Toy Baskets

I realized a few days ago that the cat toys were getting out of hand around the house. I have plenty of them in my room and in the living room, but there isn't really a dedicated spot for them. Previously we have been putting them on one of the tiers of the cat towers, but they get easily knocked off, the dogs steal them, and they loose precious cat tower space to lay on. I decided to look around for 2 bins (my room and living room) that were spacious enough to hold their toys, could be mounted (out of reach of the dogs), yet sturdy to with stand the bengals, and of course I wanted it to be cute. I settled on two different types of bins, but both have mini chalk boards on the front. I thought that would be fun to decorate so I bought them. The cats took to them right away. Getting in and out of the bins, rooting around for toys they hadn't seen in a while, etc. The white bin is on the middle level of the cat tower in the living room. I used 2 nails to secure it to the wall. It is also resting on the tower for added support, but does not interfere with the cats ability to play on the tower. The other bin is smaller, blue in color, and I cannot really mount it, however having it up high is not an issue in my room since my 2 dogs don't bother the cat toys (just the housemates dogs). Anyways, here are some pics of the cats enjoying the new bins.

Declan: WOW! we hit the jackpot guys.

Nori: I can't believe Rowan's name is on here first!

Declan: Oh my catness, another full bin!

Feather toy

Rowan was showing Declan his pro feather catching moves last night. Rowan reached new jumping heights. I tried and tried to capture some mid air shots, but I was unsuccessful. They had fun playing together. Rowan played so hard he was panting!

Declan's legs look silly as he tries to land

Beautiful day

Today was very cold, but the sun was shining for most of the day! I got to use my new camera outside for the first time and I think there were some good shots!

Little man is still too young to explore outside and boy was he bummed. He meowed quite a bit when he saw everyone outside.

Rowan: Brrrrr it is so cold! Look how silly my fur looks as I puff up to stay warm

Rowan: Can you see me?

Rowan: Can you see me now?

Rowan: Pretty cool trick, huh?

Nori: pshhh, I am not impressed!

Rowan: Where are all of the squirrel's?

Rowan: Ugh! Not filling their feeders isn't helping!

Nori: Gosh! All these pics, I hope you don't catch me looking silly...

Rowan: Enough with the flash!

Rowan: ahhh come on, grooming can't be that interesting

Rowan: What a fantastic day!

Declan's beautiful face

Queen Nori

This blog is dedicated to my Bengal boys, but I cannot forget about my Nori. She was here before the boys and the queen of the house. She is full of herself and a spit fire. She fetches and is obsessed with rabbit's feet and tape measures. She owns her own mini tape measure.

Cat eyes

Rowan: spotted brown Bengal

Nori: Lilac Siamese

Declan: marbled snow Bengal

Meet Declan!

The breeder I got Rowan from had another litter in October. This is the same litter Allie was from (see pic at bottom of the blog ). Since Allie went to live in Cali, we miss having the kitten around. The breeder still had two snow bengals left from her litter so Rowan now has a brother (same parents so technically they are actually related). One snow was spotted the other marbled. The spotted one had the Bengal-tude going on, the marbled was very laid back and content on being snuggled. Rowan is already very Bengal-fied, so i chose the marbled. His name is Declan (pronounced deck-lyn) and he is very snuggly. Now that he isn't hissing at the other cats, he is settling in nicely.

The boys had fun playing in the grocery bags....


Little did we know that Rowan had gotten into the unattended bag in the living room.......

As you can see, the carb coma quickly set in


.....but he is soooo darn cute, I can't even get mad!

Rowan strutin'

I started leash training Rowan about a month after I got him. I read that bengals can be flighty when let outside so I trained him on the perimeter of the house before allowing him to go out by himself. I live behind the highway and prior to him I lost a cat due to him hunting in the field near the highway and venturing too close to the road. Anyways I take him to a variety of stores and it has really helped socialize him. People love seeing a cat walking on a leash. Here are some pics of him visiting stores yesterday and today:

Checking out cat books @ Barnes & noble

Using the display of toolboxes at Walmart to check out the shoppers

Testing the durability of this chair (he liked it quite a bit)

Trying to camouflage in a cat tower at petsmart

Finding a toy he wanted at petsmart

Paw damage

Tonight we noticed little droplets of blood by the back door. Initially we thought one of the dogs had a cut, but after checking, none of the dogs were injured. I then checked Rowan and it turns out one of his back paw pads had a cut, I washed it out and it stopped bleeding. I locked him up in my room so he could lay down and stay off of it, but saw him sucking on it and pulling the pad away from his toe. I had to wrap his whole back foot to stop him. I had to use lots of gauze and cloth tape to keep him from pulling/shaking it right off, but I was able to secure it enough. I'll check it out tomorrow and if it isn't looking good I'll have to get him in to the vet. Overall he definitely doesn't like it but he is managing well. He, being a typical Bengal, just won't settle down though. He keeps trying to run up the cat tower...and apparently cats get very handicapped by having a foot out of order....just check out these pictures:

Can you tell how much he hates it?

Here he tried to climb the tower....

Almost makes it....

And down he goes, pride is slightly damaged....but eventually he retreated to my bed.