Thursday, January 31, 2008

Thursday Thirteen: The Humans Take Over

Thursday Thirteen
Teacher Julie tagged our humans to do the "7 Random Things About Your Pets" meme. So we are letting our humans borrow our blog for today to talk about us! We've also turned it into a Thursday 13 (+1) since there are two of us.

#54 - Random Things About Dragonheart and Merlin

Dragonheart:
  1. Dragonheart and MerlinDragonheart is a very good big brother. As shown yesterday, he lets Merlin walk on top on him and even lie on top of him when they are cuddled together in a lap.

  2. Dragonheart LOVES cleaning Merlin's ears. He grooms the rest of Merlin as well, but he is particularly interested in his ears.

  3. Dragonheart is a very good boy. He lets us bathe him, clip his nails, and clean his ears without too much fuss. He's also good at the vet, where he sits calmly and doesn't try to escape.

  4. Dragonheart and MerlinDragonheart loves to get up high. He loves to try to climb up to the highest point in the room. He also frequently tries to jump up onto our backs or shoulders. He seems to be teaching Merlin this trick as well.

  5. Dragonheart doesn't like being carried. He loves cuddling, but doesn't like being picked up and carried around in our arms.

  6. Dragonheart kneads us only in very specific circumstances. He needs to be comfortable in a lap and we need to be petting him through a fleece blanket.

  7. Dragonheart shares well. If Merlin tries to sneak over and get some of Dragonheart's food while he's eating, Dragonheart has no problem with Merlin sharing the same plate and eating some of his food.
Merlin:
  1. MerlinMerlin is a troublemaker! He definitely gets into more things than Dragonheart did at Merlin's age.

  2. Merlin likes to "fish" in the garbage for "toys" to play with, despite the fact that he has more cat toys than he could possibly ever want (many of them are put away in a box, and we put some away and bring out "new" ones that were in the box every now and then, to give them some variety.) He also tries to get the toilet paper out of the package in the bathroom. He seems to get into everything!

  3. Merlin LOVES to purr. We call him "Purr Monster" or "Purr Meister" because he purrs so easily. At the lightest touch, he will start purring. Sometimes he will even start to purr if you just get close to him. We figure his purr is a way of "making up" for getting into trouble. It's hard to stay upset at him when he is purring away for you.

  4. MerlinMerlin is VERY squirmy. Much more so than Dragonheart was at his age. He does not like having his ears cleaned or his nails trimmed, and he does not enjoy being bathed. He is always wiggling and squirming to try to get away from you when you are doing one of those things. He has managed to scratch us when we are trying to clean his ears or trim his nails (we wrap him in a blanket or towel, but he still manages to get a paw or two free to scratch - that's how much he moves and squirms!)

  5. Merlin loves yogourt. When one of us is eating yogourt, he tries to stick his head into the container to eat some. We let him lick the yogourt lids, and we share some of the yogourt on a spoon for him.

  6. MerlinIn contrast to Dragonheart, Merlin doesn't mind being carried. He'll happily purr in our arms and let us carry him around, unless he senses he's being taken to have a bath or unless we're picking him up to move him away from Dragonheart's food and back to his own food bowl.

  7. Merlin is teething, so he is chewing on absolutely everything! We've sprayed bitter apple on all of the exposed cords in the house so he doesn't destroy them or hurt himself. He has several kitten teething/chewing toys, but he also loves to chew cardboard. We have a couple of cardboard boxes in the family room and in the spare room (cat room) for the boys to play with, and Merlin also loves chewing them.

Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Meezer Rule Wednesday: Mom's Lap

Merlin: My Meezer Rule for this week:

It is perfectly acceptable to climb onto...


Dragonheart and Merlin
and over your sibling...

Dragonheart and Merlin
to get a comfortable spot...

Dragonheart and Merlin
on your mom's lap!

Dragonheart and Merlin(Click any photo to view a larger image)


Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Cats on Tuesday: Butterfly Toy

Cats on Tuesday We both love to play with the Butterfly toy we received for Christmas. Because it is on a thin wire, we only play with it under supervision. (We have a little bit of the "Goa'uld eyes" happening in these photos, because our humans needed to use the flash to keep us from being blurry, since we were moving fast.)

Ready to attack!
Dragonheart
This is fun!
Merlin
Come here!
Merlin
Gotcha!
Dragonheart(Click any photo to view a larger image)

Monday, January 28, 2008

Mancat and Meezer Movie Monday!

Here is a movie featuring both of us having lots of fun with the milk rings that Earl Grey, Tazo and Titus sent to us, along with their Christmas Card. We don't have milk rings here in Munich, since milk is sold in cardboard or glass containers. So we really appreciated this gift! They are so much fun to play with. Thank you EG, Tazo and Titus!




Sunday, January 27, 2008

Nickname Meme!

Meercat tagged us for the nickname meme.

