blogathon or sponsoring other dogs doing events

Thanks Huffle for those great awards!
Dr. Steve

I'm helping!

My mom has been studying for a test because she wants to go back to school. So she spends a lot of time sitting on the couch doing practice tests. As the supreme ruler of the house, I feel that it's my duty to assist in whatever way I can. Here is some photographic evidence of my work.

While I was working hard, Dad kept annoying me with the camera. As you can see in this photo, I was giving him the evil eye.

Luckily he got the idea and stopped bothering me. He should be bothering Mom either because she was working very hard and obviously had no distractions except for him.

Meow,
Wilbur

My first prescription

Thunder of the OP Pack is the first pup to ask for a prescription from me. Here's what the OP Pack had to say.

"Steve, can you send a prescription that will help cure TD of his love of being out in the rain?"

This was a pretty difficult case to diagnose. I really dislike the rain, so I was having a hard time identifying with why Thunder would want to stay out in the rain. So I took a nap. I've always heard that it's best to sleep on it if you have a big problem.

After I woke up from my nap, I felt refreshed and I had a medical breakthrough. Thunder wants to stay outside because he's trying to find a way to dig a tunnel to be with his sweetheart, Kat. That explains why Thunder wants to be outside, but why does he want to be outside in the rain? I knew that Thunder has recently had a bath at the groomers, so I am fairly certain that he is staying outside in the rain to show his mom that he's taking his own showers and doesn't need baths or grooming.

Therefore, I have prescribed a two-fold cure for Thunder. One is that he should have a photo of his sweetheart posted in his crate. Here's a suggestion:

My other prescription is that Thunder be exempt from baths from now on. In the event that he has to have a bath, treats must be administered one for every 30 seconds of bath time. My official prescription is below:

Good luck, Thunder! I hope this works for you.
Dr. Steve

Good Times!

The other day it was nice outside, so we put in some quality Cuz time with Mom. I love playing little Cuz and I always bring it back to Mom so we can keep playing.

Steve has other ideas.

Hope you enjoyed the videos!
Kat

The Grand Opening

I received a really positive response to my career choice. Several pups asked me to write prescriptions for them. That has prompted me to announce the grand opening of Dr. Steve's Cure-All Clinic!


At Dr. Steve's Cure-All Clinic, we are serious about good health!

If you want a prescription from me, just shoot me an email at stevekatwilbur AT gmail DOT com. Tell me what ails you. I can diagnose problems from rear-end pain to pain-in-the-rear-humans. You can even send pictures if you need to fully describe your problem (but if you send a picture make sure you are okay with me posting it on my blog). Once I review your file, I'll post my diagnosis and prescription right here on my blog! For really serious cases, I will consult with Nurse Kat.

Dr. Steve, at your service

Our cookie arrival

Last month, Kat reported on the saga of the missing cookies, but we forgot to post about when the cookies actually arrived!

Mom took this video of us. At the end, you can hear me very clearly tell her to get the box open and give me some cookies.

Kat even gave Mom a pleading look.

We love our Happy Hearts cookies.

Don't forget to stop by Huffle's blog for Part 2 of her extra special interview with the founder of Happy Hearts!

Steve

My career choice

Yesterday Kat told you how Mom said we had to pick careers and get jobs. At first, I couldn't think of any job that would be good for me. I just like to eat, chase squirrels, and look out the front window. Then I decided that I should pick a job where I make lots of money so I can buy lots of treats, build a roof on my backyard so the squirrels cannot escape, and remodel the house so the entire house has floor to ceiling windows. Therefore, I've decided to be a doctor.

I think being a doctor will be good because Kat can be my nurse and she's in charge anyway, so I'll just let her do most of the work while I rake in the dough. I'm also going to be a surgeon, as you can see by my Texas A&M scrub cap.

I think the first thing I am going to do is propose a ban on white doctor coats. They are too long and make it really hard for a pup to walk. How can I respond to an emergency page to rush a patient to surgery if I keep tripping over my doctor coat? Maybe just a white doctor collar would be best.

As a doctor, it's important for me to promote good health for everypup. So my good health message for today is that you all should head over to Huffle Mawson's blog to learn more about healthy dog treats!

Signing off,
Dr. Steve

My career

Now that I'm two and a half, Mom said I had to pick a career. I have dabbled in song writing (see this, this, this, this, and this), journalism (see here, here, here, and here), and being a cooking show host (there's a link on our sidebar to all of my "episodes"). Of course, I'll probably still do those things on the side, but for my main career, I've decided to be a nurse.

I like all humans and I especially love to give them kisses and hugs and I'm pretty sure that nurses do those things. I don't know if I like wearing my scrubs, but I think I'll get used to it.

I have already had my first patient too. My mom has been sick and I have taken really good care of her. I cuddled with her while she slept all day on Wednesday and I gave her lots of kisses while she tried to bury her head under the blankets. Sometimes patients are difficult, but I kept with it and made sure she got her medicine.

I'll keep you posted on further developments with my new nursing career. Steve will be announcing his career choice tomorrow.
Kat