Well, I did't get abandoned yesterday after all

Well, I did not get abandoned yesterday after all, daddy got an email from Jesse (my former daddy) that Viola was still a bit skittish, possibly still recovering from her surgery. Their trip down to meet my possible new furiend was delayed as a result. Hopefully soon, I am really getting anxious to see Viola again.

Daddy made me a neat new place to play last week. He noticed me checking out a big box they were getting ready to throw away, and got the idea that I might like a new hiding place. He kept it, and cut a Saphira size hole in the side for me to crawl through. I have already been inside a few times, I really like it!

Going to be abandoned again! But for a good reason...

I overheard meowmy and daddy talking today, and it looks like they are going to abandon me AGAIN on Monday. You all know how us Ocicats HATE that! But I am going to let it slip this time, since they will be going down the hill to meet Viola, that nice Ocicat who might become my new furiend and playmate. I do hope that they like her; I would love to have a furiend to chase around the house! Maybe we can have competitive fetch contests?

Our alarm kitty went off this morning (at 5:20 AM!)

Saphira's dad again... Think I have mentioned somewhere here that Saphira is usually pretty good about not waking us up at ungodly hours, usually waking when we do. Well, there ARE exceptions! This morning I woke up around 5 AM kind of thirsty, happens to me fairly often. Got up and took a drink, then back to bed. Saphira had not moved from her sleep spot, curled up at my feet. I fell back to sleep, but it was not to last... Woke up around 5:20 to the sound of someone pawing through the bag of kitty toys I keep by the bed, followed by paws pounding across the bedroom floor. Remember she has a lot of toys in here. In addition to a collection of fuzzy mouse toys on our bed, there is a nice cat tree and a kitty tunnel with a kitty cube at each end, and when she tears through the tunnel at warp speed she is NOT quiet! After maybe 20 minutes of this, including several trips across our bed, she seemed to run down and settled back in bed beside me. I reached down and discovered a couple of fuzzy mice beside me that were not there earlier. Suspect she took them down onto the floor, played with them, and then returned them for next time.

Took me quite awhile to fall back to sleep, she does do a good job as an alarm clock! For those who might be wondering, she was NOT scolded or disciplined in any way, given that it happens so infrequently I just let it slide, also thankful that at 3 years she still is as energetic and playful as a kitten. We read so many stories on this and other sites about kitties who due to either age or illness don't have the energy to do much but rest and nap, and our purrs go out to them.

Different subject: Heard from the breeder, and Viola, Saphira's possible new playmate, had her spay surgery Monday, so maybe this weekend we can go down to meet her. Eight paws tearing around will make this place a real zoo!

Purring because I might be getting a new sister/playmate!

I just overheard meowmy and daddy talking, and from what I understand of what they said, it sounds like another sweet Ocicat (like me!) might be coming to live here! It would be so nice to have another spotted furrend to play with!

Note from Saphira's daddy: She's right, one of our daughters told us that the same breeder where they got Saphira for us has some other kitties available for adoption, and we are considering maybe getting her a playmate. One of the kitties is a sixteen month old female, he describes her as the sweetest cat he has ever met. Since he did such a wonderful job with Saphira, we trust him to have raised her to be a great companion animal. This kitty actually used to sleep on the same bed with Saphira before she came to live with us, so they at least know each other.

Saphira wins the food war

Saphira's dad again, looks like "Spots" has won the battle of the kitty food. When she joined our family, the breeder said he fed her canned Fancy Feast, so we did the same. I did a fair amount of research, and concluded that dry food, even high quality grain free, is not a healthy diet for cats, due to hydration issues. In nature, cats get much of their water from their prey, and dry food does not provide any water to speak of. Also found that a lot of the cheaper canned foods contain grain products, which cats do not need and give them too much carbohydrates. Also, the cheaper foods can have meat byproducts and other ingredients that are not the best. Knowing this, we have been trying to switch her to one of the higher quality mainly meat canned foods, like Before Grain and Blue Buffalo. The only way we could get her to eat them at all was to mix in some Fancy Feast, and even then she was not eating like she did on her preferred food. This week we finally decided to declare victory for her, the Fancy Feast we are feeding her is not that bad, and an OK food that she eats is better than a great food she won't. She let out a little victory purr. Kitties can be stubborn!

