Sun Puddle Royale: A Photostory

Batalo de la Sunlumo: Rakonto de Fotoj

Nia Hejmo: "home sweet home" = nia dolĉa hejmo / "useless" = neutila / "YAY" = JEJ

we live in a townhouse that faces South and that is attached to another townhouse on the East. on the West side of the house there are only TWO windows (excluding ones the cats have no access to). VERY LITTLE direct sunlight comes into our house.

ni loĝas en kunigita domo, kies fronto estas Sude kaj kies Orienta flanko kunigas kun alia domo. sur la Okcidenta flanko la domo havas nur DU fenestroj (ne inkluzive tiuj, kiujn la katoj ne povas atingi). EGE MALMULTE da rekta sunlumo brilas en nian domon.

this results in a lot of:

la rezulto estas multe da:

ĉi tiu lumo estas BONEGA kaj mi alvenis ĉi tie PLEJ FRUE, do ĝi tuuute estas LA MIA.

ĉiam Iggy PENSAS, ke ĝi estas lia.

kaj ĈIAM mi devas KOREKTI lin!

happy World Cat Day! / feliĉan Internacian Kat-tagon!

i didn't even realize it was World Cat Day until i went to the Cat Blogosphere! GAH!!

mi eĉ ni rimarkis, ke hodiaŭ estas Internacia Kat-tago ĝis mi rigardis la Cat Blogosphere! GAH!!

HAPPY WORLD CAT DAY EVERYONE!!
FELIĈAN INTERNACIAN KAT-TAGON AL ĈIUJ!

DENIAL / NEGADO

(jen la esperanta versio)

Irresistibly Sweet Blog Award

Tre Ege Dolĉa Blog-Premio

a few days ago i was awarded "The Irresistiibly Sweet Blog Award" by my friend Bryan at Bryan's Cats! if you don't already know his blog, it's about taking care of his 5 cats as well as the cats in his neighborhood. it's amazing how one person can take care of so many cats and the blog is a very interesting read. if you haven't already, please check it out. :)

antaŭ kelkaj tagoj mi ricevis la premion "La Tre Ege Dolĉa Blog-Premio" de mia amiko Bryan ĉe Bryan's Cats (angle)! se vi ankoraŭ ne konas lian blogon, ĝi temas pri zorgado pri liaj 5 katoj kaj ankaŭ la katoj en lia najbaro. estas mirindege, ke unu homo povas zorgadi pri tiom multe da katoj kaj la blogo mem estas tre interesa. se vi ankoraŭ ne vizitis la blogon, bonvolu viziti. :)

as part of the award, i'll share 7 (possibly) unknown facts + random photos with you! i will be focusing on Iggy and Iggy + Fae facts since not a lot has been shared about Iggy yet. also, i'm suppose to pass this award on to 15 people but i think 15 is an insane number, especially since i still don't know many people. i will instead pass it on to 5 (sorry!).

kiel la premio postulas, mi skribos 7 (eble) nekontatajn faktojn + afiŝos hazardajn fotojn! mi enfokusigos la faktojn je Iggy kaj Iggy + Fae ĉar vi ankoraŭ ne bone konas Iggy, ĉu ne? la premio ankaŭ postulas, ke mi transdoni la premion al 15 homoj, sed mi opinias, ke 15 estas freneza nombro! precipe ĉar mi ne multe da homoj konas. do, anstataŭe mi transdonos ĝin al 5 (pardonon!).

fighting / batalado

as you've seen in previous posts, Fae and Iggy have been getting along amazingly well. they both seem to really like each other and Fae seems to be particularly fond of Iggy. (CRUSH???) regardless of that, they do fight. usually it's just a play fight but sometimes play fights turn a bit more serious. usually it's Fae who is the first to take things too far and sometimes (more often than not) she's the one that starts a fight. i can't for the life of my figure out why. Iggy goes around grumbling & yowling a lot (i swear he is the LOUDEST cat i have EVER met), maybe he says something insulting to/about her?? lmao

kiel vi vidis en la antaŭaj blogaĵoj, Fae kaj Iggy tute kaj mirinde amikiĝis. ŝajnas al mi, ke ili ege ŝatas unu la alian kaj precipe Fae ŝategas Iggy (ĉu AMO???) malgraŭ tio, ili ankoraŭ batalas unu la alian. kutime la batalo estas nur ludo, sed foje la ludo fariĝas tro serioza. kutime Fae estas la unua fariĝi tro serioza kaj foje (pli ofte jes ol ne) ŝi komencas la batalon. la kialon mi tute ne komprenas. tre ofte Iggy grumblante kaj kriante iras tra la apartamento (li estas la PLEJ laŭta kato mi IAM renkontis), eble li diras insultojn al/pri ŝi?? mdr

anyway, here's a video of one of their favorite types of play fights: "Battle for the Tower". expect more and better fight photos/videos to come in the future.

