Cats in the hat

Kittens!

2008-04-17T13:07:00.001-07:00

Today we visit a friend who's cat had 2 three weeks old kittens. One grey tabby and one black, perhaps tabby too. They are not, as you can see, cornish rex, but awful cute none the less!

They did not really like to held, but cried for their mum. The kittens had not yet dared to leave their 'nest'. So it was a bit hard to take pictures since their nest was rather dark.

Very soft and fluffy!

Tengil outside

2008-04-16T08:34:00.000-07:00

Merry Christmas

2007-12-20T12:25:00.001-08:00

Merry Christmas from the cats!

Big cats!

2007-12-13T09:47:00.000-08:00

Both cats are now around one year old. Tengil is now a quite large cat (some would say a bit fat..) but Most is more slender. Sometimes, however you look at them and think "Haven't they always been about this size?" Of course they have not which the following pictures will show!

First out is the oldie, Tengil. Before you could easily hold him on one arm and now two arms are hardly enough.Then we have the small cat, Most. Before he was a really small kitten with a big head. Now his a big cat with a small head. Before he looked somewhat like a really cute frog, but now I think he looks more like a owl or something.

Happy birthday Tengil!

2007-11-29T12:21:00.000-08:00

Happy birthday Tengil!
Today is Tengil's birthday! He's now one year old. We've had a small party giving him tuna as birthday cake and some snuggling privilege in the bedroom, where the cats usually are not allowed. Tengil went around on and under the blanked and purred!

It's getting cold

2007-11-18T02:21:00.000-08:00

It's getting cold outside, as well as inside. Since we have electric-elements we can't have an element-bed for the cats (you shouldn't cover it). So we created our own little bed, which we put on the floor in a corner next to the element. Here the cats can curl up together and enjoy the heat of the element. Which they do quite often.

Psss... in just a couple of weeks the its Tengils birthday!

The water cat

2007-09-06T11:45:00.000-07:00

I've been slow on updating the blog... but I will try to do better now.
Some updates:

Most is neutered. It went well and he totally charmed the staff at the vet.
Tengil has got a bit fat since he was neutered. So now we are controlling how much food they eat.
We have discovered why the cats' water always end up outside the bowl. Most likes to step with his front paws in the water bowl.
Most likes to pick up the drain filter in the shower. He seems to have a growing interest in water.
Tengil has caught his first 'animal' bigger than a fly. He caught 3 dragonflies one afternoon.

Tengil really enjoyes to be outside, but Most still acts like he is a small cat which have to crawl around.
Here is a picture of Most taken i the summer cottage. He likes to sit up on the railing and look at the butterflies.

Summer times!

2007-07-30T03:07:00.000-07:00

Our vacation has started for us, which means basically two things for the cats, that we're around more and that we're around less. We spent some four-five days away from the cats. They stayed in the flat and had a cat watcher come by twice a day to feed and cuddle them. Apparently they got more and more cuddlier as time went by. Now that we're back they seem quite the same, they didn't seemed thrilled with joy when we came home but appreciated the cuddle.

Most has gotten quite the little cuddlier. If you go and sit down in the couch he comes running and lies in the lap. He rolls around makes sure you know how absolutely lovely it is to have a little cat in the lap. Tengil on the other hand is not as obvious in his cuddle. He more likes to stretch out on your legs, but sometimes enjoy a good cuddle to.

Wen spent a couple of days in the summer cottage. And of course, the cats were outside in their leashes. They are now big cats so they can be outside without constant watching. So we have put the cats leashes on a rope so that they can walk around a bit. Since the leashes are of flexi type, this gives them much space.

Sleeping positions

2007-06-30T06:26:00.000-07:00

Not only does the cats sleep in strange places, they sleep in strange positions. More than once we looked at the sleeping cats and said "That can't be comfortable".

Tengil, stretching his neck?
Most, flying in his dreams?

