They've Taken Over!

 The title sounds like the start of a science-fiction book about aliens invading!

That's what it feels like when my cats take over a place.

At the moment it's the bed my daughter uses when she visists. I don't allow the cats in my room, most of the time. I don't mind one or two coming in to keep me company while I'm working on my computer but not to sleep, except Sam. He kind of made it a habit to sleep with me. Unfortunately I had to stop him as I have plants growing on my window sill and he keeps chewing on them. Not good for him or the plants!

The plants that Sam keeps chewing on.

My daughter has been reading in my room this afternoon. I was busy doing other things, cooking and cleaning. I was wondering where the cats were. I found out when I came back to my room!

8 of the cats, snuggled up together.

Only Fluffy was missing, she prefers to be in the kitchen/dining area.

Fluffy, sitting on a paper towel.

This morning Fred scared me. I was half asleep, running for the toilet, opened the door to this.

Fred on the throne!

The top of the tank is a little sink, with a tap that runs when the toilet is flushed. These are common in Japanese houses, a place to wash your hands without having an extra sink. Fred prefers to drink the water from that tap, he will wait in the toilet for someone to come and flush it!

My spell and grammar checking app isn't working. Sorry if there are mistakes!

What A Night

 I think I slept for less than an hour last night. All of the cats decided to party loudly, starting at midnight and continuing until 8am!

Frodo and Fred started fighting, so I separated them. I went to bed. Just got comfortable when Steve, Alan and Toast started the song of the ancestors, you know that long yowling that goes on forever. Calmed them down, back to bed. Then Mama cat started to meow, very loudly. She sounded so sad, so of course I had to go and see what was wrong. I couldn't see anything; they had been fed, and the water bowls were full. Then Fred and Steve started to fight, so I broke my rule and let Fred sleep in my room. 

This was the pattern all night. Of course, they are sleeping now!

Fred and Toast

Fluffy is asleep on David.

I think part of the problem is the local cats hanging around our garden.

One of the local cats.

I've seen this cat quite a few times recently. There's also a white cat and a small black cat. I don't know if they are strays or belong to someone in the area. One problem is that a lot of people don't bother to spay or neuter their animals. If these cats are intact and marking the garden, then that might be why my cats are acting up. We had the same problem last year. Fortunately, once it got hot, my cats calmed down. The only problem with that is once it gets hot, I have a hard time sleeping! This time of year, the nighttime temperature is just right for me. I really hope that the cats sleep tonight!

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.

Fred....Again

 I really don't know what to do to help Fred.

He is constantly fighting with the other cats. Sometimes he is the aggressor, but most of the time he is being attacked.

This goes back to when he was a kitten. There were 3 males in the first litter, Fred, Steve and Alan. I think Fred was bullied by the other two a lot. As the other litters came along, it just got worse.

We will have a few quiet days followed by days when they constantly fight. It gets to be very tiring, especially if they fight at night. I try to keep them awake in the evening, playing with them and trying to get them to burn off some energy, then eating later at night, so they can settle. Sometimes that works, sometimes it doesn't!

At the moment, I'm letting Fred in my room while I'm in here; it's safe for him. But I can't let him in by himself as he has a habit of peeing everywhere!

Yesterday, he was sitting watching out of my window, got a little video of him.

Sam

 Sam has decided that I'm his human.

Over the past few weeks, Sam has been spending more and more time in my room. 

Most afternoons, he'll be on my bed while I work on my computer, or he'll keep me company when I'm reading or watching TV.

Sam on my bed.

At night, he sleeps on my feet.  At first I felt uncomfortable, but now I'm used to it and miss him if he doesn't come in.

He sleeps there until about 4:30am, when he wakes up for the toilet. He jumps off the bed and waits by the door to be let out of the room. I know that's early, but it helps me as I have to get up at 5am.

I never thought that one of the cats would choose me; I feel very privileged.

Catnip

 My cats have been fighting all afternoon. I tried playing with them, but it tired me out more than them! So I went the catnip route!

I have no idea if this is good for the cats or not. I don't use it very often, maybe once a month, especially when they are fighting a lot.

I'm wondering if the local cats that come around are fixed or not. My cats are, but if the local cats are coming around, that might account for the aggression in my cats. 

Enjoy my cats enjoying the catnip.

They are very quiet now!

Flea Meds

 My cats hate getting the flea meds. 

They run and hide, they scratch and bite. With nine cats, it becomes like an Olympic sport!

Fluffy is the worst. She hides in the smallest places possible. When she's caught, she goes full-on drama queen, yowling and biting! I am always amazed at her strength. She looks so tiny, but she's very strong, must be all the chicken she steals!

Fluffy, looking very sweet.

Toast is another one that hides and races away! He gives up quickly, but then sulks for ages afterwards. David was doing the meds this time. He said that for a couple of days after he put the meds on Toast, Toast wouldn't go near him.

Toast, sulking.

The other cat that really fights is Fred. This time, however, he was sleeping on the sofa. David managed to get him before he knew what was happening. Fred is rather big and strong, so I was glad that we could get him without a fight!

Fred.

We have to do this again in a month.

I know it's good for them, and they need the meds, but I wish it wasn't such a drama!

Cat Day In Japan

 February 22nd is Cat Day in Japan, Neko No Hi, because the date 2/22 can be read as ni-ni-ni, which sounds like nyan-nyan-nyan, the Japanese onomatopoeia for a cat's meow!

This play on words was so popular that the Executive Cat Day Committee decided in 1987 to make February 22nd the official Cat Day.

Cats arrived in Japan during the Nara period (AD 710-784), likely introduced from China. By the Heian period (794 -1185), they were so prized that only the nobility could afford them.

Cats appear in Japanese folklore as benevolent and mischievous creatures.

There are cat shrines and temples dedicated to feline deities or legends. I hope to be able to find some of them to visit.

And of course, Japan has cat islands where there are more cats than people

In my house, every day is cat day! Especially when Hannah is at home!

A few photos of my cats for cat day!