ĉiuokaze, jen filmeto pri unu el iliaj plej ŝatataj specoj de lud-batalo: "Batalo por la Tur'". atendu por vidi pli bonajn kaj pli multe da fotoj(n)/filmetoj(n) pri iliaj bataloj estontece.

wordless wednesday / senvorta merkredo

"NEW FRIENDS"

"novaj amikoj"

OMG YAY! / HMD JEJ!

i had a post almost all typed up and ready to go when suddenly (because the other human suddenly let Fae out of a room) Fae and Iggy did something that made that post no longer worth posting!

mi jam preskaŭ fintajpis blogaĵo kiam subite (ĉar la alia homo subite malfermis la prodon de la ĉambron en kiu estis Fae) Fae kaj Iggy faris ion, kion fariĝis tiun blogaĵon negrava!

THEY HAD THEIR FIRST SUCCESSFUL FULL-ON MEETING!!

ILI SUKCESE RENKONTIS UNUAFOJE!!

i don't have any good photos because the suddenness of it and i had to keep a close eye on them, but they played with a ball together and ate treats together! it was short, but oh so sweet! i'm so happy that all of the other stuff i was going to post about can wait!

bonajn fotojn mi ne havas pro la subiteco de la renkonto kaj ĉar mi devis atentege rigardi ilin, sed ili ludis kune per pilko kaj kune manĝis iom da krommanĝaĵoj! la renkonto estis mallongtempa sed dolĉega! mi estas tiel feliĉega, ke la aliaj aferoj, pri kiu mi antaŭe skribis ne gravas!

except for the fact that Iggy has a vet appointment in the morning to clear up a minor case of the cat flu that he's caught from Fae. also, Iggy has successfully eaten his first two raw meals. 8)

krom la fakto, ke morgaŭ Iggy vizitos la bestkuraciston ĉar li havas la kat-gripon dank' al Fae. ho, kaj Iggy sukcesis manĝi krudan manĝaĵon unuafoje. 8)

Iggy goes exploring / Iggy esploras

enough with the walls of text! this post is going to be photo-heavy, so sorry to anyone with a slow internet connection. today Iggy got to explore the whole apartment for the first time! he was very nervous at first because he didn't know where Fae was until we showed him, but things went very well after that. :)

jam sufiĉas la teksto-plenigitaj blogaĵoj! ĉi tiu blogaĵo estos plenplena da fotoj, do pardonon al tiuj, kiuj havas malrapidan interreton. hodiaŭ Iggy povis esplori la tutan apartamenton unuafoje! unue li estis tre nervoza ĉar li ne sciis, kie estis Fae ĝis kiam ni ŝin montris al li. tamen, post tio ĉio bonege iris. :)

stages of acceptance / etapoj de akcepto

note: Esperanto is at the end. / notu: Esperanto troviĝas fine.

from the start we knew that if we got another cat Fae may not be happy with it. when we first met her at the RSPCA shelter it was obvious that she wasn't getting along with her penmate. i tried to not read too much into that, however, as i see that all the time while volunteering at the RSPCA and know that that doesn't always last. then there was the incident with the neighbor's cat where Fae literally went ballistic. since then, however, Fae seemed to calm down some and so when Fae started acting lethargic we held out some hope that a second cat could work.

so far Fae has been taking things remarkably well. :) i think Fae's feelings come and go in stages/waves.

