Life is great

These past months we continued to enjoy our lives here in the household. The can openers are progressing nicely. We’ve almost got them where we want them to be. Food is cuisine here. They really know what we like and we are growing like weeds. At the moment we prefer chicken. Fish is not one of our favorites, but we eat it. Lactose free milk is great as well. Have you every tried it? Mrs. Nice says we cannot have the other kind of milk.
We get to go into every room now and are all over the house. There are lots of places to explore here. Mrs. Nice has some plants in the basement which she says wil have to go outdoors again once it is warmer, but we love them. There are always dry leaves which we can get and carry upstairs. They don’t really like that though because then they get out the vacumm cleaner. Have you ever heard one of them? Scary stuff … very noisy. Oh well, here are some pictures of us.

By the way … Leoni is 6 months old now and Benny will turn 6 months old on the 29th of March. Mr. and Mrs. Nice think that we are growing up way to fast.

Benny - 5 1/2 months old

Leoni - 6 months old
Benny again
Leoni
Double Trouble

Taking it easy …

Hello my dear readers,
our kitties are adjusting well to their new home. No wonder, who wouldn’t with all all this LOVE and attention they are getting.

Leoni is 4 months old today and developing quite nicely. Benny is a typical male cat. He demands his cuddle sessions and has to be reminded that he is not the only cat in the household. He loves his step-sister and would not be without her for a minute and she feels the same way about Benny.

A new scratch post had to be purchased though. Stella’s small one just was not enough for two active kittens. They mind quite well and know the meaning of „no“. Benny is more stubborn than Leoni though.

Anyhow, though they cannot replace Ms. Stella, they are the greatest little „souls“ and are filling the house with their lively spirits.
Leoni is 4 months old today
Here is birthday girl Leoni. She is 4 months old today on Jan. 15.

Benny trying to decide where to take his nap

Mr. Benny – thinking about what to do next. How about this.

Mountain climber Benny

Week #3 or Training Mr. & Mrs. Nice continued

Thank you for the nice comments you left in my blog and the warm welcome I have received. I was overjoyed and hope you will return.

This was a tough week for me because I have had to put all my efforts and wits into training Mr. & Mrs. Nice. You would not believe the week I have had. However, let me start at the beginning.

I have told you last week that Mr. & Mrs. Nice have noticed that I was loosing hair on one ear. Conscientious as Mrs. Nice is about my welfare it was decided that I had to go to the vet. She checked with the neighbors where they were taking their cats and decided I had to go to the one the nice lady across the street uses. Tuesday was the day for the visit.

I hopped into my new colorful carrier. Just as we went outside to the car this downpour of rain started. Mrs. Nice opened the garage, put me in the car and we drove to the next town. We got there too early, so we went off for another spin around town. We were the first ones to be in the waiting room and the vet asked us to come into the examining room. He was really nice and I had to sit on this shiny table. Mrs. Nice asked all kinds of questions about my health and my shot records. He checked my ears under this ultraviolet light, gave us medicine for it and told us to return in 2 weeks if it did not clear up. Mrs. Nice took along some nasty worm medicine, too, because I am due to take that in 2 months again. I was really afraid he would give me a shot, but Mrs. Nice told me not to be scared and I felt safe and believed her. Then we drove home and since then I get medicine on my ear twice daily. Mr. Nice said it is getting better and I may not have to go back.

All week I have been taken out on my leash. I must not tell you that I am getting veeeeeerrryyyyy tired of that. We went for interesting walks, though. All around where we live I discovered the neatest things. There is a creek nearby and the biggest field!! Beautiful! Do you think Mr. Nice would let me run around there by myself??? Oh no!! When I try … he picks me up and back to the house we go.

Then Mrs. Nice took me on a walk up the creek. She helped me cross this little bridge. I really didn’t want to go across it, but she encouraged me and you know what? It was not scary after all because so many new smells, plants and even another cat was there. I just looked at her, though. At the time I felt it was better to walk with Mrs. Nice; didn’t want to scare this cat. 🙂

As the week went by I started to push the issue of going outside more seriously. They are at the point now where they are getting tired of having to stop what they are doing to take me outdoors. I have got a feeling that is the status right now. I am allllllmoooost where I want to be. My road to personal freedom.

It is a drag how hard I have to work on that. At night it irritates them really bad. They want to watch TV and I abuse the window and screen. Remember when I wrote that Mrs. Nice is stricter? Well, I think she and Mr. Nice have a had a conversation about my upbringing. He is STRICT now as well!!! He sprays me with the water bottle when I do something that annoys them badly. But guess what … he plays with me, when I keep doing it to keep me from being bored. That’s a good one, isn’t it? Wouldn’t you know that I’ll remember that? 🙂 He takes me hundreds of times to my scratching post when I scratch the window or the screen. My original thought in doing that was that they would let me out, but it is not working. My first impression that they are smart people seems to be correct. Instead of opening the door I am taken to the scratching post and being told that this is where I am allowed to scratch. Let me tell you in people words: IT STINKS!!

This is how I start to get them to take me out. What do you think? You may want to show your cat, because it works sometimes.

I walk to the window, hear their sigh in the background, „She wants to go out. Who is taking her?“ They are trying to ignore me, because they are really not ready to interrupt what they are doing, but I can tell they’re watching me out of the corner of their eyes.

