My crazy cats!

Luckily I got video proof before she passed away, but when I tell people that my old cat could roll over and sit down on command no one EVER BELIEVES ME. I am an animal trainer... my animals end up being able to do crazy things!

So here's the video! Sorry for the slight sound delay on it, but video proof that, yes, Scruff DID roll over and sit on command. And sometimes not even by command...

VIDEO

Yeah, sometimes she would just come up to me, roll over, and sit up looking at me like "yeah, I want a treat. I rolled over. Give me one."

Oh, cats.

One of her kittens, Jake, was one of those cats that would sit on your shoulder while you worked.




And I guess I ought to at least run through the kittens that Scruff had. She had five: Jake, Jackie, Phoenix, Jaia, and Graden.

Jackie and Phoenix (seen in that order from left to right) sitting in front of that vent Scruff liked to knock in!


Jaia (went through a HUGE color change!):



Jackie again with Graden... Graden was the bigger one. Spitting images of their mom.



And you already know Jake:





Cutest picture ever of Scruff and Jackie... both litter runts (I assume Scruff was because she never really grew very big) and spitting images of each other.





Of course after ensuring all of the kittens were healthy and had good homes, Scruff was spayed.

The pre-days

Well, kitty's home in a week. I am 90% sure I am receiving a boy, but that's an unimportant matter at this given point in time.

Right now, I have to get ready.

I live at home with my parents, still, and my much, MUCH younger brother who is eight and a half. Now, he is hardly ever at home but you know small children and young animals don't often get along well, so I had a talk with the boy today about some things I expect of him when he is around the new baby.

The first was the obvious: no pulling his tail or ears, no pushing your fingers in his mouth, don't throw things at him, he is not a plaything, and don't let him on the kitchen table or counters. I then had to explain some other things since he was just young when Scruff came to the family. I had to explain that the kitten WILL chew on everything and attack his toys and play with the small things. If they move, he's going to chase it. If they're fun, he will play with it. Our idea of fun and his idea of fun are COMPLETELY different. I also asked him to pick up the tiny pieces of his Lego toys that he is so obsessed with.

I am a neat freak. In fact, I'm a little OCD about the space I'm in being clean and orderly, so I've been waiting for an excuse to get after my brother to clean up the living room.

This is a clear example of what you DON'T want a baby cat getting into:




Our house has had a couple of cats in the time we've lived in it, so the house itself is pretty cat-friendly. There's access to the room with the boiler and furnace where we kept the cat litter via cat doors both into the bathroom and then from there into the room and nothing else is really dangerous (except, of course, all the electrical cables. But there's little you can do about that).



The only problem we have is our cupboards in the kitchen near the floor. The doors tend to pop open (I swear, the ghosts do it...) and of course cats are cats so they like to crawl in there. But there's hardly anything dangerous about a couple frying pans and some plastic bowls...

There's also a vent under the cupboards that I am a little worried about. It should be fine since it's summer, but in the winter it blows warm air and Scruff used to pop the vent out to gain more heat. A kitten can fit IN it, but as I said it only blows warm air in the summer. So it shouldn't be an issue.




The kitten will live in my room for the first few days as he is coming to a new home and I want him to get used to me and my family before he's off to wander during the day. Even after a few days he won't spend much time outside the room until he's comfortable with everything and I'm sure he's not going to murder himself.

My room is almost completely kitten safe.




I may be OCD about things being neat, but I am CRAZY about it inside my room. It's clean and nothing sits on the ground. I spent so much time in a messy room when I was younger and it drove me NUTS.

The only thing I am worried about in my room is electrical cables.



Besides that, there is nothing in my room that a kitten can reach that I care to worry about. The only other thing that hangs down that the kitten would play with are the saddle strings on my old barrel saddle.





I am also a little worried about my guitar and computer cables. The cable problem is easily fixed by cardboard making a temporary barrier until the kitten gets out of the "eat everything in sight" phase.







And so, with everything addressed and considered I must start looking at the problems and making sure everything is going to be fine.

Of course the safety craziness ends after the chewy phase ends, so it's just going to be a little while of keeping a close eye on the baby. But I am very excited!

Welcome to the blog!

In exactly a week, a new kitty is coming home. It's been so long since my last cat died, and I've been heartbroken ever since. I miss her dearly, but it is time to move on.

This blog will follow the new cat from his first day home into his adulthood. I will share with the readers of this blog any training techniques I implement, quirky troubles that all kittens get themselves into, and an inside look at how real royalty lives.

I hope the wonders of the animal world will affect you in at least a fraction of the way it affects me. Here's an inside look at that world.

In the memory of

My beautiful late cat who was hit and killed by a vehicle last September. She was my best friend and came to me off the street, starved and needing someone. I needed someone too and we helped each other through the hard times for the two and a half years we were together.

Scruff was the best cat I could ask for. She was quirky and pretty and very loving. She could sit and roll over on command, she was an amazing mouser and had the best manners of any cat I've ever seen.

I miss you girl. Here's to your memory and the good times that are soon to come. I will never forget you.



Video in her memory.