In a couple of days time, our Karra and Muska will be one year old. They already have a younger brother (Tima), who they will probably meet at Christmas time, when Ira and I will be coming back to Britain for a couple of weeks or so. During the last year, Karra has grown from a little bundle of fluff that was naughty but cute, to a large kitten who is… naughty but cute. Our wall paper is testament to the fact that she can not be trained not to do something, and although often mentioned at the beginning, we never had the heart to go and buy a water sprayer to try and dissuade her from such activities. My slippers’ lifespan has also drastically shortened, as both Karra and Muska seem to enjoy ripping the lining out, and in Karras case, wearing them as a sort of balaclava. Although frustrating to see the slippers deteriorate so quickly, seeing my slipper slide about with just two hind legs and a tail hanging out the back is quite funny.
Muska has been a success story on the whole. Originally she was to stay with the in-laws, however as they both work in normal jobs over here, she did not get a lot of human interaction, and so was VERY wary of anyone trying to stroke her, or even be within a metre or so of her. We originally took her to our flat as a sort of training camp, so when she was comfortable with humans, she could go back home, and not hide whenever the in laws had company. I think it took about 18 hours for that plan to go out the window. Although she is still a little more cautious, especially compared to Karra, Muska will now often demand a stroke, and is not afraid of Karra as she was when she first arrived.
Anyway, I’ll stop boring you with details for now, though I should mention I hope to upload our video of the new kitten (Tima) soon; I’ve already transferred it from the camcorder to the PC, but at its’ current full resolution, uncompressed status, 1 minute of DV video requires approximately 200 Mb, so I need to trim out the unnecessary sections and start working on it a little later.
Aug 28 2007
Kittens Progress
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Aug 20 2007
Cat Map Of Your Bed
Ira sent me a link last week to a picture that illustrates the real reason your bed exists, at least if you own a cat.
The post was up at a LiveJournal Russian Cats Section, so take a look if you like cats.
Anyway, enough of the blurb for now, onto the picture…
However, the situation does change a bit when you have two cats; for example unless it is cold, Karra and Muska will normally only sleep on the bed if the other is not already there. I have also had to learn to move slowly in the morning, when getting up, as nothing starts the day badly more than accidentally kicking your cat.
Aug 19 2007
‘Mini Dasha’ Has A Name!
Assuming the kitten is male, it looks like he will be called Tima. He has gained grammes in three days, which sounds quite healthy to me. (I’m not an expert, but Irina and the in-laws seem happy with his progress at least.)
So first shot is the (now) traditional weighing process…
Next we have a shot of Dasha and Tima posing very nicely for a photo in the box that has seen quite a few kitten litters…
Finally we have a cute shot of Dasha protecting and warming her baby. It really is quite unusual to see Dasha with just one kitten; as she is more than ten years old now, the vet thinks that her body only produced a single kitten to ensure both mother and son would be healthy. Mind you, that vet will not be getting any more business from this family – she appeared to not be too clued up about animals, nor very professional in her communications.
Aug 17 2007
Karra’s Doppelgänger
Ira sent me a link today to some cute kitten pictures. I’ve included one below, as it really does look a lot like our Karra, when she was young.
Now, we have the real Karra, back in November 2006, practising her best innocent look…
She still tries it now, when you discover her climbing a curtain, removing wall paper or being generally mischievous, but we tend to fall for it a little less.
We should be going to see the in-laws over the weekend, and so be able to check in on the new kitten (called mini-Dasha for now 🙂 ). I still haven’t got around to transferring, resizing and uploading the video from earlier on in the week, I’ll try to get it done soon.
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Aug 16 2007
Photos Of The New Kitten
OK, as promised, here we have the very first photos of Dasha’s kitten. She actually weighs in at 110 grams, not the 107 I quoted earlier. The video is going to have to wait for another day, as I am feeling too tired to start mucking about and would probably start getting things wrong.
So first we have Mini Dasha wondering where mum has gone. (Dasha had in fact gone to grab some food and a drink, but was only 50cm away).
Now we see the box she was born in, the very same box used each year, with the birthdays written on the side. A cardboard box with some heritage 😉
This one came out reasonably well, which was surprising – I didn’t want to disturb the kitten too much, so turned off the flash, and left her in the box. This meant using the macro mode on the camera, and not actually seeing the LCD screen when taking the picture.
