Happy Birthday Ten Year Old Celestial Kitties!

 Ten years old!

Oh good heavens I can't believe it! My babies are ten today! Where did the time go?? They're still my baby kittens, they cannot be ten! 

 

 

I'm going to take one small moment to thank everyone for your comments in the past about my health. I appreciate all the love you have sent me! I'm getting better but now I'm having a hard time getting back into the blogging swing of things. I want to blog! it's now a case of the spirit is willing but the flesh is tired, lol. 

Anyway, back to the kitties! 

 I decided that for their tenth birthday I'd share a little bit about each of my sweet babies. Some you may know, some maybe not.

 

Leo, my heart kitty, my snuggler, my hot water bottle and my best nurse is currently curled up under my arm making it difficult to type. I'm being careful not to disturb him though, because you know it's against the rules to ever disturb a sleeping kitty! 

Leo's full name is Leo the Chinese Lion and he's the one who caught my eye on the Daily Dose/Winnie's Wish blog. I wanted him the minute I saw him but did not think there was any way we could get a cat two states and probably 12-14 hours away. I was shocked and surprised when Greg said we could and then Chrystal said yes I could adopt him! 

Leo is still the shyest of my kitties and likes me more than anyone else in the world. Although with all the time I've been in hospitals and nursing homes in the last few years he has become attached to Greg as well now. When Greg gets home from work, Leo must get pets from him and will occasionally even nap on him for half an hour or so. But I'm the one he sleeps on all night, so dont get any ideas of taking my baby from me, Greg! 

He will allow a sister to sleep on me as well, but only grudgingly and usually after giving them at least one slow motion baps on the top of the head which I try to intercept and put his paw back on his side of the momma. 

Leo has the longest tail known to cat. I have measured it before but I forget what it was.. but trust me, everyone who sees him says oh my gosh what a long tail! When he's very happy and content and walking across the floor the end of his tail flips back and forth slowly from left to right. I call it his semaphore flag tail expressing his mood.  

According to Leo, all human food is poison and treats like temptations are evil things that must be run from. Unless they are put in his snack bowl, then they become tasty and he will munch a few. He is the least food motivated cat I've ever known and nearly a quarter of the time cannot even be bothered showing up for canned food snack time. Medicating him is a nightmare because he wont eat anything regularly! He's also very good at hiding pills in his mouth for ages until you let him go, then, blorp! there it is on the rug! Thankfully he's fairly healthy though this past year he's had a few respiratory issues that required medication. Finally we just decided that it's easier to load him up in the carrier and let the vet give him long lasting shots. 

No one has forgotten that Leo is polydactyl have they? I adore his big giant, blooming onion mits! He has six toes on both fronts and five on both backs. He has one wonky claw that is wide and flat and will grow two points that make it look like a lobster claw. About the only time he talks is when he's getting a claw trim! He will sing the song of his people on car rides, long and loud! Other than that, he's a quiet kitty unless you count his big purr. 

 

Glitter almost came with us when we adopted Leo. I was back and forth about getting her too but in the end we decided that it would be too much on Star, our older kitty at the time. When she was adopted out with her sister Cashmere I thought well there you go, I made the right decision. But after a year I think it was, Chrystal went and got them back. She would not tell me exactly what shape they were in and refused to show pictures of them until they recovered, but they apparently went through hell in the last few months in that home. If I recall right there was a divorce and a new boyfriend who didnt want them to come along and they were left to fend for themselves in their backyard after a life of being indoors. It is no wonder to me that they show no interest in going outside now (That and their feral start in life probably showed them no good comes from outside.)

 Glitter is a very confident cat. She will say hello to anyone, as long as she's not napping. Because nothing is worth waking up early for, even missing seeing a friend. Glitter is gorgeous. I mean, drop dead beautiful with her long flowing fur, her fluffy tail (so very short, not just in comparison to Leo's, but wow, she has a really short tail for a cat her size!) She looks like a beauty queen and has all the grace of... a flat footed longshoreman. Seriously people, until she moves, you think she's the epitome of catlike grace. Then she jumps down from her perch, lands with a window rattling thud, steps on your foot, slides and gives you four long slices per foot. She will jump up on you, knocking the wind out of you before standing with pile-driver feet on your chest as if she had the weight of an over grown sumo wrestler on each tiny foot. When you open your mouth to gasp for air, she will shake her head causing her happiness-indused-drool to splatter in your face before she head bumps you and gives you a concussion that makes you forget why you wanted her to move in the first place. 

