My first diary entry! I'm at my furever home!

Last weekend Meowmy and daddy drove down to the really nice breeder where I was born and raised, House of Oci, to bring me to their home. I will really miss Jesse and all my other furiends there, human, feline, and canine, but I am excited to join their other sweet Ocicat Saphira. We used to play together before she left Jesse for her furever home here, so I hope we can be playmates again. I am still getting used to my new home and new meowmy and daddy, but so far I like it! I get lots of pets and chin scratches and tummy rubs! The grub is great and today they started giving me kitty treats. Yummy! I need to get back to my toys, there are a lot of fuzzy mouse toys around here that need killing!

DOTD??? ME??? MOL!!!

I was SOOO surprised when daddy told me that my diary was selected for Diary of the Day! Especially since I have only been with him and Meowmy for a week, and it has only been a few days since I arrived on Catster. MOL! Now it has been a REALLY big week for me! First my trip to my new furever home, and now this! Meowmy and daddy are starting to get me introduced, or really re-introduced, to my former playkitty Saphira. So far she has not seemed too interested in hanging out with me, but maybe she just does not recognize me, after all I was just a little kitten, about seven months old, when we saw each other last, and now I am an almost full grown eighteen month old beautiful spotted kitty, kind of like her, but with a darker paint job. I sure hope we can get back to being furiends again soon! After all, we Ocicats are really special (or so my new pawrents say!), and we have to stick together.

Thank everycat here who made my DOTD day so great!

Purring thank you to all my Catster furiends for all their nice gifts, comments, and pawmails about my totally unexpected DOTD selection. It was a great day, I even had a visit from one of daddy and Meowmy's grandkids. I walked up and sniffed his hand when he came near me, and decided he was OK. Then he dangled my favorite kitty teaser and I had a lot of fun chasing it. Saphira has come near my room a few times, and given me a few hisses, but I think she is just a little unsure about having a new kitty invade her domain. Even when it is a kitty like me, who used to play with her at our old home. We will work thinks out eventually!

Viola and Saphira's first paw to paw meeting

From Saphira and Viola's dad (posting in both Saphira and Viola's diaries):

After a fair amount of time spent gradually introducing them with a physical barrier (baby gate), we took Saphira down to have her claws trimmed (just in case), then let them get together for the first time in the bedroom where Viola has been hanging out. Results were kind of mixed, but I view kind of positively. Both of them spent a lot of time walking around the room, not getting too close for quite a while. Saphira was sniffing everything, she did hiss whenever she was close to Viola, but for the most part no really aggressive moves. Maybe a few growls from Viola, but again no aggressive moves. We kept them together (with us there all the time) for over an hour. Toward the end of that time, Saphira moved toward Viola a few times, who jumped on a desk or dresser to evade her. At this point we thought it best to give them a breather and let them both relax and eat. Bottom line was that no actual physical encounter resulted, which I take as a good thing. Thinking about maybe one night having Saphira sleep in the bedroom where Viola has been, and let Viola sleep with us, where Saphira spends most of her time. More to follow!

Getting to know Saphira better, but still getting hissed at!

Viola's dad again...
About time for an update... Viola had really been showing that she wanted to explore the rest of the house, but we were still worried about Saphira possibly harming her, so for a time we would confine Saphira to our bedroom, not a huge problem for her as she spends a lot of time here and it is where her toys, kitty box, and bed (our waterbed!) are located, and it is where she is fed. We then let Viola have the run of the house, and she loves it! One thing her breeder failed to mention about her was her speed: When she wants to work off some energy, she is faster than a speeding bullet! "Her" room is at one end of a hall. It leads past another bedroom, then empties into the entry. On the other side is our dining room. The entry, dining room, and living room are very open, with only oak railings separating the living room from the other areas. From her room to the end of the dining room she has almost 50 feet of uninterrupted running room, and she uses ALL of it! She will tear down the hall, bump into a box at the end of the dining room, then dash into the living room and from there back into the entry, into the hall, and back to her room. She is an absolute little fireball!