Here we have Ira holding Mini Dasha, followed by me holding the kitten. He/She§ looks very cute there.
The weighing procedure. (Mr Owen, if you’re reading this, NO ONE will want me to call it massing!)
A little picture to show the scale – Dasha’s Paw vs. Kitten.
Finally, dinner time.
§ – Until we know for sure which gender the kitten is, you will probably encounter a fair amount of confusion on my part. Apologies.
Aug 15 2007
Mini Dasha
We have just got back from the in laws, and apart from a nice meal and some time with Ira’s parents, we got to see Dasha’s kitten. Not sure yet, but Irina thinks it is a boy. His fur colour is most definitely inherited from Dasha, and not the father, and he currently weighs 107g. That is just under 4 ounces, according to my Amsterdam research. We are not certain yet, there may be more kittens to come, but without an ultrasound, and because Dasha has become quite large the last few years, we will just have to wait and see. The kitten looks so cute, and you could probably fit two or three in the palm of your hand. Coming back to the flat and seeing Karra and Muska made us realise just how much they had grown in 11 months.
Anyway, I hope to post some pictures and/or a video later on, once I have caught up with a few other things.
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Aug 15 2007
Dasha Is A Mum Again!
We will be popping round to the in laws to check up on mother and kitten this evening, but apparently Dasha has given birth to a kitten today 🙂
I am not sure if there are any other kittens still on their way, but I will hopefully have some photos to post later on this evening/early morning tomorrow.
So, Karra and Muska now have a little brother or sister. I do not know any other details right now, and would be interested to see what colour and patterns the new kitten’s fur holds, but I just need to be patient for 3 hours, then we will know.
Up until a year ago, I loved cats, but ONLY at a distance… anything less than a metre away from me, and I was convinced he or she would try and shred my skin with their claws, or just bite me. (Don’t ask, Siamese cats are psychotic little things, that is all I’ll say). However, since we had our own kittens, I have grown used to them, to the point that I can happily fall asleep with Karra snoozing on my chest! I think part of the issue was authority – when the cat in question is someone else’s I did not feel right shouting at him/her if they dug their claws in, nor giving them a smack if they were wilfully destroying curtains etc. (Before any hardcore animal lovers chime in, I am not talking about beating up a small defenceless kitten, merely smacking its bum if it continuously destroys curtains/furniture after weeks of stern “NO”s. However, our kittens are mostly behaving themselves now, apart from our wallpaper…. I don’t think they will be happy, or change their behaviour, until we choose a different style/texture.
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Aug 13 2007
Irina Possibly Away Again :(
This week may possibly involve Ira flying out to Moscow once again for work; though, as ever, she does not even know for sure just yet. There is a very important contract that needs to be signed off, and if this means people flying over to Russia to get things done, then that is the way it has to be. If she does go, I’ll miss her, but I have the kittens to look after me 🙂 and I am pretty sure I remember how to cook for myself 😉
Anyway, if she does need to go, I wish her a safe journey, and a productive and successful time in Moscow. If she is allowed to stay here in Kazakhstan, even better.
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Aug 05 2007
Mini-Dashas / Karra and Muska v2 On The Way?
Well it looks as though Dasha may be giving birth soon! See previous posts for last year’s result – our very own Muska and Karra 🙂
Anyway, Dasha is now acting a little strangely, so Ira found her favourite box she likes to give birth in. Later on in the evening, Dasha was trying to paw open some of the drawers in the study, again, apparently she tries to build a nest in them sometimes. Not sure if nest is the right word, but you hopefully know what I mean.
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Jul 14 2007
Karra Has Jealousy Issues With My Keyboard
Every time I spend a little too long with our PC, and Karra does not receive enough attention, be it a stroke, or scratch behind the ear, or a little laser fun, she decides to inform me of my forgetfulness my jumping up on the desk. She then proceeds to head butt my hands until I give up typing, and give her the attention she is apparently over due 🙂
Whilst this is cute most of the time, when she happens to sit on my mouse, or cause me too accidentally delete a paragraph or two, it can be a little frustrating.
Anyway, I probably need to work out some sort of time table – 45 minutes of typing followed by quarter of an hour of attention for the two kittens. Hopefully she will be happy with that sort of ratio…
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