Sleeping places

2007-06-30T06:12:00.000-07:00

This post will be about the cats sleeping places. They have some funny places they like to sleep on. We have a small loud speaker stuffed in a bag with a blanket around it. The bag is open and placed on another speaker (just temporary, we moved in some months ago (closer to six months...), and that's one of Most's favorite places to sleep on. It doesn't seem to be particularly soft, but that's not a problem. Actually, if we place a towel or anything on a furniture the cats will think it is for them to sleep on. Tengil has another place he likes to sleep in, the laundry bag. In fact, everything about laundry is interesting. In the winter, the lamp on the aquarium was a popular place to sleep on.

The new place to sleep, or play, is the drying rack, especially if there is a towel on it, but clothes works to. Towels has the advantage by making it possible to slip between the racks and sort of hang in the air, lying on the towel.

Outdoors

2007-06-26T08:58:00.000-07:00

We spent the weekend in the summer cottage and the cats got to experience some outdoor life. This picture shows how unproportional Most is right now, his tail is so long, and his head a bit small, but very cute!

No balls!

2007-06-13T09:23:00.000-07:00

Today Tengil was neutered. I will spare you any before and after picture!
We brought him to the vet in the beginning of the day and picked him up after work. Sometime during that time, he was castrated. We were a bit worried how he would take it all. But everything seems to have gone fine. Apparently, he got pat very much since his fur was so soft :)

Since he stayed the whole day at the clinic, he's been up and running since he got home, he's even played a little with Most. He's very hungry, haven't eaten anything since last night. Most was very hungry this morning since he didn't have anything to eat during the night either. They will both get to it something to eat tonight.

Most on the other hand has been all alone for the first time ever! It seems like he has been looking for Tengil, but when Tengil got home, Most ran and hid under the bed. Both Tengil and the transport bag probably smelled differently. But now everything is ok. In a month or two, it will be Most turn to make a trip to the clinic...

A new place

2007-06-04T11:50:00.000-07:00

This weekend we took the cat to my parents summer cottage. It was the first time the cats were there. It was the first time they were away from home, but seemed to like it quick. There was some new features for them though... For one thing, they learned that people could walk past the window (doesn't happen a lot when you live on third floor). At first they were a bit scared but soon they realised it was just me and tomek walking by. There was also bugs to catch which both cats found extremely fun. For the first time they saw an animal bigger than a dog, cows. Both cats were quite impressed... or something....

Since the weather was good, we took the cats out in the garden (in harness and leash). Tengil liked it and walked around and lay in the sound. Most still is a bit worried when being in outside. But he's one month younger than Tengil... it will come. It's extremely tiring being outside so both cats spent much time indoor, sleeping. They are such city cats! Acting like grass is unpleasant to walk on and fresh air is some sort of punishment.

We also tried to feed them from the same bowl and discovered that Most had a smart way of stealing the food from Tengil...

No one can accuse him for being stupid....

Cute!

2007-05-28T09:20:00.000-07:00

Have you seen something cute like this?

It is good to have a friend...

2007-05-08T11:13:00.000-07:00

After the first two days when Most had arrived, I gave in to paranoia and declared my fear that he and Tengil never would become friends. 3 days later the cats proved me wrong. To proof this, I put together this potpurri of picture of the cats snuggeling together.

Two new toys

2007-05-04T07:29:00.000-07:00

Both the cats are fine and they are really good friends now. Most is in that active age and runs around a lot. Today he broke his first flower pot (one of my favorites). He has also gained some size to Tengil now and can now successfully attack and throw Tengil to the ground.

We've bought the cats some new stuff. First up is a new scratching post in shape of a troll tree. It has become Most's home, its a bit to small for Tengil. Most also does attacks from the tree, he practically dives on to Tengil and toys.

The other toy is something that really is a storage item for kids. It has also become Most's toy. The first time he went absolutely crazy and he loves it. It seems that he tries to break the record to climb bottom to top.

Window cat

2007-04-14T11:46:00.000-07:00

One day we walk up and heard a sound of glass bouncing against floor. When we got up, we noticed that the little candle glas we have in the window in the cats room was on the floor. I tried to figured out how it ended on the floor and came to the (quite unlogicale) conclusion that the cats must have bounced against the wall, so that it bounced and thus threw the glass on the floor. Later that day, the cats were very quite, so I went to look for them. I threw a quick glance in their room, but saw no cats. Looked in rest of the apartment, but couldn't find them, so I looked in their room again. And there was Most, sitting on the catoilett. And Tengil, up in the window which has hardly any window-border. That explained the glas on the floor.