1. the pissed off stage: wants nothing to do with you.
2. the angry stage: still very mad but reluctantly near you.
3. the unhappy acceptance stage: not so mad anymore but still very unhappy.
4. the acceptance stage: starts to act more like normal; even becomes curious.
5. ????

during stage 1 if we sat by her she would go elsewhere. she didn't even make direct eye contact with you-- talk about being given "the cold shoulder"! stage 2 seemed to begin when she reluctantly wanted to be near us again but still shunned the attention that we gave her. during stages 1 and 2 Fae didn't purr at all, which was very strikingly noticeable because she usually purrs a lot! it wasn't until stage 3 that she started purring a little again when food was involved. she also started to play again but her already rough playing became markedly rougher! it was to the point where biting often hurt even though no blood was drawn. i guess she was acting out her mixed feelings about things... now we have entered stage 4 where she seems to have come to terms with Iggy's permanent presence in her apartment. she is still somewhat apprehensive about it, but she hisses only sometimes now and she only distances herself from us occasionally. her purring and tail wagging are almost back to normal, thank god! i'd missed them a lot. <3 i wonder if stage 5 will be "ok, i'm ready to deal with him now"..? or perhaps that's stage 6 or 10.

today we seem to have made a lot of progress! we had already been swapping their blankets and had been letting them smell each other on our clothes, but this morning they swapped places to an extent. Iggy got to go in our bedroom while Fae investigated the spare bedroom (her favorite room) that Iggy had been staying in. Fae didn't seem very put out by Iggy's smell being everywhere, although Iggy was a bit antsy, presumably due to obviously being in Fae's space. they also saw each other through a crack in the door that was bigger than ever. out of about 6 crack-in-the-door meetings there was only minor hissing twice. very encouraging. :) i'm thinking that maybe tomorrow we'll put Fae in the spare bedroom and let Iggy fully explore the apartment. then Fae will have to start facing up to his smell being everywhere without having to face Iggy himself.

in conclusion, here's a short video of Fae play-biting. enjoy your weekend & thanks for reading!

(Esperanto is below / sube troviĝas Esperanton)

Iggy's first day / la unua tago de Iggy

Note: Esperanto translation is at the end. / Notu: traduko esperanten troviĝas je la fino.

all photos are from yesterday, Iggy's 1st day.

before bringing Iggy into the apartment, the other human went up and closed Fae in our bedroom. we still had nothing at all for Iggy, so he ran off to the petstore while i brought Iggy upstairs and closed us both in the spare bedroom (Fae's favorite room btw). of course Fae heard his arrival as he was very loud about it. ^^;

like Fae, Iggy loves his food more than anything.

immediately upon being let out of the box Iggy explored every place low & high in the room. places that Fae had never tried to reach or had reached with difficulty Iggy reached with ease! he's obviously an experienced climber and explorer. when we finally had dishes to give him food and water he ate as if he had been lost in a desert for weeks! i guess he hadn't been fed/given water that day...? he's currently on Science Diet because that's what the RSPCA feeds its animals, but i intend to transition him to raw as soon as i get our vet's approval.

anyway, eventually Fae was let out of our bedroom and she immediately went to the spare room door which had never been closed before. at one point the door was barely open a crack when both of them were at it and they both had their first good whiff of each other.

Fae's response: HIIIISSSSS SPIT SPIT BAM BAM BAM!! *attacks the door*
Iggy's reply: HIIISSSS *runs away under the bed*

poor Iggy got a little scare from Fae, but he quickly bounced back not overly fazed. he is use to dealing with other cats and has confidence. Fae, on the other hand, was very miffed and confused. she hasn't attacked the door again like that since then, but she does hiss & spit a bit whenever she's at the door and knows Iggy's on the other side.

anyway, Iggy's first night went fine. i discovered that: Iggy LOVES string; he is SUPER affectionate and is gentler about it than Fae (ie. no biting); he is VERY demanding about his food, just like Fae; his voice is very similar to Fae's. i spent the night in the guest bed with him curled up in Fae's favorite spot next to me under the blanket... i see fights over this in the  future!

yesterday went about the same except without Fae attacking the door. Iggy is pretty laid back (excluding food related matters) and is taking things very well. Fae, on the other hand.... i could write a whole seperate post on how Fae is handling things and i think i will. stay tuned!

in the meantime, if anyone has any advice on introducing cats to each other it would be much appreciated. we intend to take things slow but could use some ideas on how to progress with it. thanks in advance!

:(

(Esperanto translation is below / traduko esperante estas sube)