Tuesday, October 30, 2012

The Newest Addition

I'm sorry I haven't posted for so long, things have been very busy over the last month.  I recently got a new bernese mountain dog puppy and it's been a whirlwind to say the least.  Here are a few pictures of the girls meeting not-so-little Sophie for the first time.

Emmy had no reservations in sniffing out the new puppy
Allie was not a happy camper.  She swatted and hissed at Sophie
when she came close which is why she's keeping a distance in this photo.
Things weren't any better for Allie once she came inside.
But, within a few days Allie was fine and back to her attempts to
steal dog treats. :-)



Sunday, September 23, 2012

Tail Spin

Emmy is now a year and half, but suddenly she has just noticed that she has a tail.  Every morning this past week when I'd be getting ready for work, she would jump in the bathtub and immediately start going into a frenzied tail spin.  I don't know what it is about the bathtub that makes her want to do this, but she never gets in there now without getting in a few spins.  :)

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Mouse attack!

The girls have a mouse toy that hangs from a door or shelf and squeaks anytime they hit it.  I hadn't put it up for a while because it kept getting knocked off of the previous location.  I decided to put it back up today and of course Allie went straight to it.  Well, apparently the first time she hit it, the mount came off the shelf and must have hit her in the head because I found her and the toy in the dining room and she was squinting at it. After making sure she was okay, I put it back together but this time I hung it from the cat tree.  I figured it would grip the carpet on it a lot better than it could on the wooden shelf I had been using.  Well, little miss Allie wasn't going to let that mouse get the best of her, but of course this time she was VERY cautious about how she attacked.  Here are a couple of videos that capture her revenge!






Sunday, August 12, 2012

New toy day!

From time to time I will bring the girls new toys.  They only have a hundred of them but I still like them to have something new to check out on occasion as well.  Here is a short video of them checking out a couple of new toys.  Even though this was taken about a month ago, I still hear that silly bird at least once daily.

Monday, July 30, 2012

Where's Allie?

Remember that game called Where's Waldo?  Well, today's game is called "Where's Allie?"!  

Can you spot Allie?

Sunday, July 29, 2012

My little helper

No matter what I'm doing around the house, Allie is always right by my side.  If I go out back, she either meets me out there in the cat enclosure, or cries at the back door begging to go with me so that she can help me garden too.  When I get out a large trash bag and start filling it with trash, she has to get in there to make sure I'm not throwing out anything she might need, like a used zip tie or cardboard box.

Allie being silly

As I've heard with other abyssinians, Allie has absolutely no fear of water.  In fact, she's obsessed with it.  When I wash the dishes, she plays with the water.  When I bathe my dog, she's on the edge of the tub swatting at the sprayer as best she can.  She also loves to play with the water while she's helping me with the laundry.  I'm sure she thinks she's helping me anyways.  Here is a short video I took of her one day, testing the water temp to make sure it's just right.



Tuesday, July 24, 2012

My Favorite Sequence Shots

I'll let the pictures speak for themselves on this one. :)

One...


Two...


Three!


Monday, July 23, 2012

Fun in the Sun

These pictures and videos were taken during one of their first few times in the enclosure together.  They are also are some of my absolute favorite shots of my girls.  The natural lighting really brings out their gorgeous features.  Check out this action shot of Allie jumping over Emmy.  Talk about perfect timing!


And this is the picture taken immediately after Allie landed.  As you can see, her intent was to harass her big sis, as usual.


The girls were being so silly that I decided I needed to capture some of it on video as well.  I guess the nice weather brings out the crazies in the cats.  Enjoy!




Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Friendship takes time

Although Emmy and Allie are the best of friends now, it wasn't always that way.  It took Emmy about a month to learn to love her new sister.  Emmy was never mean to Allie in any way, but she quickly let her know that "personal space" was very important to her.  If Allie got too close, Emmy would growl or hiss.  With Allie being the little instigator she is, this would usually only entice her to pester Emmy more.  Eventually, Emmy would give up and go out in the enclosure where Allie wasn't yet allowed and couldn't follow because she hadn't been taught how to open the cat door.  That was just about the only way she got away from little miss trouble-maker.

One day, Emmy was taking a nap on the top deck of the cat tree in the living room.  Allie didn't realize she was up there and went running up the tree and jumped in the top before she realized Emmy was there.  At that point I think they were both so stunned that they just sort of froze.  I quickly grabbed my camera because this was the first time they had ever been this close together.  I know the pic and video isn't the best quality, but the expressions on their faces say it all.


Emmy was definitely curious about Allie and would follow her around while Allie explored, always keeping her distance.  Here is a video I took on the first day I let the two of them fully integrate in the house together.  You will see that Allie hisses a few times at Emmy, but that's only because Emmy was always hissing at her, so she was just learning from her big sis.

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

The Catio

As I've already mentioned, I have an outdoor cat enclosure for my girls.  In the cat world, this is also known as a catio (cat patio). I thought I should probably elaborate a bit more on this since people always ask me a lot of questions about it when they see mine.