This is how it looked. I think Most looks rather funny, you can see how he wants to be where Tengil is.

A walk in the park

2007-04-14T08:03:00.000-07:00

Today the cats and I have to entertain ourselves while Tomek is away with friends. Since it's such a great weather I decided to bring the cats to my parents garden. None of the cats have been there before. Tengil has been outside a couple of times and Most two times. They've been quite careful though and almost acted like they couldn't walk on the grass.

So I packed a little backpack, put the harness on the cats and packed them in their transport bag, filled a box with litter sand, packed all things in the car and off we went. The cats meowed the entire drive, the whole 5 minutes...

Then I unpacked all the stuff in the garden, but the cats were a bit afraid to go out. But Dad used the rat-under-the-blanket-trick and then they dared to come out. It took a little while but both cats started to walk around in the garden and explore. Most found it especially fun to walk around the greenhouse. The first time he sneaked around it, but as he got more confident he walked with his tail high.

Most dared to use the temporary catoilett, but Tengil seemed to think that there was to much around to use it, so he just sat in it.

After two hours the cats were rather tired so we went home. Now, to exhausted cats are lying on the floor in the sun, completely dog-tired.

Sleeping cats

2007-04-04T07:25:00.000-07:00

The cats are coming along nicely as friends. They play together, eat together and sleep together. But most on Tengils terms I think. Most have discovered Tengils old cardboard box, and Tengil has discovered that Most uses it sometimes. Then Tengil wants to sleep in it too. Not so much space for both of them though...

This weekend we had the first visitors since we got Most. I was a little worried how it would go, since Most was a little reserved when we got him. But it went absolutely fine! He totally charmed my mom. He was lying in the box with the salmon pink blanket and starting purring when she scratched his neck. Then he started rolling around, being such a cute kitty. Most people think that Most is the cuter of the two, but that's probably because Tengil is bigger and more cornish. Most looks more like an ordinary cat. It will be very interesting to see if he will become more cornish during time.

2007-04-03T11:58:00.000-07:00

Friends?

2007-04-01T01:28:00.000-07:00

Now Tengil and Most have appeared to become friends. I was quite worried one day, but the day after was so much better. Now they play a lot and Most sometimes chases Tengil, instead of only the way around. Most has also started to play a lot by himself. He just runs around tossing and chasing a play rat. Tengil can't play on his own. They also sleep together sometimes, and I also seen them use the same catoilett, even though they have two.

Most has surprised me in a good way. The last time we visited him before we took him home, he seem rather scared and didn't want to be petted. But even first day when he arrived, he cuddled with us and purred. Now he's quite the little cuddler. He loves to walk around on you and purr, purr, purr.

Big cat, little cat

2007-03-27T10:14:00.000-07:00

It's been splendid weather for a couple of days. So we've been taking Tengil out for 'walks' in his harness. It's a big world! The first time he jumped up and sat on the transport bag. But he appears to like it. Doesn't like walking around and it is quite scary to see other living creatures.

Tengil is so much bigger than Most, probably a kilo or so. Tengil also sees Most as his personal toy. This has led to Most being a bit afraid for Tengil, so he spends a lot of time under furniture. But we make sure to give him space to come out and play. The two cats have slept together a couple of times. Sometimes by choice, and sometimes because we put them together when they are sleeping...

Most is here!

2007-03-24T07:30:00.000-07:00

The new cat has arrived. We decided to call him Most, which is polish for bridge. This because of how he raised his back and walked on the tip of his toes to look big to Tengil. It's gone quite well, I think. Tengil plays a bit hard with the small one sometimes, tough... But he also licks him and they can eat together.

Most loves food and has a real big belly. He ate here just half an hour after he arrived. He's a bit more reserved then Tengil and sometimes run aways if you tries to pick him up. But then again, he spent the night snuggling with me.

