Fred Again

 I always feel sorry for Fred; he gets pushed out by the other cats and ends up in a lot of fights. 

I'm not sure how this happened, but his littermates turned on him, and even the younger cats have a go at him, especially Frodo.

Steve, the white cat, Fred in the middle and Alan.

This is Fred with his littermates. I always think they are planning something in this photo. It's unusual to see them sitting together like this!

The only other cat he gets along with is Alfie, the other grey and white cat.

Fred and Alfie

I'm not sure if it's related, but Fred has a bad habit of marking everywhere. I think he is trying to show his dominance over the other cats. Because of this, I don't usually let him in my room.

This week, however, my daughter is staying here for a few days. She has let Fred into my room. I don't mind as long as she can watch him. At the moment, he is really sleeping. I think he doesn't sleep very deeply as he is always being vigilant.

She took this video of him making biscuits.

Cute!

Cats In Boxes

 Cats love boxes!

We buy the cat food online, so there are always boxes for the cats. More than any toys we've bought for them, the boxes are always the favourite!

I've been trying to sort through the thousands of photos I have. Even though I pay for cloud storage, I need to be careful about how many photos I have. Today, I noticed that I have so many photos of the cats in boxes.

Even if there's no room, they'll find a way to fit in.

Even if the box is too small, if we fits, we sits!

Are they comfortable?

If they want a box, they aren't going to wait for you to put away the shopping.

Alfie didn't want us to throw out these boxes. We took him out of that box at least 10 times, but he just jumped back in. In the end, we let him keep that box; the rest went to the recycling centre.

Packing to go away for a couple of days, got the important things in!

Don't need anything else!

Cats and boxes really go together!

Flea Meds Again

 Some of the cats hate having the flea meds put on them.

Fluffy is the worst of the lot.

David does the hard work of catching her, I put the meds on her while she is trying to scratch her way to freedom.

When we were doing it the other day, Fluffy was sitting on the little round table in the kitchen area. She was facing away from us.

David opened the package containing the flea meds. He was trying to do it quietly, but somehow Fluffy noticed. This was just a package from Amazon; the meds are the ones the vet recommended, but cheaper from Amazon. 

Fluffy turned round at the sound of the package being opened. She stared for a few seconds, then took off at light speed.

How does she know what's in the package? We get a few packages every month, cat food, cat scratching boards, books, occasionally clothes that I order, so how did she know that this package contained the flea meds? 

The flea meds package.

I think Fluffy must have sent out a signal because the other cats that were just chilling out also went into panic mode!

Fluffy got under the sofa, the most difficult place to get her out of!

Can you see her hiding?

It took a while, but they all got done. 

We had a day of the cats sulking, but they have forgiven us until the next time. I think we need a better strategy for next month!

Just a few photos of the cats.

Mama and Alan are sitting on the flea meds package; maybe they are hoping we can't find it?

Alan

 Alan is the older of my two black cats.

Alan

I was surprised at how many photos I have of Alan and Toast together.

On most of these, I don't know which one is Alan and which one is Toast!

Alan is the most vocal of my cats. He can really make a noise, especially if he's hungry or wants attention. He has this way of meowing and purring at the same time.

This was the other day, he just sat on David's lap for about 10 minutes, making these noises!

Most of the time, I don't mind, but if I can't figure out what he wants, then it does get frustrating!

The other day, he went missing. No one had opened any doors, so we knew he was in the house, somewhere. We found him on top of the shoe cupboard.

How did he get up there?

David had to get the ladder to lift him down.

Rescue time.

When he got down, he just huffed and walked off. I think he had found a nice hiding place and wasn't happy at being disturbed.

Throw Back Thursday......

..... To little kittens, cute kittens that get up to mischief.

I found this video of them playing in my boots!

I remember one morning, I picked up my boots to put them on, and a kitten shot out of one of them. I screamed, it gave me such a shock!

At this age, they loved to be played with. They still play now, but not as much.

We've gone through so many of those wand toys over the years. I've taken to hiding them when they aren't being used, the cats tend to chew through the toy on the end!

A few cute photos.

Cute!

This was the first litter. At that time, I thought I could cope with these kittens. But two of them got sick, Steve, the white cat, and Alan, the black cat, have problems with stones in their urethra, painful and deadly. I had money saved to get Mama fixed, but I had to use that money to take care of Steve and Alan. By the time I had enough money saved, Mama had escaped and gotten pregnant a few more times!

So now 9 cats!!

I Missed The Cats

 Last week I had a little trip, 4 days, 3 nights away with my daughter. We went to Mojiko and Shimonoseki; you can read about it on my other blog, Jackie's Japan Journal.

It was nice to get away. I haven't been away for a long time. I needed a chance to relax, to just enjoy myself without worrying about the thousand and one things that seem to occupy my mind. But I really missed the cats more than I thought I would. 

The past few weeks, Sam has been sleeping on my bed. The first night away, I woke up and panicked as I couldn't feel Sam on my bed! Once I woke up completely, I realised where I was and why there was no Sam.

I called the kids who were at the house almost every day so they could show me the cats. It was nice to see them, the cats, not the kids, they just moaned!

Cat-themed goods are very popular in Japan. Hannah and I treated ourselves to a few things. In Japan, there is a popular store, Daiso, where almost everything is 100 yen, about 50 pence; a few items are a bit more, but everything is good quality. Recently, the company has opened a couple of other stores where the products start at 300 yen, about £1.50. Again, good quality. The store is called Threeppy.

This is what we bought.

A make-up bag and pen case for Hannah and a notebook for me.

This was the display.

Hannah had to drag me away!

When we got back last night, Sam was waiting for us!

Sam was waiting for us.

Nice holiday, but it's nice to be back home!

It's Getting Warm

 Spring in Japan is very interesting. We have a few warm days, then a few cold days. As the year moves on the warm days get to be more. This reminds me that it's time to start getting the house ready for the summer.

Summer here is brutal. Tempretures can go up to 38℃, with humidy at 80%. It's really like living in a sauana. I hope that I can buy another couple of air conditioners this year, as last year was awful with only one working one.

I really worry about the cats in the heat. This house is very cold in the winter but also very hot in the summer. There are a few places that the cats like to hang out in the summer, one is the corridor that runs down the middle of the house, therefore no windows, a bit cooler and the shower room, the tiles are nice and cool. In the last house we lived in we had air conditoners in the main rooms but the cats didn't like them, Mama and Toast would hiss at the machine! I would have the air conditioners on for the cats but they would lie outside the room, near the door! I really don't understand cats!

One thing that I have to start doing is brushing the cats. I'm alredy seeing a build up of fur in the places where the cats are hanging out, so I guess it's time. I enjoy brushing them. Most don't mind, Alfie and Toast are the hardest ones to brush, but no choice!

I want to buy a couple of good water fountains this year. We have a few water bowls around the place but I get fed up of the spills. I think in the high traffic areas, (which is most of the house because it's so small), a water fountain would be better. 

I'm also gong to buy a few cooling blankets. I bought a couple a few years ago but they got thrown out. I found that the ones for babies are better quality and cheaper than the pet ones! 

Other than that I don't know what to do to help the cats during the summer. Any ideas?

Just a few photos to finish.

Close up of Mama.

Toast and Alan

Fodo in a box.