Purring "Thank you" to all my friends

Purring a big "Thank you" to all my furrends who sent me nice messages, gifts, and furrend requests after my Daily Diary Pick selection yesterday.

Two paws up!

I did a little UH-OH on Meowmy's computer

Yesterday daddy was working on meowmy's computer, said he was installing something called an "Ubuntu". Not sure what that is, meowmy thought it sounded like a tribe in someplace called Africa. He said he had finished when I put my paws up on his chair to get some attention, like a chin scratch or two or maybe some whisker strokes. I do this all the time, and daddy thinks it is pretty cute. Of course sometimes I jump into his lap and settle in for a nap, but this time I was just checking things out. As he gave me scratchies, one of my hind paws slipped and hit the switch on what daddy called a "power strip, and totally shut down the computer! Daddy was kind of surprised, but was not mad at me, told me it was just an accident and nothing was wrong, and that I am still a purrrfect kitty. I know I am a computer kitty, curling up on daddy's shoulder to look at his laptop in bed, but I think I need to try not to do this in the future.

Saphira does some mothering (by her dad)

I think I have mentioned Saphira's few tiny issues before. One is a fairly common behavior for Ocicats: They bond very closely with their chosen humans, and are very loyal to them, but some kitties tend to bond to one preferred person, and tend to pay attention to that person over any other. Saphira is that way, and I seem to be her preferred human, which does kind of hurt my wife's feelings a bit when she is ignored by Spots. The second is partly a physical issue, her purr is usually very quiet, very hard to hear unless the room is very quiet and one's ear is very close to her.

I woke up at five-something this morning, finding Terri showing symptoms of the flu... cough, sore throat, and chills. We decided to relocate her to one of the bedrooms at the other end of the house, since it has a heating pad over the mattress which can get pretty warm quickly, which is hard to do with a waterbed. Once we got her comfortable, I returned to our bedroom, since the bed she was in is a double and we are used to a king. Normally Saphira would have followed me back to the master bedroom and curled up in bed with me. Instead, I think the mommy cat instinct came out and she curled up at the foot of the bed with Terri and began to purr very audibly! She kept it up for at least an hour, until Terri fell asleep. It seemed she knew that Terri was under the weather and needed some loving. What a sweet cat!

Upside of being abandoned (which I still hate!)

Mommy and daddy left me alone (again!) last Friday, something about taking my sister (one with two hind paws) down the hill to the hospital to have the cast and some screws removed from her broken right hind paw. But they must have known how upset I would be, because on the way home they stopped and got me one of my favorite things, new fuzzy mousies! They have already figured out that I like some colors better than others, and this time they brought me TWELVE new ones, and in four new colors! There were blue, green, orange, and girly pink ones, and I love them all!. I was pawing at them before daddy even got them out of the package, and I already have hidden one of them. I do that a lot, that is why they have to keep bringing me new ones. I have my secret stash, and just to keep them confused, once in awhile I bring one out of my stash and put it on the bed when they are not looking. We MUST keep our humans guessing!

Very quiet purrrrrs to all my furrrends on Catster

Saphira sometimes complains when told NO

Saphira's dad again, with a little story from shortly after she joined us - we had already learned how well she listens when told "NO" when caught doing something she is not supposed to. I was sitting at the computer in the den, when I heard the noise of Jungle Cat landing on something that did not sound right. Turning around, I found her sitting prettily atop the copier. Not wanting cat fur integrated into our copies, I told her gently but firmly "NO". She looked back at me with kind of a sad expression, but made no move to leave. I repeated the command, a little louder. This time she turned a bit as if to leave, but hesitated. One final time, even a bit louder and more firmly, she finally turned and hopped off. As she did, she expressed her displeasure with a vocalization I have never heard from another feline, nor from her either before or since. Were she a human, which she thinks she is, I could only describe it as a whimper. Not a normal meow or any other kitty speak, but she definitely sounded disappointed! Just another example of how she is a unique and special cat companion.