I purchased my enclosure from the wonderful folks at Habitat Haven (www.habitathaven.com).  I very carefully measured the area I wanted it to go and designed a layout that would work using the individual pieces they sell.  There is a run that starts at the bedroom window where the cat door is located and it goes up and over to my fence.  I had to purchase the two-step piece in order to raise the run so that the run going along the fence was at the top of it.  I also have to go under the run to get to a small shed I have next to the house and I didn't want to have to crawl under it each time.  Here is a picture of my two on the stairs.  This was Allie's first time in the enclosure so the look on Emmy's face is "What is she doing on my catio?".  They weren't the best of friends just yet, but getting there.
Catio stairs with Emmy and Allie
At the fence, the run makes a 90 degree turn and goes 16 feet down to the large enclosure.  The enclosure itself is 4' wide, 6' long and 6' tall.  I purchased my own 12" wide cedar boards to make the shelves in the enclosure. I just felt the 8" wide were a bit small, even for dainty abyssinians.  I wanted them to be able to have plenty of space to sleep on them as well.  I also purchased the hammock which they love to sleep in as well.
The girls enjoying a snooze and cuddle in the hammock
Emmy in the run
Pic of the enclosure
You might also notice that I've added a cover over the enclosure and by the cat door.  I just purchased some plastic material at my local craft store (used for covering outdoor furniture), added grommets around the edges and zip-tied it on.  This has been great at giving them a little protection from the elements.  I wanted to use something clear so that they could still see through the top and this worked out perfect.

Although this type of system is not cheap, it is by far the best investment I have ever made for my cats.  I cannot recommend an outdoor enclosure like this enough.  It keeps them safe from predators, but still satisfies their need to be outdoors.  I'd love to eventually add on more and also include a section where they can actually lay in the grass.  Some day!

Monday, July 9, 2012

Up, up and away

As most people know, cats love to climb up to high places.  Well, this is especially true for the abyssinian, but Emmy takes the word "climbing" to a whole new level.  Instead of jumping over a baby gate like most cats do, Emmy puts her front paws over the top edge while slowly stepping up the lattice part with her back legs until she's on top of it.  Then she jumps down.  She also loves to climb the ladder-back chairs I have around my breakfast table.  The top of the chair is her favorite place to watch me while I'm fixing their breakfast or dinner.  I guess I need to get a picture of that to add, but here she is watching the birds outside through the slats.

Emmy watching the birds

Since abyssinians are such active cats, I invested in a very nice outdoor cat enclosure and set it up with a cat door in my bedroom window so that they could go outside whenever they want.  Well, it didn't take Emmy long before she realized she could climb the walls of the enclosure too.  Here is a picture and short video I took a while back of her climbing it.  I apologize that I filmed this in the wrong direction with my iPhone.  I was still learning at the time. :)

Emmy climbing

Saturday, July 7, 2012

Send in the Clowns!

Before we get into all of the antics, I wanted to tell you a little about each of my girls.  In order to enjoy the stories, pictures, etc., it helps if you understand a bit about each of their personalities, which are almost complete opposites by the way.

I got Emmy when she was six months old in October 2011.  I had picked out the name "Emmy" a few days before I got her, but wanted to make sure it would fit her before I decided on it for sure.  On the way home, Emmy flipped over in her carrier and looked up at me just crying away.  She was such a drama queen that I thought "Emmy" would work out just perfect for her.  Her favorite place to sleep that first week ended up being on the back of the TV in my bedroom as well. :)  Here she is on the first day home:

Emmy - 6 months old
Emmy is a very sweet and silly girl.  She is a bit timid when someone new comes over, but soon warms up and asks to be petted.  She is my love bug and is quite independent.  She often plays with her toys by herself but it also isn't uncommon for her to bring me one of her toys to throw for her from time to time.

I always knew that I wanted to get a second abyssinian because they are such an active breed and I thought would be better off having a companion to chase and play with.  So, my search led me to this little trouble-maker in January 2012.  She was only three months old when she came home and has been a mess from the start.  This little girl is into everything.  She is worse than my lab puppy ever was and will eat anything she can get her little paws on.  This time, I decided upon the name Allie before I got her.  I just think it's such a pretty name, but it soon turned to Allie-gator for this little monster.  She keeps me laughing all day and night and I wouldn't have her any other way.  Here she is during her first week home:

Allie - 3 months old
Allie is my little shadow.  If I open a door, she runs through it whether that be into another room, the refrigerator or one of my kitchen cabinets.  She is very dependent on me and cries until I make her toys move or get her more food.  She isn't afraid of anything and greets everyone that comes through the front door right away.  Although she is my trouble-maker, she is very much a sweetheart as well, but right now her priorities are toys and eating.  I call her my little piggy.

Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Introduction

Hello and welcome to my crazy world...life with two abyssinian cats!  I never realized when I got my two girls how insane life would become at my house.  Not a day goes by that I don't have some crazy story to tell about them.  I recently decided that I wanted to capture each of these moments in a storybook fashion, so I figured setting up a blog would probably be the easiest way for me to do that.  Even better, now I get to share my funny stories, photos and videos with the world and give you all a glimpse of what life is like with the most wonderful breed of cat, the beautiful abyssinian.

Introducing Emmy (left) and Allie (right)