I place myself right in the middle of the room. They HAVE to see me THERE! Still no response from Mr. & Mrs. Nice. Sometimes I believe they think I will evaporate and put my needs behind theirs. Are you kidding me, Stella-The-Cat? I am not a dog!

Ok, one more elegant (but begging) look back to see if I see a reaction on their faces and I have to think about the next strategy.

Ok, here I go! I am going to the front door? Will you take me out there?

I’m REALLY going to the front door, you better believe it!

It is not working!! They are still ignoring me, but I’ll get them.

That should get them NOW. They do not like for me to be on top of furniture. I have been wanting to sleep in my carrier since we got back from the vet. Mrs. tells me it doesn’t fit into her livingroom, but I could care less. It is considered a piece of furniture now.

NOOOOOWWW I’ve gotten their attention. They are taking me off the carrier. One last try now.

I am walking towards the dreaded balloon that’s supposed to keep me from scratching the window (which I have managed to work around now. Tell you later about that.) THEY ARE WATCHING MEEEEEEE!

I DID IT!!! Can you tell what this is? My little harness to get outdoors. The hands you see are Mr. Nice’s hands!! He is a softie …. I am VERY good!!

I am telling you a secret now. Don’t tell Mr. & Mrs. Nice I know, though. They are giving up on making me a 75% house cat I’ve overheard. Once I get a little collar next week, they are allowing me to hit the yard BY MYSELF. It will be difficult to hold back my excitment until then, but WORLD GET READY, HERE COMES STELLA-THE-CAT!

On a more personal note: You will have to show mental support for Mr. & Mrs. Nice. It will be like cutting the umbilical cord for them and letting another child out into the bad world. They just don’t know at the moment that I will love them just as much.

My First Visit Outdoors – Day #2

On Monday, May 21st, I must have made a face sad enough to soften Mr. & Mrs. Nice’s heart. I was sitting at the window, looking out, looking at them, walking to them, going back to the window numerous times. Hey, it worked! Mr. Nice said, he would take me outdoors! World, here I come!

Well, it was not „World, here I come“. It was „World, here I come, as far as this leash he puts on will let me.“ It is better than nothing, right? You have got to see this garden. Lots of green grass, beautiful roses and other flowers and a Swedish garden house. Can you imagine how it feels to sit inside on your scratching post and to be exposed to a view like that, only guessing how it could feel to be out there? No, you probably can’t since you get to go outdoors all the time, but TODAY I GET TO GO OUTSIDE WITH MR & MRS. NICE!

Mr. Nice put my little harness on and this expandable leash. I will forgive him for this one since the leash is for dogs, but he means well. They take a lot of pictures of me of everything I do. Sometimes it bores me, but it makes them happy.

Here I am leisurely enjoying the grass.

There are more pictures of me outside. I think I will show them to you. The leash really isn’t too bad. At least I get to go outdoors. They tell me I will have to wear it on all my outdoor visits until I know where I belong now. When I do I get to go outdoors by myself. Mrs. Nice said I will have a curfew and not allowed outdoors at night when they are in the house. They are trying to train me to be a 75% house cat. We’ll see how that will work. I am sure I can change that. Just got to work on my training. 🙂 Mr. Nice doesn’t want to be recognized, but I had to show you this picture. He allowed me to sit on his shoulders. Anything that makes Stella-The-Cat and Mr.&Mrs. Nice happy.

Here is another one of me just loving the peace and quiet. You will only enjoy this kind of life if you have been inside an animal shelter for a while. I know what I am talking about. Mrs. Nice keeps saying she would hate for me to run away from their house and that she already loves me so much. Running away will be one idea I won’t even give any consideration.

This is the end of the story of how I got Mr. & Mrs. Nice to take me outdoors.

Ready or not – here I am

Day One Continued ….

I had to go on a scary ride in the car. Who knows where they were going to take me? During the ride Mr. & Mrs. Nice were talking in the car about their plans for me, i.e. like not being allowed outdoors for the first few weeks without leash. I started to wonder if I really picked the right couple. The ride did not take too long and we arrived at my new home. Since I had to sit in the carrier I couldn’t see my new house when we got out the car.

I heard the door open and being locked with a key. Riiiiight, they remembered – I OPEN DOORS! Pretty smart Mr. & Mrs. Nice! They must have the memory of elephants.

In the livingroom my carrier was opened where I peaked outside. „Looks pretty nice“, I thought and got out. Then I looked for the new stuff – toys, scratching post and sleeping basket WITH a soft pillow. They must know about cats. But why on earth is the scratching post next to a couch and not near the window? THAT has to change. I’ve got to take it nice and slow though. First I must make an impression on them.

Here I am looking around my new place.
Not bad, tiled floor. Don’t mind my fuzzy coat please. They didn’t brush me very often at the shelter. You can’t be too picky at a place like that. I am going to change this at this house. This place is like an oasis! I must have picked the right couple.

Check out the basket! Pretty neat, isn’t it?

Hey, this is a house with a view! A garden!


Well, Mr. Nice came to me begging, „Stella, the scratch post was quite expensive, why don’t you use it?“ I wanted to say, „Dummy, there is no view where you’ve placed it now.“ But Mrs. Nice said, „The cat doesn’t care what you paid for the thing. Move it to the window.“ „Pretty smart Mrs. Nice! I think I am going to like you!“

So, here I am on my expensive scratch post. Satisfied, Mr. Nice?


After all this excitement it was time for a nap. I will tell you more soon.