rainbowtatt

A few weeks ago, Bear and Elvis were given an expensive sheepskin rug to trial.

Here’s what Bear thinks:

At first, Bear would only fight the rug; then he ignored our attempts to sweeten the deal by putting it next to the heater (and masking it with polar fleece and even his beloved $10 pet rug).

And Elvis? Oh, he won’t even acknowledge the rug. He stays as far away as possible.

So, um, sorry guys, the sheepskin rug is full of fail! Cats really do have a sixth sense when it comes to ignoring all the expensive shit you buy them.

Once upon a time, there was a black and white cat named Elvis.

Elvis’ favourite food was celery.

Elvis loved celery so much, he would spend most of his waking hours (not that there were many) looking for celery around the house.

Then one day, he thought he could see a stick of celery. Right at the top of his favourite tree!

“How am I going to get all the way up there?” wondered Elvis. For it was a very big tree indeed.

Elvis climbed up halfway up the tree. “I think I smell the celery!” he thought. “I must be getting close”.

Elvis leaped up to try to get to the celery. But he couldn’t quite reach it.

“Oh shit, I missed” thought Elvis. He tried one more time.

“Zomg, I’ve got it!”

Elvis was so proud of himself for finding the stick of celery all by himself. He sat on the tallest branch of the tree with his stick of celery. The celery smelled so good, it was the best celery Elvis ever had.

THE END.

Yesterday I heard about a couple who named their newborn baby Bear.

Bear.

As in, B.E.A.R.

This is not a bear:

This is a Bear:

I know I’m biased, but REALLY. The name Bear suits an animal much more than a human. Wouldn’t you agree? Plus, my Bear is adorable!

Do you know how hard it is to get a photo of a cat with its tongue out?

I was trying to get a photo of Bear adoring my Slanket as much as I do, but got his tongue instead.

Elvis has rediscovered the catnip-infused scratch box on the loungeroom floor:

Doesn’t he look “special?”

Suddenly it’s very hard to tell we have a red rug underneath all those nommed bits of cardboard.

Special mention to the blue bucket in the background of the pic on the left; my bucket that sits at the bottom of my leaky loungeroom wall a.k.a. The Water Feature. I know mentioning this will mean it won’t happen, but there’s a chance The Water Feature might get repaired on the weekend… almost 2 years after the wall first started leaking.

Elvis and Bear hardly ever acknowledge each other’s existence, except for the occassional cat fight.

Last night after a particularly feisty fight, the boys actually sat on the same chair, in the same room.

Amazing.

We are often asked by friends/family/work peoples how we’re going with Litter Kwitter training… 14 months in.

It’s been fucking awful at times, but at the moment I am very proud to stay that we have finally moved to the Intermediate Stage (Orange Stage, for those of you who know the lingo). This means  there’s enough of a hole that 75% of the time the boys are offloading into the toilet proper. The hole is only about 10cm wide, so that’s some damn good aiming going on!

For us, this is technically the 3rd stage since we bought the in-between stages 1 and 2 “ring” to help out since we have 2 cats (and one very stubborn one), and moving onto the official intermediate stage last week was the easiest transition we’ve ever had. No bribing, only a few tears… YAY US!

And now, visual evidence: I don’t have the stomach to video the event, but this photo of Bear is for Harriet, Cathy, Nat, Josh and eleventy billion other people who thought we wouldn’t get beyond stage 1. I ish proud!

Just to clarify, this was before The Event took place, so your eyes have not been tainted ;o)

Dear Bearenstein

Today is your fifth (35th) birthday. This is the date you were actually born, not the day your Dad spotted you at the pet shop and fell for you instantly, or the day we brought you home and made your brother turn into a bumbling mess.

You were so cute when you were a baby – I’ve just spent 10 minutes watching baby videos of you (Dad says I do this every year) and cried at how cute and small you used to be. And you had stripes! And crinkle cut fur!

Sometimes you’re outright stubborn, sooky or in the mood to get in mama’s way:

and you have very (very) strong opinions about the Litter Kwitter training. But you do try… sometimes.

Our snuggle times on the couch after dinner is my favourite part of our day – you get to nuzzle under my chin(s) and I get to sniff your fur, which is my favourite smell in the world, and the one I missed the most when I went to Europe at Christmas.

You’ve taught me patience and resilience and been the best bundle of fur we could have ever asked for – I can’t imagine my life without my Bear.

And yes, you will be getting kanga meat for dinner tonight.

Love, Mama

Dear world

I want you all to know that BOTH cats pooped int he last 24 hours, unattended, through the small hole of the intermediate disc of the litter kwitter.

They pooped on the bloody toilet!

So 12 months in, we’re finally looking like we might be able to get somewhere. My best tip at this point, use fresh meat as the reward scheme – works a charm!

I’m supposed to be washing my hair, doing the washing up, making my lunch for work tomorrow and etc before settling down on the couch to catch up on Daily Show and Colbert Report.

But I have to tell you about Bear pooping through a small hole above the toilet and his poop landing in the water with a big splash.

We moved to the intermediate orange disc (so step 1.5) for the first time since I went away in December/January. We’ve taken our time to get back to this point, and it seems to be doing the trick. Elvis is still the perfect trainee, but even Bear and his stubbornness has managed to deal with this stage this time ’round.

There’s still some work to go before we’re ready for the real intermediate stage, but we’re on the move.

The countdown is on for the end of kitty litter in our house. Bring it on.