Catsitting 2012

Over the last twelve months we made friends with a few of our neighbors in our apartment block. Two of them have a cat each, and both were going to be away for a time over the holidays, but at different periods.

So Claire and I volunteered to take in their cats while they were away. It was a tough decision, as my readers probably know that we both hate cats, but we suffered through and cared for them!

Miyu is not even a year old yet, and acts her age! Hyper-active to the extreme, she bounces off walls and chairs and races around our apartment at a speed approaching C. The little monkey took a liking to Claire's work chair, and climbed onto it as often as she could. Miyu's nickname is Squeaks, as that's the sound she makes if you startle her, or when she gets excited, or sometimes for no apparent reason. She has a gorgeous turtleshell coat, with a very distinctive pattern on her face. We had Miyu for a few days in early December, as well as about a week in October. She also visits regularly when her owner comes to play boardgames with us.


Kizzy is 14 years old and sleeps 23 hours a day. Her favourite place to sleep in our apartment is in Claire's underwear drawer, which, while adorable and cute, I have been strictly forbidden from photographing for sharing purposes. She found this spot with 30 minutes of arriving, and has been enjoying it ever since. We had Kizzy throughout Christmas while her owner is in Florida with family, and have her until the 4th of January. She loves attention just after she wakes up, or when we first get up in the morning, and will roll onto her back and demand belly rubs, following us around until we pet her. Kizzy is tough to photograph as she's all black and rather effectively resembles a pillow in almost any photo I have tried to take of her. Also, she purrs like a train engine!

Overheard On...

Gmail, while discussing the hunting and trapping of cats* with a friend.

 Brian:  So with ye're stay of execution, I mean deportation, ye gonna get another kitty?

 me:  Erm... probably not. At least, not right now.

 me:  We're looking into getting Permanent Residency, then getting a pet that's a bit more long-lived, won't appreciate being called a pet in later life, and probably needs more than a box to sleep in...

 Brian:  :O

They're like, waaaay more expensive than kittens.

 me:  I know, I know! But you can teach them to talk and do party tricks as they get older.

 Brian:  Get two! That way, you can ignore them, and they'll entertain themselves!

 That's right folks! Claire and I are planning to get a parrot.

Wait... you thought WHAT?!?

*- All for a good cause. They get trapped, neutered and released back into the wild. Spay your pets folks!

Meet Ashka

This is Ashka. Her likes include getting brushed with her favourite comb, getting petted and rubbed, falling asleep in my lap, playing with pieces of denim, getting attention. Her dislikes are seemingly limited to fleas and having to take showers with me.


She is as adorable as her photographs make her out to be, and since her shower and flea treatment, she is looking much cleaner and healthier than when we first got her. We bathed her in the sink on her first night here, and it helped, but not by much. Yesterday morning I got some kitty-friendly shampoo and decided to give her a shower to really clean her. Thinking ahead, I put on a pair of my lifeguard swim shorts and then, thinking a bit more about those kitty claws, I added a t-shirt to my shower-wear.

She cried the entire time, and I know she felt suddenly betrayed. I had to hold her several times to lather in the shampoo, and then to rinse her off with the shower head. She climbed around my t-shirt onto my shoulder and back, mewing in my ear "Why? Why are you doing this? What did I do?" I felt so sorry for her. Her wet fur made her look miserable, and she was noticeably shivering, even in the warm shower water. I made it as fast as possible, then dried her off. Once I had myself dried as well, I took her into the living room, cradled her in my lap and combed her until she was dry and warm. It took a while to get her to her fluffy self, but a lot less just to get her purring. She was still shivering when she started to purr and fall asleep.

She's forgiven me since. When she wants attention, she will pester me until I let her sit in my lap. She's not allowed in the living room if we're not there, so at night and when we're shopping, Ashkas territory is the hallway and bathroom. When she does get to stay in the living room, she loves sleeping behind my PC, as in the second photo above, and she seems to really enjoy the keyboard. Regardless of where I leave it, she'll walk on it, sit on it, scratch herself on it, purr and mew for attention on it. She's been typing messages to Claire, and teaching me all the shortcut keys.

Right this second she's lying in my lap, clawing at my arm, so I'm going to finish up here and give her some love and attention and get a pack of band-aids for my wrist. Later.

The Differences Between Cats And Dogs

When you tell a dog to stop doing something, eventually he will learn not to do that.

When you tell a cat not to do something, eventually she will learn not to do that while you're watching.

It Ain't An Easy Job

Hehehe...