Morning report 23/3, First morning with the ”Spy”

2007-03-23T10:10:00.000-07:00

Morning report 23/3, First morning with the ”Spy” – day 32 of my captivity

THEY must be suspecting something, I'm afraid that THEY even found out about my escape plans. I don't know how that could have happened, I have been playing along in the dumb kitten role while THEY were at home and in front of the camera – maybe there is another hidden camera out there? or the girl on the wall is just fake sleeping?

Anyway, the plan won't work now – I didn't get anything done during the night - the one normally sleeping late, has moved back out on the sofa again, and the visitor stayed the night, even after me constantly attacking him. I'm starting to suspect that he isn't a visitor at all, but a spy that will be living here for a while, he got his blanket with him, I can't stand the smell if it, disgusting! He is small as a spy, but tough – and goes by many different names, but his real name is still a mystery to me. When I woke up, the spy was still sleeping, I thought that there maybe was some possibility to get my plan going ahead, but I was wrong. As soon as I started working, the one called Tomek woke up, and what could i do? I jumped into my '12 weeks old kitten' role once again, makes me wanna puke, I had to lick his face and bite his nose, and when I couldn't stand it any more and tried to hide, he grabbed me and forced me down under the blanket. I think the terrible smell made me doze of, because when I awoke again, it wasn't as dark and the Woman was up. After her filthy hands had touched me, she distracted the male prison guard with some talking and I took my chance and sneaked away to the window spot, I wish I could figure out how to walk through that invisible barrier.

I even think I fooled them into thinking that I fell asleep, since they woke up the spy and started to have a meeting of some sort, I'm sure they were discussing if the spy was ready to keep me under control; They came to the conclusion that he wasn't, because Tomek didn't leave, and I'm sure it isn't Saturday yet..

Once the woman guard, possibly called Britta, left I started harassing the spy again, Tomek didn't interfere, I guess he felt asleep. I harassed him hard, every time he tried to get out from under the sofa I jumped at him, so he fled, but they are smart; they build him a secret space under the sofa, I went looking for him under the sofa but the spy was nowhere to be found. But once I hid myself in a spot around the sofa he was out again. If I could continue doing this he would have starved, but it's impossible with Tomek there, he saw what I was doing and put me in the small mobile prison. I struggled to get out, but with no success. They used this time to do some military training, Tomek throwing balls to the spy and the spy fighting them, he's starting to be good, but not as good as me. While they trained I monitored their very move, but they noticed and moved my into another room. Through the crack in the door I could see the spy training, eating and drinking. This made him tired, so once I was transferred back to the main cell, he was so exhausted that he didn't run away from my attacks, so I had to intensify them. With success I might add, he is now back in his sleeping place, with him sleeping and Tomek in the kitchen I could focus on this report.
I hear Tomek's steps, better to fake sleeping, until next time.

/Agent 52

A cat is a cat

2007-03-19T12:22:00.000-07:00

Now it's just a couple of days until cat with no name arrives. We went to see him last week and he was so small. But his color seems really nice, he will probably not be chocolate-tabby masked, but rather chocolate mackerel tabby (tigrerad on swedish).
Tengil is up and running as usual, things have gone very well with him. He plays a lot but also cuddles a lot. He's started to learn to play on his one. Right now he's playing with a little ball with a bell inside. Very funny. He's also exploring upwards in the apartment. We got the double bass (kontrabas) back and kept it in its soft case next to a book shelf. One day we heard a strange sound, and discovered that Tengil had climbed to the book shelf top, using the double bass. We removed the soft case after that...

Here's a little video clip on Tengil playing in a a tube. When we got him he was a bit smaller, and could easily crawl through it. He still can, but now he also can enjoy spinning in it.

Preparing for new cat and a walk

2007-03-10T10:06:00.000-08:00

Less then two weeks until the new cat arrives, still no name. So today we went to the pet shop to buy some more things, we decided to buy one more catoilett, the same type as before since it works great For you who don't remember, its a self cleaning catoilett, that is, you turn it around and the lumps fall into a certain scoop. No need to dig into the sand! (This is how it looks)

Then we of course bought some more toys. The funniest toys so far has been toys that are not toys, but junk, preferably junk on a string. We also bought a harness and a leash and started to prepare for a walk. Previously this week we bought a new scratchy thing, since Tengil still prefers the carpet... But it didn't work. Fun to play with -yes. Good to use your claws on - no. I've also ordered some books about cats, but they haven't arrived yet. Yes, we buy a lot of stuff.

