Happy Birthday!

Today is my cats 6th birthday! The top picture is Pippin, the bottom Mellifera. They are littermates and I've had them since they were 2 months old. My daughter & her boyfriend had a cat who had kittens and somehow I was convinced to take these two. I've never been an animal person but I've become quite attached to these two cats.

Mellifera was born on Jill's (my daughter) arm. We think her mother got scared when she started to give birth and crawled into bed with Jill. Jill woke up because she felt something wet on her arm and it was a kitten! Pippin wasn't born until about 6 hours later. They thought there were no more kittens and went to work and when they came home tripped over a little kitten in the middle of the floor. Apparently their mother was somewhat lacking in kittencare skills.

There were 4 kittens and Pippin was the runt. He was a little teeny thing with big eyes and ears and I just fell in love with him when I saw him. He's no longer a runt - he weighs 14 lbs now! Mellifera, even as a kitten was beautiful and very sweet (except when she's grouchy!).

I'm being extra-nice to them since it's their birthday. Not that I'm ever mean! I bought a little piece of salmon for their dinner. Believe me that was nice, because I hate fish stuff!

Mellifera

A couple of weeks ago I posted about one of my cats, Pippin. I've been meaning to share a couple of pictures about my other cat and am finally getting around to it. Mellifera (her name is from Greek and means honey-bearing) makes me think of that old nursery rhyme about the little girl with the curl, when she was good she was very, very good and when she was bad she was horrid.

She can be the sweetest, lovingest cat in the world. She'll curl up in my arms and give me kisses and reach her paw up and gently pat my cheek. Then she'll sit on the couch next to me and hiss and scratch me if I move or turn the page of my book! I'm a little prejudiced but I think she's a really beautiful cat and deserves her own blog post!

Cats Control Humans?

A recent blog post on The Cat's Meow highlighted the results of a research study published in the journal Current Biology. Researchers found that cats control the actions of humans with an urgent sounding, high pitched meow.

If you have a cat it certainly isn't news to you that they are in control. What I found interesting was that they only mentioned this certain purr-meow as a control method. I think there is a lot of potential here for future studies (don't anyone steal this idea, I'm planning on applying for research grants!). If you read this blog you know that I have two cats. It's also pretty clear to you that I'm in control, not the cats. Ok, if everyone is done laughing I'll continue. My cats have many methods of controlling me that I think are worthy of study. I'll share a couple of their methods with you.

Pippin was busy tonight utilizing one of his favorites. He will only eat packets of Friskies cat food. I don't like to leave his bowl out long because I don't want it to spoil and especially in hot weather, we all make sure to stick it in the refrig after a short time. Pippin seems to consider this a game. He goes to the kitchen, finds his bowl gone and stands and meows loudly and sadly until someone comes and puts it down for him. Then he looks at it, looks at the helpful human and walks away. Helpful human decides Pippin wasn't really hungry, puts bowl away and goes about their business. 5-15 min later Pippin is back in the kitchen meowing again. I call this his "see how often the helpful humans will jump up" game. My personal best is 12 times in 1/2 hour.

Mellifera doesn't like people jumping up and down. Instead she wants you to remain seated and not move a muscle. Literally. She waits until your comfortable, climbs onto your lap and settles down. Usually she'll allow you time to start reading or stitching something so that she can force you to stop. Anyway once she's comfortable you aren't supposed to move. If you talk she hisses, if you move a hand she swipes at it and if you try to move her you might as well just give up your arm to her claws & teeth. She is actually a very sweet cat but there is nothing subtle about her determination to have her own way.

What I still haven't figured out is why I find these behaviors so cute . . .

Twitter Update

As I've already mentioned once (and probably will again), Pippin has his own Twitter account. I just wanted to let you all know that he already has 8 followers and is flirting with some girl cat he thinks is cute. We are considering an online dating service for cats. What do you think, does it have potential?

Now I Get It!

I've been unable to figure out why my cats prefer to scratch the couch, chair, me - anything except their scratching post. Now I know!

National Pet ID Week

Oops, I almost missed this one! April 18-24 is National Pet ID Week. A Catster blog post gives you details on how you can help protect your cat. In short they are:

1. Take a picture of your cat.
2. Get your cat microchipped.
3. Register with a pet ID and recovery service.
4. Make a contact list for your pet.

I've done all these things but the only thing that is "bad" is that my cats don't wear a collar so they don't have a tag. When they were small I tried collars on them and they hated it. Since they don't go outside I've never worried much. I don't know, maybe I should try again?

Caring for your humans

I subscribe to an about.com newsletter on cats. As I was reading the most recent issue, Pippin was peering over my shoulder and laughing. What he found so funny was the article called How to Care for Your Humans. He wanted me to put it on the blog so that the rest of you humans could read it and understand how difficult life can be for a cat. He thinks you should let your cats read it also.

I pointed out that perhaps no one else was interested and what about those of you who don't have a cat? He unsheathed his claws and glared at me. Hence the post.

Robin, the lonely blog mistress

Cat Songs

I read a really cool posting on The Way of Cats blog the other day. It was about cats having their own song & you put their name into it & sing it to them. I really liked this idea and felt pretty bad that my cats don't have a song. So . . . after much thought and consideration and consultation, I have come up with songs for my cats.

Pippin: Coming up with his song was pretty easy actually. It is Let Me Call You Sweetheart. Sweetheart, of course, is replaced with Pippin. Thus making the lyrics:

Let me call you "Pippin," I'm in love with you.
Let me hear you Purr that you love me too.
Keep the love-light glowing in your eyes so true.
Let me call you "Pippin," I'm in love with you.

Pippin is pretty pleased with the song although I'm not sure he appreciates my singing. He batted at my nose once but I think he is just a little hot.

Mellifera: This was a little harder but then Jill came up with Dear Prudence by the Beatles. Obviously Mellifera replaces Prudence:

Dear Mellifera, won't you come out to play
Dear Mellifera, greet the brand new day
The sun is up, the sky is blue
It's beautiful and so are you
Dear Mellifera won't you come out to play

I'm not sure how happy she is with this. Like Pippin she doesn't seem to appreciate my singing voice.

Anyway now that they each have their own song I'm going to sing it to them everyday. Pretty soon I'll be able to post a little video of them listening to me sing. I warned you folks, POST!

Robin, the lonely blog mistress

Pippin & the Balloons

Last night Jill brought some Mother's Day balloons home from work for me. If I had thought about it in advance I would have assumed the cats would like balloons and try to get them.

Mellifera had no interest, she just ignored them. Pippin, however, pretty much freaked out. He looked at the balloons and took off running up the stairs to hide. A little while later he came down, carefully peeked around until he saw the balloons, looked at me reproachfully and took off running again. He wouldn't come into the living room at all last night - apparently he did come out while I was asleep because he ate some food. This morning he did the same thing though, peeking around & running when he saw them. I finally gave up and put them in my bathroom where he can't see them.

Being a doting cat mother, I thought this was all pretty cute & decided to share with all of you!

Robin, the lonely blog mistress

Charlie the Coyote

I found this great blog that I thought you'd all like. It is called The Daily Coyote and has pictures of a coyote named Charlie. A woman in Wyoming had him left on her doorstep when his parents were killed so she has been taking care of him. She lives in a log cabin in a small town of 300 people, with her cat Eli, and Charlie. Take a look - the pictures are adorable!

Robin