Here are the rules:
Post a link to the kitty who tagged you, and post the rules on your blog.
List your real name, how you got your real name, nicknames you like/tolerate, and nicknames you wish your humans would stop calling you.
Tag several kitties, and write a comment on their blog to let them know they have been tagged.

DragonheartDragonheart:

Real Name: I have two real names. My registered name is HairNSkin Dragonheart (HairNSkin is the cattery name of my breeder). The name my humans call me is Dragonheart.

Named Dragonheart because: My breeder has themes for all of her litters. The theme for my litter was "Fairy Tales." She therefore chose to name me Dragonheart. (The theme for my sire's litter was Star Wars Cats, and so he was named Obi Wan Kenobi, and his littermates were Han Solo, Skywalker, and Yoda.)

DragonheartNicknames I like/tolerate: Dude, Dragon-Dude, Dragon-Cat, Little Guy, Big Guy (since Merlin is now the little guy), Handsome Fellow, Cutie, Cutie Pie, Cuddle Bug, Love Bug, Good Boy, Streaky (the Super Cat), Crazy-Cat, Crazy-Kitty, Sweetie, Silly, Silly Boy, Verrückt (German for crazy), Süß (German - literally, sweet, also means cute), Parrot (when I jump up to sit on my dad's shoulder), Spider Cat (when I try to climb the walls)

Nicknames I do not like: Stinky, Smelly-Cat (either of these when I break wind)

Merlin:

MerlinReal Name: Like Dragonheart, I have two real names. My registered name is Miraclelove Bijan (Miraclelove is the cattery name of my breeder). The name my humans call me is Merlin.

Named Merlin because: My breeder names all his cats after perfumes. My humans weren't fond of the name "Bijan", so, before they met me, they tossed around a couple of names that they thought might suit me, including Merlin, Ramses, and Yoda. They both like Merlin, since it went well with Dragonheart's name, and since our mom is a huge fan of the King Arthur legends and stories. When they met me, and spent some time with me, I told them that Merlin was my name. It suited me, and so Merlin became my name.

MerlinNicknames I like/tolerate: Dude, Psycho, Psycho Kitty, Psycho Kitten, Little Guy, Purr Machine, Purr Meister (Meister is German for Master), Adorable, Cutie, Cutie Pie, Streaky (the Super Cat), Crazy-Kitty, Crazy Kitten, Trouble, Verrückt,

Nicknames I do not like: Stinky, Smelly-Cat (it's not my fault I can be stinky at times, when using the litterbox, or breaking wind), Piggy, Four-legged Stomach (hey, I'm a growing kitten, and we Sphynx have fast metabolisms), Little $h!t (when I do something bad, like getting poo all over the house, or scratching mom or dad when my claws are being trimmed or when I'm being bathed, but it's always said in a joking or loving way)

Saturday, January 26, 2008

Photo Hunt: Old Fashioned

PSHunt

Old Fashioned

This week's theme was hard for us, because we Sphynx are the opposite of old-fashioned! We are still a fairly new breed - the first Sphynx was born in 1966. Also, we are indoor-only cats, so we don't have any old-fashioned toys (ie. real mice or other animals). Our food isn't old-fashioned either - Dragonheart eats prescription venison food, and Merlin eats 100% organic, 100% hormone-free, 100% antibiotic-free, and grain-free food. So, we aren't old-fashioned at all.

Finally, we found this photo in our humans' photo collection. They were in Prague in March 2007 to run a half-marathon. This is a photo of the Astronomical Clock in Prague. And old-fashioned way of telling time! (Although quite modern when it was built in 1410!) You can find more information on the Astronomical Clock here.

Prague Astronomical Clock

Friday, January 25, 2008

Frootbats x2

Here are a couple of photos of us enjoying the sun. :) As you can see, we both really like to lie on the fleece pad that Kaze sent to Dragonheart from the Siamese Cat Rescue.

Merlin: I am growing and growing, and my points on my face are becoming darker and more noticeable all the time! I'm still a lot smaller than Dragonheart, but I'm certainly larger than I was when I first came here. I like to eat all my kitten stinky goodness, and then I like to go and eat Dragonheart's crunchies. Vishus deer is very yummy! But when I try to eat Dragonheart's food, mom or dad brings me back to my plate, and gives me some more food if I need it. I eat some of my kitten crunchies, but I really prefer my stinky goodness, or Dragonheart's crunchies.

Merlin

Dragonheart: While I love having Merlin around - it's fun having someone to play with and curl up with - the crazy kitten seems to think that everything in the house belongs to him! I've had to properly educate him that, in fact, not everything belongs to him. He also likes to climb on top of me when I'm in mom's lap, and either sit closer to her in her lap, or lie down on top of me. I usually don't mind - when our mom sits with her legs extended and propped up on another chair, or on the couch with her legs extended, there is room for both of us.

Dragonheart(Click either photo to view a larger image)

We have to apologize for all those who have presented us awards in the last little while. Our secretary has fallen down on the job, and has lost the list she was keeping of who presented us with which award. So we are very sorry that we haven't acknowledged your wonderful awards. We do sincerely appreciate them and we are very honoured to have been presented with them. We promise to meow and meow at our secretary the next time we are honoured with an award, so that she takes care of it right away.