Glitter is the most easy going cat. She's also the most determined cat when she wants to be. If she wants to sit on you, there is nothing you can do to stop her. You cannot shove her or push her away, she will keep bulldozing her way to the spot she wanted, even if it's practically on top of your lunch. If she wants to share me/my bed with Leo, she will. He can bap her all he wants (I do stop him, see above), she doesn't retaliate, she doesn't respond, she just does what she wants when she wants. 

Snack time is not something Glitter is prepared to miss. But in true Glitter fashion, she will not wake up from her nap one second before she has to. She can hear the cat being opened, she can hear the dishes being prepared. She knows the exact second to get up, stretch, thud down from her cat tree perch, lumber across the room in an unhurried pace to meed her snack bowl as it is set down. She has the timing down to a science. Now, if she's, by some crazy chance, awake when snack time rolls around, she will sit in her spot, tail neatly wrapped around her feet looking every inch a beauty queen posing for a regal picture as she waits patiently to be served. 

Treats/temptations, are another matter all together! Girlfriend can hear the first crinkle of the bag from a deep sleep three rooms away. Let me tell you, if it happens to have been a cough drop bag instead of a treat bag that you crinkled, she will stand on your chest and stare into your eyes until you realize that oh yes, you had intended to do the right thing and get her some temptations the whole time, yes you did! Please let me breath and I will get them, I promise!

Glitter is at this moment sleeping between my legs, her head thrown over my ankle. I can no longer feel my foot, or move it, because she is sleeping so hard that her neck has cut off all circulation on three sides of said ankle. She will not move for hours unless it's to tuck a claw into my leg if I happen to try to shift a quarter of an inch. I have tiny poke holes in my leg from this treatment. I also have a full stomach full of scratches from her laying on me and doing that thing that I thought only dogs did; kick-kick-kicking a back foot from getting ear rubs. Leo may be a pain in the butt to nail trim, but she's a hundred times harder. Because besides having the grace of a mac truck, she also has the strength of one! If you don't get her first for nail time, and while she's napping, you just will have to wait til next time. 

She is a very loving cat at all other times. She's a cuddler, a snuggler, a gimme a smooch-er, and a pet me until your arm falls off kitty. There is only one person in the world she isnt crazy about, and that's my baby nephew Aleister who is one year old and wants to pet the kitty. She will allow it, for a minute, then, nope, she finds the tallest perch on her cat tree and stays there. I have no doubt that when he grows a little, she will love him like she loves everyone else. 

Cashmere has just come to take the spot Leo abandoned next to me. She has decided to grace me with a little of her attention since her daddy, her most beloved person in the world, has gone to work. I am only deemed worthy a few times a week. She's not particularly happy that I'm typing, but she's allowing it. To get to her spot she has to walk across me. This is the spot she prefers when she sits with me, slightly under my arm, on my arm rest pillow on the right. If I'm not typing, she prefers that I pet her and perhaps rub her tummy a little. (Oh, forgot in Glitters part that she adores tummy rubs! Goes near catatonic and flipped upside down for them. You can feel her purrs rumbling during this, but they are hard to hear, her purrs are almost as quiet as her tiny little meow) When Cashmere wants this spot, even if I'm eating or whatever, she will stare past me at that spot with intensity. She will lift one foot so slowly and move it imperceptible in the direction she wants to go. She will get there, make no mistake. If you don't give up and move whatever is in her way, laptop, lunch, Glitter... she will keep inching her way there anyway. I usually give up, raise whatever I have up into the air so she can walk under it over to her spot and then put back down whatever I was doing. (Leo is back now, but he will take the left side because Cashmere isn't as accommodating as Glitter and will not move for him. Giltter will trade sides, Cashmere will not.)

Cashmere is a very pretty girl and as soft as her name implies. Her long soft fur never mats like Leo's or Glitters and doesn't seem to shed as badly. Even a comb out doesn't get you a lot of excess fur. She has been sick once in the eight years I've had her (she and Glitter were two when we went back and got them) She had urinary crystals the one time I decided that maybe Leo didn't have a problem with fish any more since he hadn't had crystals in ages and gave them canned food with fish in it. She and Leo are the reason we are a fish free house and we have had no issues when we stick to that rule. I didnt even know girl cats could get crystals! On a side note, do you know how hard it is to find cat food without fish?! Why do cat food manufactures think these descendants from desert animals must have fish?? Do they think there are trout and salmon in every oasis? (ok, rant over! but seriously, if you have troubles with urine crystals, get off the fish, it's amazing!)

