Cats, as promised!

And now for the first cats portion of this blog- filled with cute cat pictures, because everyone loves those!
First and foremost is my own kitty, Miles, who is currently residing with his aunt in DC. 

DC has come to be a second home for him over the last year+ that he's been in our lives.  He definitely seems to settle right in there, although he undoubtedly misses the porch in Annapolis- where he spent countless hours watching squirrels, birds and the neighborhood dogs.  He is keeping himself occupied though from what I hear.  Miles enjoys playing Wii (grabbing the strap to the controls to help), likes to help cook (chases them into the kitchen where his food dish is whenever possible) and is a good source of entertainment in general.  He also likes helping to build up your respiratory muscles by resistance training (ie- laying all 15lbs on your chest).  However, he has already purchased his flight to Hawaii and I did receive this photo of him in preparation for the journey...


Aloha!


My new abode does come complete with kayaks, surfboard, bikes...and a resident cat.  Her name is Ivy and she is a pretty laid back, but definitely has a lot of personality!  However, if you've met Miles, you've undoubtedly heard his saga of strike outs with other cats.  First cat strike was 'Ciel'- an incident from which he obtained the nickname 'ass-biter' from my MA roommate, Danee.  Second strike was 'Holly' in Annapolis- a petite and declawed cat whom Miles would chase when given opportunity.  Only once did he inflict a wound on her, but she was good at hiding and making a lot of noise which I think both scared him and alerted us to what was going on.  Holly chipped in to get Miles a going away present at the end of the year. 

Ciel and Fred in Massachussetts

Holly in Annapolis

Now, Ivy seems to be a very independently minded, take no sass kind of cat, so hopefully she'll stand up to Miles if he tries to bully her around.  She is also older and has arthritis, so I don't think she'll run if he should have the opportunity to chase her- which will hopefully make him less interested in doing so.  The important thing is that the new housemate and I have a plan to seperate the house into living quarters should Miles acquire strike 3.  But here's hoping...



Ivy enjoying the outdoor breeze

 In the interim, there has been a temporary addition to the household- a 4 week old orange/white kitten!  She was found under the hood of a car at my roommate's job, who was then suckered into bringing her home to foster for a while.  It's not hard to see how she fell for it though- big blue eyes, crazy fur and a sad little 'mew' will do most people in.  The tricky part will be detaching enough to find her a home come 8 weeks.  She has really come out of her shell in personality here though, and is entertaining both of us for the time being.  She sustained some burn injuries to her paw pads, has some parasites that are being treated for, but is otherwise in pretty good health!  She came home with the name 'Chevy'- presumably the type of car she was pulled out of, although a few different names have been tried out since then as well.  She's also provided some clinical knowledge for me just in time to see my first group of kittens in an appointment.  Previously, any 4 week old kitten I had seen was likely close to dying, so experiencing how a 'normal' kitten acts, eats, etc has been kind of fun.

Chevy- free to a good home!

I do wonder how Miles would do with a kitten, might give him a cat that would play back vs run away, but might also become a small squeaky toy...

See? He can be peaceful....