Meezer Monday

(dedicated to my sister, Stormie)

Today I am remembering just how dainty my sister was, and just how much she loved chicken. This following video was filmed about 3 weeks after Storm's second bout of feline lymphoma returned; she had started chemo again but her appetite had disappeared...however, Meowmie tempted Stormie with her favourite chicken and we witnessed The Return Of Chicken Face in our household once more! Meowmie literally had tears of joy running down her face when Stormie'a appetite returned and she ate again...it's just such a shame it didn't last...

My new 'friend' Timmy is not at all dainty when he eats; he scoffs and gobbles his food up very quickly, making piggy-snorty sounds as he hoovers up his food - it's almost as if he doesn't believe he will ever be fed again! Storm and I always used to share our food bowl, even if Meowmie put out two bowls we would eat from the same one. Since Timmy's arrival I have tried, on a number of occasions, to share a food bowl with him but he is just not ready to share, so for the first time in my life, I have my very own food bowl.

Since our big fight a few days ago things are a little calmer; we play chase every day, usually when we have just woken up in the morning and when Meowmie gets home from work in the evening. Timmy still does most of the chasing. Timmy seems a bit more relaxed and even purred last night when I was sat 6 inches from him - that is a first! He is still a bit moody though and is definitely not ready for cuddles yet - we have managed to sleep next to each other a handful of times but it is usually with our backs to each other!

Oh...we know it's a bit early but we would like to draw your attention to the beautiful Christmas Cards that Siamese Rescue are selling this year - click the link on the right at the top of this page. All profits go to caring for Siamese cats in need - Timmy was one of these until my Meowmies gave him a home. There are currently around 10 cats...and a couple of 'lifers...at the South East UK branch of Siamese Rescue (with many more across the country) which need medical care, feeding, housing, and general looking after...and we all know how expensive looking after cats is! If you want to help Meezers then please purchase some Meezer cards to give out this year! Thank you xxx

Thumpin' Thursday

My new 'friend' Timmy and I have had a couple of fights in the past few days...this morning's fight was particularly 'involved' shall we say. I started this morning's fight. Meowmie was very worried and was going to split us apart during the fight, but then she though it best to let us work through whatever it was we needed to work out between ourselves.

It went like this...Timmy was in the wicker cave and I decided to whap Timmy whilst he sat in there - I had him trapped in the wicker cave and was repeatedly lunging at him and biting him. Timmy then burst forth and pinned me down and bit me...I struggled free, leaving some of my fur in Timmy's mouth, and then we did the side-ways ballet dance and mewled around each other for a while before both attacking each other again a few more times. Timmy then skulked off.

After the fight Meowmie decided to put Timmy in the other room on his own for 10 minutes to try and get things to calm again. Then 20 minutes later (and aided by a few Temptations) we were both settled on the sofa together...we remained like this until Meowmie went off to work. We give the impression that we are closely bonded don't we? Oh, how the camera lies!



Despite our fighting and bad behaviours we have been given an Award by Mr Hendrix! It is the Briliante Weblog Award 2008! I have been given this before so I will graciously give this to my 'fiend' (no, that is not a typo) Timmy. Thank you Mr Hendrix so much for this. I suspect Timmy says thank you too, but he is so rude and ungrateful sometimes that i daren't even let him on here to express anything - he might just swear at you or something - he is quite unpredictable!!!



I will pass this award on to all the Cat Bloggers who haven't yet got it and whose names begins with....'S'. Sorry to be so random but Meowmie is at work and doesn't have time to help me properly pass this on, and we think this has been doing the rounds in our absence (again, not my choice, but Meowmie's, she is always 'busy').

We hope you are all OK and keeping well!
xxx

Meezer Monday

(dedicated to my much missed sister, Stormie)

Stormie and I used to cuddle each other all the time, we always spent every single sleepy moment squashed up on the same bed...and then we used to sit side-by-side when not sleeping. I miss her. Here we are cuddling, the second picture was before Storm had lymphoma and she was 'curvy' shall we say!




Timmy now has free run of the home as of 4 days ago. I had hoped that with the rapid progress that Timmy and I had initially made, that we might be cuddling - even just a little - by now. But no. I keep trying to sit with Timmy and try to curl up with him but he swears and curses at me, which is just rude! The closest we have got was about 3 nights ago, I sat myself next to Timmy on the favourite cushion in the house, who then hissed right in my face, but I did not budge, despite the rudeness and aggression. I stared him down and remained next to him for about 20 minutes. Even our furs were touching!!!

Timmy did not live with another cat is his previous home so I suppose he is somewhat curious and nervous of me, he has also appeared jealous of me on two occasions recently - even though Meowmie is very careful that both of us get equal attention during this integration period. I keep trying to make Timmy feel welcome and am being very patient and non-aggressive with him...but I must admit that I did hiss in his face this morning after he kept trying to bite my tail. This is the first hiss I have done in over a week, despite Timmy's regular growling and hssing at me whenever I try to be with him!