Cashmere has two great loves in her life. Canned food and her daddy. When it's close to time for Greg to come home from work, Cashmere appears from wherever she spends her days and sits down facing the door to groom herself, making ready to see the most wonderful person in the world. When he comes in she either trots over or jumps up on something to get closer to petting range and meows at him. She is the most vocal of our kitties. Every day she tells Greg about her day, or scolds him for being away, I am never sure which. She will follow him from room to room until she gets tired, then she sits on daddy's chair or the lower shelf of the Celestial Skyway by the hall so she can watch him go back and forth and remind him that she's still there every time he passes. If he sits down, she sits with him, giving him the most adoring looks ever. She can hardly wait for him to get in bed every night before she snuggles up by his knees and there remains the whole night long. If daddy gets up in the middle of the night, she does not move, but keeps his spot safe and warm for his return. 

As for guests, Cashmere has never met a stranger or a person she didn't like. Everyone gets greeted and is allowed to pet her and tell her what a good girl she is. Many times people think she's the only cat in the house because Leo is all 'Stranger Nope!' and Glitter only greets them if it's not nap time. Oh, and as long as I've told you about the other two's tails; Cashmere's tail is perfectly normal, average length that fits her size completely. But it's fluffy and gorgeous and quite thick! 

Oh, yes, the second love of Cashmere's life. Food. Canned specifically, but she will gladly take any treats/temptations/party mix you care to give her. When it's snack time, Cashmere will let you know. She stares, she paces, she looks at the snack bowls, she stares some more, intensely. She meows. Like I said, the most vocal of our three rather quiet kitties; she has one of those half meows that you can see before any noise comes out. It's not very loud, but it's noticeable.When Greg gets the bowls and can, she paces, walks back and forth, meows now and again, jumps up and down from chair to tree to cat shelf. She will not be still. To try to entice him to eat, Leo has been put in the habit of sniffing the can when it's opened. Cashmere, after many years of watching this ritual, has decided she needs a sniff too, but she doesnt limit herself to a sniff, she wants a taste and will try to lick up a bit before it's taken away to be divided into their snack bowls. If Leo has decided he will eat, he waits by where the bowls will be set. Glitter is either there already or on her way when the bowls are headed there. Cashmere considers it her sacred duty to walk the bowls over to their spot, hopefully not tripping daddy on the way. Sometimes she runs back and forth several times and it's really only about six-eight feet away! The first bowl down is hers and her head is in it before daddy's hand leaves it. Glitters is second down and she's patiently waited for it, then Leo's, whether he's there or not and it will take him a few minutes to start. In fact, if he does not start fast enough, Cashmere will switch bowls and take his. She'd do this to Glitter, but Glitter is immovable unless she also feels like playing musical bowls. Cashmere will be the last cat at the bowls too. She cleans them all up. And yet, she is at a perfect weight. Glitter might be a pound over, but she's more fluff than fat. Leo is as lean as he can be and still be healthy (what I'd give for him to gain an extra pound or two!) For as food motivated as Cashmere is, you'd think she'd be pudgy. 

None of these kitties are particularly active players. They are quite lazy actually. If you swing any kind of toy on a string, they will jump or grab at it for a bit, then invariably will lay down and wait for it to come to them and make passive swipes at it. Lazy players. They will all flip a mouse or other toy around occasionally, but, eh, days go by when no one does that. They will play and chase and play fight with each other occasionally, a few times a week maybe and it's usually all in fun. Sometimes it gets hissy and they will retire to separate corners of the house for power naps and then be all buddy buddy again. 

All of them like a good chin scritch, and beings as its their birthdays, I will make sure they all get lots and lots, as much chin scritching as they want! 

I hope you enjoyed my run down of each of their purrsonalities. Makes me realize how much I love each and every one of them. For being siblings, they are all so different! Greg compares them to comic book characters. Do you know the Archie comics? Greg says Glitter is Veronica, beautiful and knows it. Cashmere is Betty, happy friendly girl-next-door-lovely. Leo is... Well, Greg says not Archie, maybe Reggie. I say maybe a cross between slightly selfish Reggie and goofy Jughead with a touch of slightly dim Moose thrown in for good measure! 

Happy Birthday Leo, Glitter and Cashmere! Here's to at least ten more happy years!!!!

If you're a mind to it, you could make a donation to Winnie's Wish! Either in honor of their birthday or just because Winnie's Wish is an awesome rescue sanctuary with 32 kitties who need food and litter and supplies every single day! Donations can be made using the donate button on the Daily Dose blog side bar. Or the donate button on my side bar and I will turn it into food or litter and send it in your name. Or you can use the Amazon Wish List and send supplies! Every bit is needed and appreciated! Thank you!!