I've Been Tagged!

My purr pal, Hunter, just tagged me. I am supposed to list 5 of the most annoying things my humans do…really, only five? I’m sure I could come up with a longer list, but I’ll play by the rules:

1. Not being allowed outdoors. I know how to jump over the back fence and escape from the yard, so I am not allowed outside anymore (boo hiss!)

2. Getting my nails trimmed. Daddy holds me in a bear hug while Mommy cuts with those nasty trimmers – there really should be a law against this.

3. When humans try to pick me up or hold me. I will tolerate a small amount of gentle petting, but I do not like to be held. Admire me from afar, please.

4. Not being allowed to eat chicken (the human kind) for every meal. I get it as an occasional treat, but most of the time we get food from a can – how uncivil can you get?

5. Being told that I cannot climb on top of the bedroom armoire in the middle of the night. I don’t know why the humans insist on making such a big deal out of this.

I'm supposed to tag some friends now, but it looks like a lot of cats have been tagged, so please consider yourself tagged if you’d like to play!

Love, Natasha

COTD… but where in the world is Mom?

What a wonderpurr surprise to be honored yesterday as Catster’s COTD! Thank you HQ and thank you to my purrtastic furiends who stopped by to celebrate with me. But where in the heck is Mom? I haven’t seen her since Monday morning when she left the house with a suitcase. I’m so upset she’s not here to celebrate with me…

*From Natasha’s Mom* I am so sorry to have missed my little girl’s special day yesterday. I had to travel to Portland, Oregon for a conference this week and we haven’t been on Catster since I left Monday morning. I knew something was up when I received a larger than normal amount of e-mails yesterday, and then I saw the one from Catster announcing that Natasha was COTD. Naturally this made me start crying because it just reminded me of how much I miss my sweet little fur kids when I have to be away from home.

The worst part of traveling is being away from my kitties (and my dear husband, of course). I cannot sleep at night without them next to me on the bed. I miss watching them run around the house playing and acting silly. I even miss them waking me up at the crack of dawn. A big part of my home life revolves around the cats, and when I don’t have them around me, it leaves a huge void and makes me miss them all that much more.

Thank you for all the sweet messages, comments, gifts and pawmails for Natasha. As we’ve written before in our diaries, these Catster honors would mean very little to us without having our furiends here to help us celebrate – we really do love you all.

Much Love, Natasha and Mom

Mr. Mousie

We have a lot of fun cat toys at our house, but my all-time favorite (for this week anyway) is a mouse that squeaks when I carry him in my mouth or bat him around in the air. Mommy heard that mouse squeaking all night long. I carried him from room to room and played with him. Squeak, squeak, squeak. This morning Mommy found Mr. Mousie next to one of the cat food bowls on the kitchen floor. A few days ago she found him IN the cat food bowl – MOL!

Mom wonders why I am doing this. Humph! I guess she doesn’t get my hint that I’d like a mousie burger for my next meal!

Love, Natasha

Life is Good!

Today marks one year since Sammy and I came to our forever home. Mom can’t believe it’s already been that long. It seems like only yesterday we were 3 month old kittens chasing each other around the house. Now we are 15 months old and still chasing each other around the house - I guess some things will never change!

Life didn’t start out so good for us. The story goes that we were found in a dumpster when we were 4 weeks old. No one knows how we got there exactly but our Mommy chooses to believe that maybe our Momcat gave birth to us there and not that some mean human could have put us there on purpose. Lucky for us, someone found us and took us to the animal shelter. A nice rescue group took us from the shelter and we were fostered by a very nice lady who lives in our city.