I've weight Tengil today, 1,9 kg. Yes, he is getting big!

Anyway, we put the harness on Tengil. It wasn't very easy since he thought it was something to play with. Once it was on we started to play with him and it went fine. He didn't seem to mind the harness, but did spend more time than usual throwing himself on the floor and rolling about. But all in all, it went fine. Now we also have to put on the leash and train him with that. The harness is just used for training when he's gotten fully grown, we'll buy a new, fancy one.

Working from home...

2007-03-07T06:37:00.000-08:00

.. is not easy when you have a kitten. I tried this afternoon, but Tengil was rather active, which meant that I had to watch him and stop him from doing all kinds of stuff he shouldn't. Later he settled down and I discovered that he almost fell asleep if I stroke his ears.

Tengil likes to play with buttons, especially big buttons on cardigans. I don't know why, but he pulls and bites them. He discovers things to play with on the most strange places.

Now it's about two weeks until the second cat arrives. Before I used to think that Tengil and the new cat would be around the same size, even though, they are one month apart. But now I really think that Tengil has grown, he has definitely become fatter, so their size will probably differ a lot. I really hope that they will get along. We choose kittens who were rather active and enjoyed playing with their siblings. I really think they would benefit of each other, a human just can't play with a kitten as a cat would.

Why cornish?

2007-03-03T12:01:00.000-08:00

This is Tengil's fur. As you can see it got waves. That's one feature for the cornish rex. The fur is also very soft to touch, like velvet. I think Tengil will have a good fur when he's grown up, both his parents had wavy furs and he seems to have thick good fur (not that I know what I'm talking about). That's the most obvious thing that separate cornish from other cats. They also have big eyes and ears and are slim. Tengil looks somewhat like a rat, from time to time. He's not round and cuddly as most kitten. But I really like his look, and from my point of view, he's really cute.

One other thing we liked about cornish rex is that they are active and some even say they're a bit like a dog. I like that, I don't want a cat that just lies on the sofa, but rather is interested in what I'm doing. Today Tengil helped me do the laundrey. He assisted in climbing around in the laundry bags and made sure I didn't forget some clothes in a paper bag.

It is sunny today, which seems to be a little problem for Tengil. On one hand, he wants to lay in the warm sunspots, but on the other hand, that quite boring and he want's to play. This leads to a little problem. We see a cozy kitten laying in the sun and goes to pet him, but Tengil instead sees a hand to play with coming towards him... I've solved this temporary by attaching the vippa in the book shelf so that it sticks out, this way, he can lay in the sun and still play.

What have changed?

2007-03-03T01:08:00.000-08:00

First of all our living room. It is now covered in cat toys or cat related items. We have the scratching-pole, the playtunnel, the 'vippa', the mice, the bed, the bed made out of a cardbord box, the cardbord box for playing in, the paper bag for playing in, the cat-grass on the table, the 3 blankets on the sofa (one actually is for protecting the sofa where Tengil likes to climb up on it), the feathers (from the Vippa) and last, but not least, the paper - there are small pieces of paper everywhere!

Other ways things have changed. Well for one thing, we are greeted by a cozy cat, who just loves the curl up on ones chest and purr.I spent this morning with the computer on the lap and Tengil on my chest. I now have to shower with the door opened, otherwise Tengil sits outside and meows. My hands now have some scratchmarks, not as many as I anticipate though.

I've also learned some lifelong knowledge, for one thing, don't lift up a cat to the face when having a piece of paper tissue stuffed in you nose (I've changed here since a friend thought that we put a a4-paper up our noses to play with the cat, that is not the case, I had a nose bleed). It will get ugly! Don't walk around without socks if a kitten is nearby. It will get ugly!