We also started letting them meet in our bedroom, larger and Saphira's home turf. She still hisses and growls a bit, and sometimes chases Viola, but no injuries have resulted. Since then we have let them both loose in the house most of the day, and no further problems other than the old hissing, growling, and chases. Viola actually will walk toward Saphira, I get the impression that she might actually like to play. She now spends some time in our bed, think she is starting to like us!

Last night we had what I think was a very good thing. Viola was curled up next to Terri in bed, and I was on the other side working on my laptop. Saphira jumped up on the rail on my side, something she does often. Seeing her nemesis curled up by mommy, she hissed a couple of times, then proceeded to curl up beside me! They stayed like that for a couple of hours, about four feet apart, with no more complaints from Saphira. We are still having Viola sleep in her room at night, just in case they should tangle at the other end of the house while we are asleep, but other that they both are loose most of the time. The only exception is feeding, with Saphira tending to graze while Viola snarfs down her food in nothing flat, she would end up with most of the food and Saphira would probably starve!

And yes, she is still one of the sweetest cats we have ever seen!

My sisfur is COTD!

My sisfur Saphira is Cat of the Day today! Purring for her, she DOES seem to be getting a little nicer to me lately! I have been joining her and meowmy and daddy in bed, and while she might hiss when I first jump on, she settles down and leaves me alone after that. Their bed is really nice, not only is it heated so it is nice and warm (they tell me it gets a LOT colder here than at my old home down the hill), but it is covered with all kinds of neat kitty toys for me to play with. And I can get all kinds of strokes and scratchies and tummy rubs, which I just LOVE.

I think my sisfur Saphira is starting to like me!

I think Saphira is finally starting to realize how nice I can be. She does not growl or hiss much anymore, and sleeps with me on their bed at night. She also hangs out with me now. Today she chased me, and all she did when she caught up was bat at my pretty striped tail! I think we are going to love playing together, and meomy and daddy are happy that I am starting to play fetch too, just like Saphira.

Very sad purrs today...

With tearstained paws Saphira, Viola, and their pawrents purring very sadly for all the victims of that horrible school shooting in Connecticut.

(Note from Viola's dad - I goofed and posted this to Saphira's diary twice, instead of once for each of our spotted girls,)

Under the covers is fun... for me anyway, maybe not for dad

Yesterday daddy showed me something new that I really liked! He let me get under the covers! It has been purrty cold here lately, and it was really nice and warm down there, along with some nice toys. More about that in a bit. Later that night, after my pawrents went to sleep, I crept back under the nice warm covers again, and I decided to have some fun. Daddy woke up really surprised, and seemed a bit upset... something about me NOT chewing on his toes as he slept! Not sure he will let me under there again, but a stealth kitty like me can always find a way to sneak under there after they go to sleep.

Viola and her sisfur Saphira are playing together a lot now

Another note from their dad:

Saphira and Viola's relationship continues to improve, still a hiss and a growl from Saphira once in awhile, but also some touching of noses and a lot of play, chasing each other around the house a lot. Of course they both sleep with us every night and also nap on our bed when we are watching TV. Usually Saphira sleeps with Terri and Viola is with me, but sometimes one of us is lucky enough to have two spotted jungle cats using us for a nap spot. Yesterday I had Saphira curled up on my legs while Viola had her head on my ankle. Of course movement on my part was impossible, but then again, with two sweet Ocis to keep me company, why would I want to move?

Another sales job from me... anyone who might enjoy a beautiful spotted jungle cat who is intelligent, loyal, loving, and very playful and entertaining should look at an Ocicat, they are just a joy! Anyone in Southern California interested can pawmail me and I can give you the contact info for the breeder we adopted our two girls from, he is just a great breeder who loves his kitties, and it shows in our two wonderful Ocis.