We have also been told that some people have problems accessing our blog in Internet Explorer. We have tested it in IE (although we use Firefox as our normal browser) and we have no problems viewing it. Still, we will try to get our secretary and coder to look at the code again on the weekend, or else try a new template. In the meantime, we would strongly recommend using Firefox. It is a great browser! It implements CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) so much better than IE.

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Meezer Rule Wednesday: Love The Sun!

Merlin lying in the sun
Whenever a human lap isn't available to curl up in, try to find a nice, warm sunny spot to lie in. Lying on a soft surface is also encouraged, whether it is a Gizzy quilt, a fleece pad, or other nice, soft object. After all, all items in the house belong to the cat with the points, regardless of what any other cat in the house might claim.

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Cats on Tuesday: Toesday

Cats on Tuesday Here is a comparison between our back paws. As you can see, Merlin has brown paw pads, whereas Dragonheart's are two-toned: pink and dark brown (the brown on Dragonheart's toes is part of his colouring - it's not dirt. :P)

Dragonheart's Toes:
Dragonheart's Toes
Merlin's Toes:
Merlin's Toes(Click either photo to view a larger image)

As you can see from these photos, we Sphynx have paw pads that are thicker than the paw pads of most other breeds. Some say this gives us the appearance of walking on air cushions. In fact, the CFA Sphynx Breed Standard states:
Paws are oval with well-knuckled toes; five in front and four behind. The paw pads are thick, giving the appearance of walking on cushions.

Monday, January 21, 2008

Mancat Monday: Remembering Caesar

In Loving Memory, Caesar(Created with Kitty Doodles by Patricia Christensen)

Caesar
, a dear friend and wonderful kitty, has gone to the Rainbow Bridge. He went to sleep and never woke up. Caesar, you will be missed. We loved you very much.

Your family has our deepest and most sincere condolences. You were well loved and you are now an angel at the Rainbow Bridge. We know you brought your family much joy, and had a wonderful life full for happiness and love. You also brought joy into the lives of your friends, and our lives are the richer for having known you.

Please go and leave a word of condolence on Caesar's blog, for his littermate Prinnie, and the rest of his family. We are sending our love, hugs and purrs to them.

Sunday, January 20, 2008

Caesar, You Will Be Missed

Caesar, a dear friend and wonderful kitty, went to the Rainbow Bridge last night. He went to sleep and never woke up. Caesar, you will be missed. We loved you very much.

Your family has our deepest and most sincere condolences. You were well loved and you are now an angel at the Rainbow Bridge.

Please go and leave a word of condolence on Caesar's blog, for his littermate Prinnie, and the rest of his family. We are sending our love, hugs and purrs to them.

Easy Like Sunday Morning

Merlin: Dragonheart seems obsessed with cleaning my ears, so I decided to try cleaning his ears, to see what the fuss was all about. Cleaning them once was fine, but I don't see myself making a regular habit of it.

Merlin cleaning Dragonheart's Ears(Click photo to view a larger image)

Dragonheart: Yes, I let the little guy clean my ears. He did an okay job, for a kitten. Unfortunately, he didn't clean them well enough to keep our humans from cleaning them yesterday, when we had our weekly baths. I have to confess, I wasn't very good when I had my bath yesterday. Normally, I sit fairly quietly, and let my humans bath me. Merlin is the squirmy one. Well, yesterday, about half way through my bath, I tried to climb out of the tub by climbing onto my mom's back. That wasn't a very good idea, since my dad wasn't very happy with me after that. Our humans are wondering if Merlin's being a bad influence on me, since normally I'm such a good boy at bath time.

Friday, January 18, 2008

Two Frootbats on Friday

Merlin: My points are starting to become more noticeable, especially on my face. It's kinda hard to see in photos, but in person you can really see the Seal Point colouring on my face, especially where it borders the white patches in my colouration.


Dragonheart: I am back to my normal weight now, having regained the weight I lost when I had my fever two weeks ago. I am still eating voraciously though, especially at night. Although I seem to have developed a preference for my crunchies over my stinky goodness. I no longer try to eat Merlin's food, but he still tries to get into mine, so mom or dad has to watch over him while he eats, and shuttle him back to his plate when he moves toward my stinky goodness.

(Click either photo to view a larger image)

Thursday, January 17, 2008

Thursday Thirteen: Things We Do Together

Thursday Thirteen#52 - 13 Things We Do Together

(Click any photo below to view a larger image)


1. Cuddle

2. Play

3. Groom

4. Sleep

5. Wrestle

6. Drink from our water fountain

7. Curl up in a sleeping bag

8. Burrow under the covers

9. Curl up in mom's lap

10. Get comfy on dad's lap

11. Chase each other throughout the house

12. Sleep next to our humans in bed at night

13. Blog and visit our friend's blogs