I was 3 months old and weighed about 3 pounds when Mom took us in. I was one of the most timid kitties Mom has ever met. I stayed by Sammy’s side and would cower and hide if anyone tried to come near me or pet me. I’m still very timid and don’t like to be touched much, but I’ll let Mom groom me occasionally and I will sleep next to her on the bed as long as she doesn’t pet me too much. One of Mommy’s favorite memories is when our foster Mom brought us over to the house in our cat carrier; she placed it on the living room floor so Luke and Tully could sniff us and check us out. Well, I hissed at those big boy cats, I did not want them near me. Mom knew right then and there I was going to be a feisty girl. When you grow up in a house surrounded by boy cats you have got to let them know who is in charge (giggle giggle).

Here it is one year later and I have to say that life is pretty good. We have warm beds to sleep in, good food to eat, and plenty of toys. I wish all kitties could be so lucky. Thanks to all my wonderful furiends who stopped by today to wish me a Happy Gotcha Day!

Love, Natasha

Just a Little Note

Hi Kitties, I wanted to paw a little note in my diary since it’s been awhile since Mom has sat down and helped me type anything.

When you live in a house with 3 brofurs who are bigger and more demanding of Mom and Dad’s attention, sometimes you feel a little left out. Mom tries to give all of us equal love and time, but those boys can really be attention hogs. They are always hanging around Mom or Dad while I’m content to be off by myself in another room playing with my toys.

I’m going through a growth spurt right now although I’m still on the small side. Mom doesn’t know my exact weight; I’ll get weighed later this month when Sammy and I go in for our annual checkups. I think Mom said something about shots, too (ouch); I’m not looking forward to that.

My Gotcha Day is coming up in a couple of weeks, so that will be something fun to celebrate. Oh, and Christmas, too. I can’t wait to see what presents Santa brings us.

Kitties, before I sign off, I have to mention something that I read in a furiend’s diary last night that made me really sad. This furiend wrote that he and his family were thinking about taking a permanent break from Catster because of some hurtful things that other cats said to him and his Mommy. This is not the first time we have heard something like this and it saddens me to think that anyfur would leave Catster because of hurtful things other cats have said. Catster is supposed to be a fun place for kitties to love and support one another and there is no need for hurtful words to be tossed towards another kitty or his family.

That's all for now, hope everyfur is finding some time to enjoy a little holiday cheer!

Love, Natasha

Resetting Our Clocks

Many of us set our clocks back one hour this past Sunday. Mommy doesn’t understand the logic of “springing forward” one hour or “falling back” one hour, and it always throws her off for a few days whenever we change the time.

Sunday morning she was happy to gain one hour of sleep, or at least she thought she did. With us kitties in the house, Mommy actually loses sleep regardless of the time change – MOL! We have our own internal clocks and we decide what time it is to wake up.

Yesterday when she came home from work, she felt like she lost an hour because it was so dang dark outside. We are used to going outside in the backyard when Mom comes home and now it seems we won’t get as much play time outside until next spring when the days are longer. When Mom came home she felt like there was barely enough time to cook dinner, feed us, then it was time for bed. Wait Mom; didn’t you gain an extra hour? Somehow is doesn’t feel like it.

I don’t know about this time stuff. If it’s dark outside, I like to play. If it’s daylight, I like to sleep. I think humans have it all backwards.

Love, Natasha

Toot Toot, Hey, Beep Beep!

Mommy remembers a song from the disco era from a Pop Diva named Donna Summer called “Bad Girls.” She says the entire lyrics are “not fit for my young ears,” whatever that means, but I reminded her of the song and the refrain “toot toot, hey, beep beep” when we went on a recent road trip.

You see, Mommy insists on taking us kitties camping in our motor home even though I try to tell her that “kitties don’t camp.” Mommy refuses to leave us at home with a pet sitter, so the four of us go along, reluctantly, on these “trips.” Daddy votes for us staying home with a pet sitter, but his vote doesn’t count as much as Mommy’s – MOL!

A few nights ago, around 2 a.m. (Mommy distinctly remembers the time because she looked at her watch), she heard us playing in the front of the motor home as we often do in the middle of the night. She and Daddy were trying to sleep in the back of the motor home (I emphasize the word “try” - giggle, giggle) while the four of us were running around and playing.

