Exotic Shorthair Chester: Today I bought dusting wipes - for the cat

Chester began living in his new forever home on Father's Day of 2011 so there's much more to tell. I'm going to interrupt with an update on some more recent adventures.

Chester became very interested in the tv chest in the master bedroom. First, he attempted to jump into the small shelf in the middle and when that didn't work he leapt in front of the tv. It wasn't such a great place for him, though - something about there not being enough room for both him and the tv. A. and I moved his cat tree (which wasn't getting much use) into our bedroom. And voila he climbed onto it immediately! The next day, I shifted the position of the tree because the openings of the condo faced the wrong way. I also moved the tree closer to the armoire because it looked better than way. A. wasn't thrilled with the change because he thought the cat would jump onto the top of the armoire. But Chester hadn't been the best jumper in the past, I argued, so he knew better than to do that.

Last night when I came home I discovered a trail of dust left by Mr. Kitty (Chester's current nickname when he's not going by "The Kitty") indicating something happened. Clue #1: Two dense, flat pieces of dust (that looked like grey packed snow) on the floor of the bedroom, between his cat tree and the tv armoire. Clue #2: Three lighter pieces of the grey dust on the top tray of his cat tree. Clue #3 (This involved getting on a step ladder to view) paw prints in the dense dust on the top of the armoire. A. came home from a business trip close to 11:00 PM so I didn't clean the evidence so he could see for himself and we could both have a laugh.

This morning as I'm brushing my teeth and walking out of the bathroom, there's Mr. Kitty on the top of the armoire (!), sitting and looking very proud of himself.  So now I really need to clean the top of the armoire. I collect a Swiffer cloth,  dustpan, and step ladder.  And yes, you can probably guess where this is going as I climb and dust. Of course - Mr. Kitty lays down at the edge of the armoire in the not-snow and wants to play! I tried to clean The Kitty with my hands as best I could in the one minute I had left before I had to finish getting ready for work.

During lunch I went to Petco to purchase a slicker brush since Mr. Kitty is shedding his winter coat. And that's where I discovered - and bought - cat dusting cloths!

Exotic Shorthair Chester has other ideas

Chester arrived on Sunday and by Monday morning he wanted out of the safe rooms! I let him out for "supervised visits" to the kitchen/dining room/living room of our apartment before I left for work and after I arrived home. My husband (he doesn't have an internet presence so I won't be using his name) wasn't thrilled that I wasn't following the plan and letting him out of his rooms, but on Tuesday A. was ok with the boy hanging out with us in the living room at night. Now we had to cat-proof the rest of the apartment quickly instead of in the two weeks we thought we had!

Exotic Shorthair Chester likes his new home

Even though Chester's arrival was delayed by a day, we were still so happy to have him in our lives.  He seemed to be content - he had both a vertical scratching post and a horizontal one, toys, a cat bed and 2 rooms. He even loved the rug! Plus he wasn't bothered by the sounds and smells.

But the bittersweet fact for us was that the boy came to us on a Sunday afternoon,  soon it was evening, and the next day was work. I had more time before work than my husband and visited Chester. He was an unbelievably happy cat

Making Exotic Shorthair Chester feel welcome and comfortable

After Chester meditated (or whatever it was that he was doing!), he was ready to check things out. My husband was following my lead on what to do. After all, I grew up with cats! I said we should each introduce ourselves by taking turns rubbing his cheeks.

I was expecting Chester to run for cover under the futon after that. The cat expert at the cat show said Chester would be afraid to be in a new house and that he needed a safe room - well, in our case two safe rooms - and experience taught me that's what cats do. And...

poor Chester

 this was his third home, he was all ready to board a flight and then was bumped, and to make matters worse, he had to be separated from the other cats at the cattery the night before for fighting!

Well, he didn't hide under a bed...

Check out new videos of Exotic Shorthair Chester on his YouTube Page!

There are 4 new videos of Chester up on his YouTube page! Two of them have finished editing but you can get a sneak peak at the other two!

Click the link to go to the video of Chester the cat eating his hard food!

Exotic Shorthair Chester: A Safe Room

A couple of weeks before Chester arrived to his new home, we attended a cat show in Connecticut. A Persian breeder provided us with some advice on cleaning flat faces and getting Chester acquainted with his new surroundings. She strongly recommended a safe room - usually a bathroom - where he could get used to the environment, including sounds and smells. We didn't like the idea of keeping him in a bathroom so we decided that he would stay in a bathroom and our second bedroom.

Chester re-hydrates

The boy drank so much water that he needed 3 or 4 refills. My husband thought it would be a good idea to put ice cubes in the water - so the water was nice and cold.

Finally, Chester was ready to really meet us!

Then he needed to rest.

Exotic Shorthair Chester: Not looking like a cat!

In order to go on the plane, he wasn't able to eat or drink for a few hours. Chester started panting after this picture was taken. We stopped taking pictures in our apartment building's lobby in order to give him food and water.

Who is Exotic Shorthair Chester?

Who is Chester do you ask? He's an exotic shorthair now living in New York City, originally from Florida and Nashville. 

We were planning on picking him up from the airport but he was bumped from his flight! The handler delivered him to our apartment the next day.

He looked kind of weird-what was with his tongue?

He was thirsty after a long flight!