Happy Birthday!

Heath and Cali are one today! Hopefully I'll have a few minutes tomorrow to take some new birthday pictures, but for now, happy birthday to my beautiful, darling Maine Coon kitties!

Cats Play

How Big Is That Cat?

If they're Maine Coons, pretty big! Heath and Cali are just about two weeks away from their first birthday. As they are my first Maine Coons, I still marvel at how big they are. I was going to weigh them before writing this post, but both are sound asleep and don't want to be disturbed. (Cali is actually snuggled up, leaning on me)  Based on their most recent weights, within the last month or so, Cali is between 13 and 14 pounds, and Heath is between 15 and 16 pounds. Cali is a good sized girl cat, but is a petite girl cat next to her big brother. Now you hear stories of 30 pound Maine Coons, which makes 16 pounds not sound that impressive. I can tell you first hand that 16 pounds is a very big cat! My reading suggests that tales of 30 pound cats are generally greatly exaggerated. If not, the cat must be terribly fat. 20 pounds is a huge domestic cat. Even at 16 pounds, Heath is not all that graceful at times. Okay, husband just calls him clumsy. These are not lithe, agile cats. They more like the draft horse of the cat world. Heath and Cali can jump on the kitchen counter, but that is about the extent of their jumping ability. Actually, they've been known to miss, usually because of a pile of papers which makes them slip on landing.  (Did I mention the time I rushed Heath to vet with a swollen, hurt hock? Yeah, pretty sure he tried for the counter and missed.) Given that they are not quite a year old, I'm sure both kitties have a little more growing and filling out to do. With Heath's appetite, I'm trying to make sure he doesn't grow in the wrong direction. He is a very fine, big boy.

Postscript: We weighed the Coons. Heath is 15.2 pounds and Cali is 13.2 pounds.

Normal

It's been quiet around here this week. I realized that I'm way behind on posting about Cali's recovery. There isn't much to say. She is doing great. She is eating her normal food, and behaving in her normal way.  That is what this week has been. Our first week with two normal, healthy Maine Coons. I'm giving Cali her antibiotics, which she'll finish in another day. Otherwise, no worries about either kitty. What a relief! I guess we'll have to start thinking about normal cat things soon, but for now, it is wonderful just to have them here and healthy.

Brother and sister squeezed onto the cat tree that is barely big enough for one Coon, let alone two. It was a brief, but cute moment, and I managed to grab the camera and get a picture.

A brief moment of sibling harmony

Cali is home!

and she's doing great. I think Heath definitely had the sulks while she was gone. He seems happy to see her. I let Cali out of her carrier and she greeted her brother and the dogs. Then she went to check on the birds out the window. She hadn't been home 20 minutes before she was on the counter and having a little crunchy kibble snack. Now she's giving herself a good bath. I'd say she's going to be just fine!

Training the human

Heath will tell you that as a cat servant I'm sometimes a little slow on the uptake. Just this morning it took him hours of naughtiness and racing and banging around for me to get the message to get out a cat toy and play with him. He even had to resort to knocking magnets off the refrigerator, one of his less endearing little games, as far as I'm concerned. It did finally dawn on me that I should spend a few minutes playing with him. Of course, then I was trying to take pictures of him at the same time as I was dangling the cat toy. That's just how it goes.

Cali had her surgery yesterday. We thought she might come home today, but now it looks like tomorrow. She is not eating yet. From what I've read that is the hardest thing about this surgery, getting them to eat. I'm sure her mouth hurts a lot. I feel so bad for her. If you're inclined, a few prayers or well wishes for her to start eating and feeling better soon would be very appreciated. Heath particularly wants his sister home and well so he can quit having to teach the human servant how to play properly.

Enough with the camera, human. I'm hunting.

Crazy cat is triumphant! The prey is captured! (and the camera battery died)

Pictures

Heath seems to missing his sister. He is being more demanding, naughty, and a little clingy. I'm missing Cali, too. Here are some recent pictures.