Now & Then

Here are some pictures from when Rowan was a baby and where he is now. Pretty much all of his baby pics were taken on my cell phone so the quality isn't the best, but they are still cute!

And one of my favorite pis of him riding in the car as a kitten:

Rowan turns 1

Wow, Rowan is now officially an adult cat. It was a great first year. He does not replace Liam, but I am certainly glad I found him. He has made Nori complete again and she adores her Rowan. I originally bought Rowan by a chance encounter at a new pet store. Liam had been gone for a few weeks and Nori wasn't handling her best friend missing. He was the lone kitten in the cage, all brothers and sisters were sold. He was beautiful so I took him home.


Nori wished her best friend a happy birthday this morning with some morning love

I bought him 3 new toys that I tried to pick specifically for him based on what he usually likes.

First I have him a fuzzy mouse that had a rattle inside and a feather tail. Instant hit. Took it straight to the bathtub (one of his favorite places) and played with it. He held it in his mouth as he stared at Nori and Declan growling (it's his birthday, I suppose he doesn't HAVE to share if he doesn't want to)

This is what it looked like after less than 5 mins of obsessively playing with it

Then I gave him a catnip filled strawberry. He didn't touch it...lol I thought since he is head over heels for this fuzzy feathery catnip filled toy he might like this, nope.

Then I gave him a soft fuzzy and rattling ball, also a big hit.

Rowan: What else you got for me ma?

Finally I bought him a container of real dehydrated salmon

He was even nice enough to share with his friends

And the party wouldn't be complete without a party hat for the birthday boy

Doesn't he look so happy LOL

Killer

My neighbor's chukar escaped into our yard. At first we saw all kinds of feathers...

Then we caught Rowan playing with him, having a great time. The bird was still alive and I couldn't stand to allow him to tourture him. So as I was taking pictures, I had someone remove him from the yard.

I do feel bad for the bird, but I also know it is in his nature to hunt. Now that he has gotten one, he loves to sit on the fence and stare into my neighbors coop hoping another one will get out. They have chickens too and if he went into the coup I think the chickens would attack him.

Hopefully tomorrow I can finishing cat proofing the backyard so there will be less of a chance for this to happen again.

Back from vacation

I was on vacation last week as my parents were in town visiting. Boy did my animals hate me for leaving them. I never leave them, seriously, like never! I go on vacations and bring them with me....I've snuck the cats into several hotels...they travel pretty well. When I came back into town they really showed how much they missed me, especially the cats as I have never left them. I left Nori with a friend once but that was like over 1.5 years ago and never left her again so the bengals didn't know what the heck was going on. Now Nori won't leave me alone. She is my little spit fire sassy pants miss independent never wants to be held kind of cat. Now she is on my lap as much as she can! The pics below are of the last several days of her being super cuteness.

As I type this, she just hopped up on me! I love this cat! I know it seems silly, but this cat never wants to sit on my lap so its special!

Even Rowan spent some time with me

And this weekend had almost summer like weather! The cats and dogs were in heaven being outside and sun bathing

I even started a project to (hopefully) keep the cats inside the back yard. We tested them in the garden area and none of the cats were able to get out, however we will see what happens when its all done....they may get desperate and figure a way out.

Even Hunter missed me...well I think he did as he doesn't want to leave me room! Declan seems indifferent (which is so like him). He is maturing (getting neutered this Thursday) so he only seems to have one thing on his mind these days. I hope this stops soon, as he is being such a little sicko....non-stop sniffing/licking all the cats "you know whats" and doing crazy meows and calls (he is only 6.5 months old!)

Below you will see a pic of Nori from right before I left on vacation...I think she has some kind of allergy. She has been inside almost all winter (her choice) and then we had a nice day and she wanted to go out. When she came in she couldn't stop itching and rubbing her eyes. She made marks and scabs all over her pretty face. Now I have been keeping her inside to heal and all the scabs are gone and healing. She sneaks out occasionally, but as soon as she comes in I wipe her whole body down with a cold rag to help remove things on her fur that might cause her irritation. My vet referred me to a dermatologist today, but when I called they are not open on Mondays so I will try again tomorrow.

She is looking and wanting to go outside, but settles for my lap instead.

I took my parents to one of my favorite stores while they were in town. Its a local dog and cat emporium. They carry lots of speciality items for cats and dogs. I bought Allie (my grandmas bengal/Declan's sister) some of my cats favorite toys...you can see her sleeping with one of the toys I got her.

Gymnastics

Rowan has been CRAZY about being outside lately. Last week he didn't come home one night and left me worried sick! He came home today and jumped onto my clean bedding to clean his muddy feet...I was kind of miffed but now I think I know where he has been going all the time...

 Look at those splits! Clearly he has been learning gymnastics! 

I figured out how to do B & W pictures on my camera...it is about the only cool feature it has....but his markings stand out really well in B & W.

I also think Hunter wants to be my cat....he keeps coming in my room (which sends my cats over the edge) and plays with all their toys. He liked the feather hanging over the door the most

He was tugging so hard on it and trying to run away I was afraid the entire thing was going to come off my door and crack my LED tv so I hard to take it away. I even put him up on the cat walk, but he was too scared and jumped down.

Then I turned on the hexobugs and all the cats started playing. Declan was being so rude to Hunter and was so up tight about him being there he refused to play with them. But it seemed to settle the other cats as they were all too focused on the moving bug to worry about where Hunter was.

They will all be friends soon enough

Handsome?

Rowan is almost a year now and I am concerned he is becoming vain. I tell him all the time how pretty he is and now I think it is gone to his head. Each morning for the past week, he starts his day by getting on my bathroom counter and staring at himself in the mirror.

Boys will be Boys

Row and Dec battle it out...

In other news, one of my housemates got a 6month old kitten. He is 3/4 Bengal and 1/4 Abyssinian. His name is Hunter and the cats...well they are kind of adjusting =)

Worn Out

This is how my cats look after playing with their favorite wand toy "Da Bird"