Yesterday was the first day with sun here since Tengil moved in with us. Tengil spent some time trying to catch the sun on the carpet. There was one area with sun on the carpet and Tengil ran from one side of it to the other to catch it. Then he found some good sun spots to lay in, like this one:

Just a picture

2007-02-27T09:58:00.000-08:00

A nice picture of Tengil playing.

Play and sleep

2007-02-27T09:14:00.000-08:00

Today was Tengil's first day home alone while we were working. It wasn't such a long dag, about 5 hours. Tomek played with him for an hour or so before going to work, and then we came home for lunch. I think it went fine. He probably sleept in the sofa.

We have also started to let Tengil sleep alone. It went good the first time, he sleept the entire night . But the second time, we made a mistake and let him sleep for to long so he woke up when we went to bed. Out to sleep in the sofa for Tomek. The next night, we learned from our mistake and played a lot with Tengil so that he was really sleepy when we went to bed. It went good. He's such a good boy, yes he his!

Right now he's sleeping in my lap in the cheezebow position and snoring a bit. I've had a headache today and went home early from work and had to take it easy. Tengil was really nice and cuddled with me. I went to sleep and when I woke up he sat on my hand and purred. Oh, before all of this cuddling he played with me. He lay between my legs and played (bite and scratch) the inside of my thighs. Thank god for thick jeans! He also enjoyed playing under the blanket.

Here is a picture of Tengil helping Tomek work (Tomek did not have thick jeans!).

Tengil sleeps a lot and when he sleeps he can sleep trough anything. I've made him this little box to sleep in.

This is Tengil playing with the scratch pole.

The cat with no name

2007-02-24T04:22:00.000-08:00

Tengil spent the night on the sofa with Tomek. They both slept very well. Tonight we will try to sleep in the bedroom with the door closed. But we are both unsure if it will work. Right now I'm sitting in the bedroom with the door closed and Tengil is sleeping in the sofa. It seems as if he can sleep a really long time if you don't wake him. And he doesn't wake easily. Today he has discovered hwo fun it can be to attack our feet. He spent breakfeast attacking Tomek's feet (which was fun for both Tengil and me...). It doesn't really hurt that much, it's just quite shocking.

Anyway, I just thought that I would add a picture of the cat with no name (or Merry Christmas which is his name in the pedigree), that is, the other kitten that will join us in a month. Here is a rather old picture of him and his siblings. I think he's the one with the really blue eyes, looking up. Tomek still has no name, he says he wants to see the kitten before naming (we've already seen him twice...)

First day

2007-02-23T01:52:00.000-08:00

I have a day off from work today to be home with Tengil. We spent the night together on the sofa. I didn't sleep much, but not because Tengil was up, rather the opposite. He sleept under my blanket so I couldn't move, wouldn't want to crush him. Besides from not sleeping, it was absolutley marvoules to have a litten kitten in the bed, laying next to you, purring... Oh, before we went to sleep, Tengil spent a good five minutes attacking my feet if i dared to move them under the blanket. Appearently, all things moving under a blanket should be attacked.

When Tomek woke up, he and Tengil played for a little while before Tomek had to go to work. Then Tengil and I played for a long while and than feel a sleep in the sofa watching TV. Now Tengil is waking up, noticing my hands on the keyboard, he already attacked them once. It is also very nice to stand on the keyboard while I use the computer, I noticed.

Another fun thing to do which goes under the label "playing with owner, when owner tries to do other things" is to bite and claw in the book owner is reading.

As it seem that Tengil likes to play with strings, I made him a little toy by attaching a small piece of paper on the end of a string. Tengil liked this a lot. He jumped, tossed and made somersaults trying to destroy it.

Tengil has arrived!

2007-02-22T09:41:00.000-08:00

Now the little boy is here! Joy! It has all gone very well so far.
We picked him up earlier today. He didn't mind going in to the transport bag, leaving the house, but when we started the car he started to whine and did so all the way home. At the end of the trip he tried to get out of the bag.

