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 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 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 13 2007
Kittens Plus Textured Wallpaper ? Good Idea
The title pretty much says it all….
Despite having a scratching post, a nice scratch board that was originally infused with some cat nip or something similar, Karra and Muska both seem to see wallpaper, especially near corners of walls as something inherently evil that this flat needs to be defended from. We have tried telling them off, and they sensibly avoid the scene of the crime, for a good, well, err, 10 minutes maybe? In one other case, they scratching appears to be incidental to their trying to catch the chain on a light switch, near Ira’s dressing table.
Just in case you think I am exaggerating, please do check the pictures below.
That last photo has been quite heavily photoshopped to try and show where the claws were put to use…
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Jun 12 2007
Karra & Muska Go Exploring
Having already ripped the ears of the toy cat in the spare room, smashed the beautiful picture frame from Alex, and torn down a lot of wall paper that was aggravating them, Muska and Karra decided to get to the top of the world, from their perspective at least…
On top of the cupboard, masters of all they survey….
This is the room Alex will be staying in soon, and where the kittens complain if they are not allowed access into.
Jun 01 2007
Avoiding Bad Puns
Wednesday night, Ira and I met up with a journalist (socially) who is based in London. She found this blog from the posts on our kittens and the fact it mentions Kazakhstan, and as she was over here again for a story (I’ll post more when I know she has had it published) decided to meet up.
We went to the Chelsea pub (yep, that bastion of traditional Kazak cuisine, lmao), and had a nice evening eating, drinking and talking a fair amount. The temptation of seeing Karra and Muska proved irresistible, so we all came back to the flat afterwards. It was really interesting to meet her, and I hope should she come out here again, we’ll meet once more. Oh, and her husband is cordially invited too, so lets just hope she succeeds in her mission to persuade him to visit Kazakhstan.
Oh and the post title? Her name is Elizabeth Mistry, so I had to fight the urge to create a corny title…
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May 14 2007
Adieu To Ira
Irina is off to Moscow again for work. She will be gone from Monday night until Sunday morning. Which probably means there will be a mountain of washing up and general clutter until last thing Saturday, at which point I will be running around like a headless chicken, trying to make our flat a little more presentable.
Whilst I’m glad that her bosses think she is capable of helping out in their negotiations, I’ll be missing her like crazy, as will Karra and Muska.
In case she happens to read this before she goes, and I forget to say it in ‘real life’, have a safe journey, and I’ll give the kittens a hug from you before going to sleep 🙂
May 08 2007
Karra The Screen Blocker
If you check the older pictures of Karra & Muska, there was a time when Karra could monitor my work on the PC, without blocking the screen…
Not anymore, unless she has some room made for her, and is encouraged to lie down, my work suddenly comes to a halt 🙂
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