The Meowmies are a little worried that Timmy won't ever be happy sharing a home with another cat...but I think they are just anxious to see Timmy truly happy, I can tell that they really like Timmy and want to see him more relaxed around us all. We all just need some more time I think...it is still only week 3 afterall!

PS - Meowmie has got the Feliway diffuser pumping away and is also adding Rescue Remedy to the water.

Timmy On Tuesday No.2

Hmmm...Number 2....quite appropriate cos Timmy seems almost unable to do his number two's INSIDE his tray! He likes to hang his bum over the side and do his business on the newspaper which the tray sits on. Meowmie even purchased a tray with VERY high sides but he STILL manages to crap over the edge. Next step: covered trays.

So...how are me and my subordinate doing then? Well every day there is some sort of breakthrough. The hissing and growling has died right down, and only occurs if one startles the other, or one of us pushes our luck. Timmy remains a bit grumpy/nervy though so he is the one who usually starts the trouble.

We have progressed from spying on each other from separate rooms, to actually sitting within six inches of each other. We have also started playing Thundering Herd of Elephants - no contact - it is very cautious play, whilst we still try to work each other out.

Meowmie has kept us separated whilst she is not here or when she is asleep - but last night Timmy kicked RIGHT OFF and howled and mewled to be set free from his room. So, at 1.30am. 3.30am and 5.30am Meowmie got woken up and let Timmy out so that we could play Elephants for a short while. Timmy isn't being isolated tonight and will have free run of the house along with me, Meowmie needs her sleep.

Here is progress to date in pictorial and video form, as you will see, I have been very, very, welcoming and patient with Timmy, so long as he accepts I am the Boss, we should get along just fine:

Saturday Afternoon - the cautious 'camel clump'


Sunday Morning - the chilled 'sunspot sprawl'


Tuesday Evening - 6 inches to go!


...and here is Timmy and I enjoying one of first play sessions:


...and here is a Siamese Smackdown
!

Friday Friends

Two of my good friends have been dishing out Awards to my household! My lovely friend Adan in Taiwan has given me the Brilliante Weblog Award. Adan handed me this a while back and because of the recent upheavels in MY house, Meowmie hasn't had time to make the proud announcement! Thank you so much Adan...! I have been given this award before by Yao-Lin too, you can see it just a few posts ago (which, beause of Meowmie's laziness is atually over a month back).

My next award has been given to me by...HOLD ON A SECOND...it has NOT been given to ME, it has been given to TIMMY!!! Well, seeing as Timmy seems a bit grumpy at the moment I will graciously advise him that our favourite movie-reviewing cat Tybalt Prince Of Cats has handed him the Blogging Friend Forever Award! Here you go Timmy...(I got this already, and I fink this has done the rounds now...plus Meowmie is pressed for time so Timmy can share my choices of nominees I made a few posts ago).



So...how are Timmy and me getting along then...? Well, Meowmie has mostly been keeping us apart in separate rooms with occasional supervised 'viewing sessions'. She divides her time between the two of us and lets Timmy have exploring sessions a few times day of the whole flat (apartment), whilst I am locked in a room. In the past couple of days Meowmie has let Timmy explore freely, with me not locked up...the hissing has almost disappeared but the growling hasn't, and it is usually Timmy who growls. I am actually quite chilled and just sit by, looking bemused at this new, growling, grumpy cat in my home, as you will see from the following video...

We did get close enough to touch noses yesterday morning without any hissing or growling, but then Timmy hissed and we had a little bicker (no contact though). This morning during his exploring time and after some inital growling and grumbling, Timmy settled down on his laurels in the doorway to the lounge, and stared at me, whilst I settled down on my laurels across the room and stared back - we did not hiss or growl for quite some time. This is the first time that Timmy has settled down outside of his room since he has been here.

Meowmie is a little worried though that Timmy doesn't like our home; he does not seem as happy as he was at the Rescue place, and he growls and grumbles at Meowmie now sometimes, he wasn't doing this a few days ago. We have to hope that this is temporary and Timmy is being like this cos he is feeling unconfident, unsettled and possibly depressed too. I am being a good cat and not attacking him or anything...and the Meowmies are giving Timmy the love and respect (and treats!) he needs...so we remain hopeful, he is so adorable when he is chilled out and wants a belly rub...apparently!

Have a good weekend everyone xxx

Timmy On Tuesday!

OK, so we have had Timmy since Friday night but 'Timmy on Tuesday' made a better blog post title. And Meowmie is not unwell...Meowmie was spending lots of time in the bathroom cos Timmy is in there!!!

