KITTY TV AND SOME DVD FAVOURITES

It has always amused me when I've observed the Pepper kitty momentarily watching TV.  

Occasionally her interest has been held longer than usual if a wildlife special is on:  She was particularly fascinated by David Attenborough's Tiger - Spy in the Jungle, which she got right into.  A little cat who likes watching big cats.  This made me wonder about programming - what if there was a channel specifically designed for kitties, broadcasting the types of shows that they might like to watch.  Would they watch it?  Could Kitty TV one day become a reality when there will be so many channels that everybody will be catered for?...     

This little kitty would watch, as shown above.  I found an ideal DVD for her seemed to be the rather dry looking 'Everyday British Birds' which I picked up from a bargain bin for £1.99.  Once I'd tapped the TV screen and announced 'Birdies! Birdies!' which is a word that she understands from watching them through the windows, she was spellbound by it.  Which may prove with the right material your moggie could become a TV addict.  I supposed now I'll have to allocate space for her own DVD collection.  

  

'No, you can't have the TV remote back...'

PEPPER & HER SUITORS or MÉNAGE À CAT

On some days, the Garden of Anxiety may as well be situated in Rome due to the number of cats in it!  Although the Pepper kitty is an indoor cat she does get to go out to the garden two or three times a day.  When she does, the garden is her own personal jungle and amazingly enough she’s good enough to stay within the boundaries.  Her favourite pastime is swatting flies & bees and chowing down on grass.

Pepper

Two other neighbourhood cats now come to visit her:  She first met Toby, (lives two gardens to the right) who is silent and aloof but does drop by once in a while to see her.   She seemed more curious about him than he was about her.   I think he may be an older cat.

Toby

 



















Then she met Snowy, who lives two gardens to the left, and who has become her regular playmate.  I'd guess that they are probably around the same age.


Unfortunately, due to both tom cats getting territorial and fighting a few times, we’ve had to deter Toby from visiting the garden.  We still see him around but the last thing we wanted were both toms fighting over her.   The howling, hissing and fur flying that we've witnessed is not a pleasant sight.  We are keeping the hosepipe on hand.

Snowy

Snowy is a very handsome cat.  All white with blue eyes and resembling a little polar bear.  It’s interesting that 72% of blue eyed white cats suffer from congenital deafness but this doesn’t seem to be the case with Snowy.   As soon as he hears her little bell in the garden it’s only a matter of time before he comes bounding over the fence with quite a thud.  He’s quite vocal too and meows repeatedly to let her know that he’s arrived.

Kissing

  
After their initial greeting or ‘kitty kiss’ of rubbing noses he normally follows her around, overtakes her and rolls around in front of her.  He’s always in the mood to play.  Pepper seems to become all cool and coy and he likes nothing more than giving her a playful swat or push.  She likes to hide behind the furniture and wait for him to find her.  Sometimes she’ll hide in the foliage and spring out at him.  Occasionally, when she finds him a little over-attentive she’ll slink back indoors, unless it's a ploy to try and lure him inside...

The look of love

 

Playful swats

Just chillin'

It’s great for her to have interaction with another cat as she’s very social with a good, friendly nature.  Having watched her behaviour over these last few months, I can see that having a friend is a nice experience for her but she also likes having her own space.   Cats can live together but are not social or pack animals like dogs.  They tend to find ways of sharing a space and try to avoid confrontation with each other.  While she does enjoy playing with Snowy, sadly there are times when she chooses to ignore him.  Perhaps having him around a lot gets in the way of her bug swatting...  Still, I'm hoping that theirs remains a beautiful relationship.



 

A COMPLAINT!

Yesterday, I received an email complaint from a 'Pepper Kitty' about the lack of kitty photographs on this blog namely featuring herself.  She needs to work on her typing skills, spelling & punctuation as it was really bad and hard to decipher.  She's much better at posing for the camera. 

So here she is, trying to kill you with her cuteness:-

Me! Me! Me! Meow!

Don't mess with the paw

Incidentally what she is reclining on is my dressing gown.  The black and grey stripes have confused her into thinking that when I wear it, we are somehow related and she becomes especially clingy and follows me around:  I wonder if she sees me as a larger version prowling around the house?

FUN WITH MR JIGGLE BUG

Mr Jiggle Bug likes the thrill of living dangerously...

One day Mr Jiggle Bug will be my slave...

HALLOWEEN, BLACK CATS & PEPPER

It all happened so unexpectedly: The Friday night before Halloween, I was smoking in the courtyard around 10pm when a black cat suddenly appeared out of nowhere.  It was meowing up a storm and rubbing itself against my legs.  Luckily I'm not superstitious or I would have been alarmed when I opened the front door and it shot straight up the stairs.  Once I had fed the cat some ham and given it some water, it settled sleepily on the foot of my bed where it spent the night.  

Pumpkin, as we ended up calling her, was a very affectionate kitty and before I knew it I was returning home with cat food, litter tray and a few toys to play with.  The six days she was with us, she was no trouble at all.  We got used to her sleeping on our beds at night and licking our feet and faces in the morning.  She had an endearing way of headbutting your hands whenever she wanted to be petted, which was often.

'Pumpkin' - The start of it all...

But all the while we knew that she was probably somebody elses kitty and this hung heavy on our conscience.  We asked the neighbours if they recognised her and we kept alert for any 'Lost Cat' notices.   It was inevitable that one would appear eventually and that Pumpkin would be returned to her rightful owners.

We were sad and felt bereft after they collected her, as we had grown very fond of her.  The house felt empty and I missed having her around.  That's when we decided that even though the house refurb wasn't finished that we needed a bundle of furry affection in our lives...  As one of our neighbours had advised: A house feels more like a home when you have a cat in it.

Pepper - Home at last.

'Pepper' (as we named her) came from the Cats Protection Charity and she was one of many cats that had been abandoned. A seven month dark silver tabby, we knew she was the one, as soon as she started head butting us.  Pick me, she seemed to be saying. She has very striking eyes which are a mixture of blue and amber and a reddish brown nose.  She's settled in nicely and is beginning to respond when you call her name.  She loves to cuddle & snuggle up against you and is full of affection - especially liking to have her belly rubbed and under her chin scratched.  In short, she's adorable! 

Look into my eyes... and pet me.

A couple of days ago Pepper was vaccinated, microchipped and spayed.  The vet assured us she was in good health and remarked on how well behaved, good natured and docile she was.  Having never owned a cat before, I was suprised what perfect pets they are:  As well as being extremely clean and only peeing & pooping and in their litter trays, they like to sleep a lot.  Pepper seems to like being around us and won't stay in an a room unless somebody is in it.   I guess it is early days as to whether she'll become more mischievous and independant, but at the moment when she isn't head-butting your hands to be petted and played with, then she finds a comfortable spot close by and settles down to sleep.

8 out of 10 cats prefer sleeping.

Sweet dreams.