Good day readers, as I mentioned in my previous post one thing I would like to do is a weekly creature feature because I am absolutely blessed with creatures both indoors and out.
I thought it right to start with my two floofy overlords as they will indeed feature regularly as they do live with me at Witch Haven. It is like having two very excitable toddlers , with a little bit of an attitude issue. They are not my pets, but rather demanding roommates hence their title. They rule this house and the schedule.
So how did I become custodian / human slave to such glorious creatures I hear you ask…. Well about six months after losing my dog Jaydee of 12 years I was out with friends having a good time and my good friend Raeven told me that her cat Alice had unfortunately become pregnant before she could be spade. Worst yet it was by her own brother pumpkin, who knew cat incest is a thing.
I certainly didn’t but being every so slightly tipsy and missing the tippy taps of creature feet in my flat I blurted out …….
“I shall take two”
I still to this day think I was possessed or under the influence when I said it because I had never had a cat, my previous household always being full of dogs
We agreed that Raeven would keep them until the twelve week mark to see if Alice had more than two which two would be the best fit to stay together, thankfully from very early on it was clear Topaz and Opal wanted to remain together never really roaming far from each other while their ginger sister Polly stuck with Mum and dad. I did my best to kitty proof the flat of doom and get them all the mod cons and cat trees while Raeven did an absolute amazing job at getting the socialised and used to grooming and day to day life.
Finally we decided the flat was ready and the growing floofs were loaded into a cat carrier and brought to me. I was so nervous that they would hate the place or even worse me and that I could not cope with them , but from the moment they arrived they were absolute sweeties, they would climb all over me and have proper cuddles and run about the flat like crazies, zooming up and down the hallway.
Raeven did such a wonderful job of socialising them , and also training them to use a litter tray, they were so clean from day one. But also scared me by chewing on absolutely everything and scaling curtains and wardrobes ten feet off the ground.
Those early years were so much fun , seeing each of their personalities come out and for them to grow into these absolutely beautiful, handsome floofy selves. They are stunning , yes I am bias but they are really pretty and photogenic cats.
For their first birthday I even ventured on the bus into town to a local pet store that was offering free pet photos, you just had to purchase the prints and with some wrangling and effort from photographer waving toys and making noises I got some absolutely stunning portraits that fit both of their characters perfectly. I shall find out where those photos have gone at some point so I can share them , lets just say I have thousands of photos and videos of their daft behaviour and cuteness to share.
Topaz is my sleek and athletic fur snake, he makes his sister look huge , his tail is something to behold and he often gets the zoomies, he absolutely loves to bat about a ping pong ball but his upmost favourite to play and fetch is a piece of rolled up foil, can play with it for hours. He has glorious butt wings and is just so very regal. He is also extremely dumb, alas sisters Polly and Opal got the most share of the brain cells in the divide of the litter.
He does try his absolute upmost to bring love and humour to my day everyday and I absolutely adore him for it , he is struggling a little of late with some tummy issues which we are working hard with the vet to resolve, he is also having some fur matting issues as he doesn’t groom as much but I am making every effort to help with this , food and grooming wise.
I have numerous videos of him running about like a loon including one where he shouted no at me , I will of course share in the future.
Now Opal is large and in charge floofy cannon ball that defies all know properties being both a solid and a liquid and her personality certainly differs from her brother, she is aloof with most, but once she gets to know you she is an absolute cuddle bug.. (apart from my cleaner Hayley who even after 2 years she hates), she is very particular about everything , food dishes must be clean, water must circulate so we have a water fountain (3 different versions later) and all the toys must be able to be cuddle and snuggled like a baby.. not so keen on the flapping fish…
She does have the occasional zoomies but those are particularly on her terms and shall not be forced, you could wave a toy at her for hours and she will just stare… which leads to her other characteristic … the lurk .. she will lurk and stare at you for absolutely no reason and it can be ages before you notice and she just makes it a little creepy.
He absolute favourite thing is a good box or paper bag, something she can chew and generally destroy she adores, which when you are a paper crafter can make life a little difficult, her obsession with chewing and licking on plastic can be maddening .
She loves a good groom , not so keen on nails being cut with some choice growling but never swats , and sulks for a good hour afterwards, she will literally turn her back away from you in a frump, she will also randomly flop with a loud thud onto my floor to cool off in the hallway. Her antics have left me crying with laughter daily, she has this llama bunny hop she does I have never been able to capture.
It has now been 13 years of overlord rule , they make life worth living and glad to have them here. I will share their cat mods later in the blog , showing off their water fountain, cat tree, beds and of course their outdoor space the catio.
Over the years I have learnt much from them , no one warned me of the potential issues that come with floofy cats. The furnado , furpocolypse that occurs every summer when they start to shed, the amount of clothes I can’t get floof out of , the fact I can’t have tea towels because they are never floof free so we switched to blue roll.
The fur balls, and the poop issues, unfortunately dubbed poop fruit or dingleberries… yes its a thing , having a fluffy butt hole has its issues. We wont go into details but you can imagine. But with these very few cons they bring so much to my life it is easy to live with.
I never intended when I first got the cats that they would remain house cats, but as time got closer to the introduction to outside I became more and more apprehensive. I lived on a busy bus route and in a not so nice estate, the cats also being very friendly would most likely if asked to get in a strangers car they would hop right in
Also hearing from a friend that Polly and Pumpkin were decimating the rodent population of South Molten thought it be best to keep the kitties indoors.
I went all out with cat trees, toys and enrichment , with maze toys and snuffle mats, the biggest issue with indoor cats is bordem. I bring things in from the outside, we have filled tubs with leaves and snow and even grabbed couple of the giant pampas grass (OMG lesson learnt sooo messy) and the occasional feathers.
While I was in hospital my good friend Raeven stepped up again homing the cats with her three and shortly after they joined a rescue husky in her tiny flat so I didn’t have to worry about cattery fees, we did not intend for it to be so long but ended up being fivc very long months pushing my friends sanity to the limit , lets just say that that saga and drama will be for a later date and includes Topaz Yowling for days , fires, neighbour visits and even frog murder, this being the intro is enough for now.
They love visitors and are mostly vocal and friendly to everyone, we have had so many visitors at one point with me hosting some weekends we have put up the overlord rules to ensure their safety and my sanity. I chose to share these to finish the post so you get a better understanding of them and how they rule Witch Haven.
Leave a Reply