When we got home, we opened the bag in the same room where his catoillet is placed. He quite quickly went out of the bag and started to explore the room. He soon got brave and explored the rest of the apartment. We have two rooms closed though, its a big apartment the explore. He has been great! When he got comforted, he's been going around purring. We've also played a lot and then it was time for the humans to eat. Tengil didn't want to be in the kitchen, instead he ran of in to the living room and meow until I came to check on him. We did this a couple of time until he got in to his little bed (a cardboard box with a blanket). We then understood that he was tired and wanted to sleep. So we ate our food in the living room. Now Tengil is sleeping :)

In a week

2007-02-14T07:39:00.000-08:00

It's about one week until the first cat comes, Tengil, we will call him. Tengil is the name of the evil dictator of Nagijala who hade a dragon called Katla (who ate him). But I think it is a nice name. Although we had quite a fun time pretending that the two cats would have evil dictators as names. Tomek is responsible for coming up with the name for the second cat.

I'm starting to feel more and more that I have no idea how to take care for a little cat. If it were a puppy, I would now, but a kitten? I did do something cattery yesterday, I put together a scrathing post, it looks like this:
Not the most advanced thing...

I also put together a transportbag, yes we had a delivery of cat things yesterday.

Did I tell you about the cat-toilett (catoilett?) ? It's a real fancy thing, "self cleaning", that we got for a third of its price (because no one wants to buy them, but let's not talk about that). It has a roofe and when you clean it, you simple turn it around and the things that need to be removed are put in a little disposer that you just empty in the trash can. Swell! We agreed to be test pilots and report to the pet store how it works (very suitable since I work as a test engineer and thus is an expert on testing!).

Long week to come now, and I will probably freak out a couple of times before the kitten arraives, but boy do I long for it!

Kittens!

2007-02-04T08:52:00.000-08:00

Today we've been and selected one of our cats. It's a cornish male which is tabby-chocolate masked (or something like that ;-) with blue eyes. Very cute! Does not look like a frog! Although this picture might suggest it:

This little fellow will move in with us in the end of march, about 6 weeks from now. He has three brothers and one sister. The cattery also has some other crx and dogs.

In about three weeks the first kitten will come. He's blue and white and lives with his three sisters and one brother, a big dog and a 'Uncle' cat. So both of the kittens will probably be used to a lot of commotion.

Tomek and I are starting to look at the apartment from a kittens point of view and found some areas we have to fix, for example, right now it would be quite easy for a kitten to get behind the refrigerator with out the possiblity to get out again. We also bought an piece of furniture that we planed to remake to a kitty furniture but it turned out to be pretty nice, so maybe it won't go through an extreme make over.

Everybody has started to tell us how much work it is to have kittens for say, oh a year or five. But we can't imagine it beeing that much work, probably more fun than work. We're also starting to come to turns with that everything in the apartment is in the risk of getting explored (damaged, ruined, destroyed) by the kittens. Hope they will leave the fishes alone...

Dog person

2007-02-04T02:54:00.000-08:00

Almost the first everybody told me when telling them that me and Tomek are thinking about getting cats is: But, Britta you're a dog person!

They do have a good reason for saying this, the last 10 or mayby 15 years dogs have been the animal in focus in my life. Recently I had to put my dog to sleep. She was a 13 year old german shepard, who hade been part of my life since I was 15. It was of course very sad. Not only because the best dog in the world would leave but also since a big part of me would go away. The dog owner part. The part of me that for my entire adult life and teenage life had cared for and enyod the company of an animal.

But I am not a dog person, I am a animal person. I have had animals since age of seven when I go chickens. Yes, chickens the one that lays eggs and some times become dinner. My chickens only layed eggs and never became dinner though. After that I hade a rabbit, a couple of different birds and then a couple of gerbils. Then came the dog in to my life. I still like dogs very much, wonderful animals, but right now, the memory of my dog is enough. She enriched my life so much so that it the memory of her will last a long long time. But the animal person in me needs an animal to care, play and enjoy.

So now I'm going to have a new animal in the house, two actually, two cats. Never had cats before, and it is going to be intersting to see how it is to switch from having a very loyal dog, which listens to what I have to say, to having independent cats, who will not let me become the leader of the pack as easily.

Katja, my loyal companion who is no longer with me.