So, I have got a friend to share my home with and to keep me company during the day...well, unfortunately, we are sworn enemies at the moment, and are in separate rooms, but hopefully he will turn in to a friend/subordinate soon enough.

My Meowmies found Timmy on the UK Siamese Rescue site, his Mummy had died and he had nowhere to go. He is 13 years and 9 months old, has a scarred nose and a torn ear and is a Chocolate Point Siamese - lighter in colour to my Stormie, she was a Seal-Point Siamese. We are not 100% sure if he is used to other cats or not, but time will tell if he can accept me or not.



Timmy is living in the bathroom (just in case he sprayed or missed his litter-tray), he has 3 beds in there, but he prefers the safety of the den that Meowmie made from my pet carrier.

Meowmie kept us separated on Friday night and most of Saturday and because Timmy didn't meow or make any noises, I was completely oblivious to the fact there was another cat in the next room! I did pick up Timmy's smell on the Meowmies and sniffed them for ages though...When Timmy does meow though he has a VERY loud Meezer sqwauk...

On Saturday night I saw Timmy for the first time. We stared for a little while, taking each other in and then much hissing and spitting and growling ensued, started off by me - but we didn't go for each other, and we didn't display any attack-mode body language i.e. flattened ears, lowered body/tail, puffed-up furs.

On Sunday Meowmie left the doors open for short periods of time to encourage some wandering. Timmy is quite happy to stay in his room, he does wander very occasionally though. There was a little incident on Sunday evening - Timmy had wandered into the hallway and had his back to me, so I went up and sniffed Timmy's bum, Timmy spun around and we stared at each other briefly, and then we hissed and then I bapped him on the head, sending Timmy scurrying to his room.

Timmy has been very affectionate and loves to roll around on Meowmie's bed, however, he gets a bit nervy after a hissing session with me and has a little grumbly moan if the Meowmies try to pet him, so they leave him to calm down a little - he is slightly fractious at the moment.

So, in short, apart from hissing/growling when we see each other, I am kind of OK and not at all stressed out that another cat is hidden away in MY home, I have remained pretty relaxed - I am not at all frantic or 'on alert' despite there being another cat in the next room. Timmy on the other hand is nervous and not yet relaxed and I think finding everything a little daunting, he has been through a lot lately - Meowmie is going to keep us separated for a while longer, so Timmy can chill. I can understand he feels disorientated, but he needs to stop growling and hissing at me...and he needs to learn that the Meowmies can be trusted. He could fit in just fine if he follows those two very simple rules!

Meezer Monday

Dedicated to my beloved sister, Stormie.

This morning Meowmie was reminded of one of Stormie's little habits. Stormie used to go to her spot in the kitchen where she could watch Meowmie walk past the kitchen window on her way out to work. Meowmie used to open a couple of the blind's slats so she could look in and see Stormie patiently watching her head off.

If you bigify this picture that Meowmie took from outside the window, you can just see Stormie looking up at the window...I am just in front of her, but I didn't really see Meowmie off that often, unlike Stormie...



I am sorry that we have been absent lately, we hope you are all well. It has been a bit hectic around here and Meowmie has been busy doing running, researching something called 'integration' and generally not helping me, which is pretty selfish really. She has also been feeling Stormie's absence a lot lately and so has been keeping herself busy.

I have also become aware of some noises coming from our bathroom, Meowmie seems to spend a lot of time in there lately...and sometimes she smells a bit funny just after she comes out...Hmmmm, maybe she is feeling unwell?

I am also VERY PROUD to be the recipient of an award from the beautiful and recently married Ariel - a special friend. I was given this award a long time ago and haven't been able to blog about it because of Meowmie's laziness. I would like to pass this on to all of you for being so supportive to us over the past few months, you lifted our spirits when we needed it. Thank you all, love Castle & The Meowmies xxx

Special Dare for Texas

Texas' Dare



Before he left for the bridge, Texas came up with this Dare. He was too late in handing it in to be included with all the others for voting but as this is a very grave matter we decided to devote this weekend to just do this Dare as an honor for Texas. Here we go:

We, Texas and The Cat Realm, dare you all to do something to raise money for cancer research, especially for cats.

- donate
- volunteer somewhere
- put a link to a site on your blogs
- take the Petey challenge
- those of you with a big non-cat readership go spread the word with human bloggers
- or whatever else you can come up with to help.

Here are some reputable sites you could use
Winn Feline Foundation
The CSU Animal Cancer Center

Do a post about it and let us know where you donated, or volunteered, which link you put on your blog or what else you came up with to help.

Here is your button that you may display if you accept the challenge




WE DARE YOU!

Please, please do this for Texas, for Storm, for Rascal, for Petey and all the other furbabies who have suffered with this illness.

THANK YOU!!!
xxx