All of a sudden, Mommy heard “toot toot, hey, beep beep.” Silly Daddy forgot to tilt the steering wheel of the motor home before he went to sleep, so I was able walk across it and toot the horn in the middle of the night! We were in the middle of a crowded camping ground, so I’m sure the ALL the campers heard it, too! Mommy flew out of bed to see who was blasting the horn, and of course it was MOI!!! Tee hee!

Toot toot, hey, beep beep!

I love disco music, Natasha

My Birthday Wish

Oh my catness, thank you to all my wonderpurr friends who stopped by today to wish me and Sammy a Happy First Birthday. Mommy and I were overwhelmed by the pawmails, comments, and presents that were sent to us. Birthdays are so much more special when you have great friends to celebrate them with. Mommy will help me write all my thank you’s later when she has a bit more time. She says something called “work” is interfering with our Catster time this week – I’m not too happy about that, I might add. But we really loved reading all the comments and kind words, so know that it means a lot to us!

I guess you get to make a wish on your birthday. Some people say that you have to keep the wish a secret in order for it to come true, but I don’t believe that. Some people say that black kitties are bad luck, and we certainly know that isn’t true! You may know from reading my story and Sammy’s that we were rescued from a dumpster when were about 4 weeks old. A rescue group took us from the animal shelter and fostered us until Mommy adopted us when were 3 months old. We know we were very fortunate to end up in a safe and loving home, not all kitties are so lucky.

This is a very big wish, but I’m going to wish for it anyway. After all, it’s my first birthday, so I can wish big, can’t I? There’s so much love and kindness here on Catster, I wish there were a way to share it and spread it around more so that kitties who are not loved and who don’t have homes, could feel some of the love that most of us here on Catster are so fortunate to have.

That would be the best birthday present ever!

Love, Natasha

Coming Out of My Shell

Mommy thinks I am one of the shyest kitties she has ever known. When she came to visit me and Sammy at our foster Mom’s house last December, I ran away and wouldn’t come near her. Foster Mommy told her that I was very attached to Sammy and she hoped we could get adopted as a pair. She also said I would need to go to a special home where they could be very patient with me and help me overcome my shyness. Mommy had her eye on Sammy at first, but when she saw how small and shy I was, she decided that she wanted to adopt me, too. Mommy likes a challenge – hehe.

I am not very social around people. I love my brofurs, but I don’t trust people yet. I’ll stay in the same room as Mom and Dad, but I always remain several feet away from them either curled up on the cat tree or perched at the edge of the carpet ready to flee at a moment’s notice. If any human gets too close, I run and hide.

Lately I’ve been coming out of my shell a little bit, especially when I am outside in the backyard. Mom likes to Zoom Groom all of us outside so the fur doesn’t fly all over the house. At first I would not let Mommy near me with the Zoom Groom, but now I really like it. If she is grooming Luke, Tully, or Sammy, I will push my way in and insist on getting groomed, too. I purr and purr and Mom can tell that I really enjoy it.

Maybe I will surprise her one day and jump in her lap – now that would really make her smile!

Love, Natasha

Sunday Morning Zoomies

I got my morning off to a purrfect start today – with zoomies!

I started zooming around the house starting at about 4 a.m. I ran up and down the hall, back and forth, at top speed. I flew around the corner of the dining room and kitchen and skidded across the floor. I splashed water from the pet fountain all over the kitchen floor. I pushed Mommy’s keys off the dining room table (giggle giggle).

Let’s see, what else? I jumped up on the dresser and looked around for something else to knock over, but then Mom heard me and started to get out of bed, so I RAN. I got the boys chasing after me, too, so we created quite a stampede. Then I joined Sammy in the bathroom where we shredded some toilet paper together – MOL!

Zoomies are just so much fun. It’s going to be a great day!

Love, Natasha