Exotic Shorthair Chester in "Massage Cat"

Chester here! I highly recommend my video called "Massage Cat". Be careful, though - it's so relaxing that you might fall asleep like I did!

Mom is very thankful today

This entry almost never happened. I actually did walk away from the computer after thinking that my heart isn't in the same place as the one that started this blog. But then, I thought about the happiness Chester and Garfield have brought into my life and realized that I'm so thankful that they are part of our family. 

Part of the reason why I started this blog was to share pictures and videos of Chester but both cats are so much more than the "cute" I originally wanted to feature. Chester and Garfield have been there for me and I for them and I love them so much.

Both cats come to my husband and I after we come home from work. And if we don't shower them with affection immediately, they follow us around until we respond. Chester currently likes to lick my fingers and flops on his side for my husband to rub his belly. Garfield prefers to sniff us and I'll pet the base of his tail and around the sides of his mouth and underneath his chin while my husband takes out a toy for Garfield to chase.

 This is a video from March 2012 of Chester saying hello when I come home from work

After we've all settled in, well, Garfield wants to play! Chester doesn't have Garfield's energy and he'll either watch from a vantage point of a box or a blanket after a nice kneading session, but lately he's been joining Garfield in the fun.

So thank you Chester and Garfield for being part of my life and my husband's, too!

Copy cat Garfield

Meow, meow, mew, mew. Where is everyone? Hi there, I'm Garfield! Meow, meow!!


.......

Thanks Garfield. Chester here! Garfield got bored and went to look at birds out the window.

In my last blog entry, I posted a video of me licking mom's finger and getting a face rub and then Garfield walked in front of my face and I sneezed and sneezed!

Mom felt bad and gave Garfield a face rub, too. So here's a video of Garfield, getting a face rub!

The Kid sure likes attention - he even started meowing when dad was watching a concert video of some band called Depeche Mode! Do you think Garfield can be a lead meower in a band?

An update from Chester and a new Chester video.

Exotic Shorthair Chester here!

Wow, Mom stayed home with me all of last week and daddy was also home for a few days. There was a very bad storm but we were lucky - it only made our apartment sway and creak. Once, mom started to close the window shade but I got worried so then she closed it only halfway. This is me relaxed that I can look outside (if I wanted to).

This is me and The Kid after the storm.

And this is The Kid sleeping after mom played with him. She couldn't go to work for a week because the power was out in the building where she works!

I haven't been posting many new videos featuring me so I thought I'd post a new one in which I clean mommy's finger. Also, if you ever want to see *all* of Garfield and my videos, you can see them on my YouToob Channel called ChesterSmooshyFace .

Garfield the Cat's makeover: 4 months later

Janna here for Chester who is sleeping right now. It's been over 4 months since Garfield became a member of our family and you'd never know by looking at him now that he was once a neglected cat. His fur has grown in beautifully and I wanted to document the dramatic "after". Just a note that I refer to his toy as "Da Bird" - of course it's the mouse by the same company!

Garfield...less wrestling, more litter boxes, and Mastering Da Bird

Chester here! There have been some changes apaw.

The Kid (Garfield) isn't wrestling with me as much as before (this is very good). Ma is hoping it's the Bully Remedy .One of the humans who looked after me and The Kid when the folks were away on holiday last week believes it cuz Garfield had to depend on me while ma and dad were gone. I'm just glad he's letting me nap and stare at ma like BG (before Garfield).

The other news is that Garfield now has two new litter boxes of his very own. When mom and dad were away, he started pooping behind one of the bathroom doors!  So now there's one box behind that door and one box in the bathtub (the humans drained the water - you can see this blog post for some background on the water in the bathtub). Dad isn't thrilled with the litter box in the bath but mom says she'd rather have Garfield using a litter box in a bathtub than using a rug as a litter box.

Amidst all of this new stuff, The Kid has mastered Da Bird - I think he's now better than me. Here's another demonstration, but put your volume down because it has a loudish and punky song:

Chester explains "good water"

Chester here! For a long time, my daddy wanted me to tell you about good water.  Today is when I'm going to tell you about good water and bad water.

See, bad water is located right next to the food in the kitchen. There's a HUGE chance that it will get dirty. And now that the Padawan cat learner is here, there's a worse chance than ever that the water will get yucky. We haven't gotten to the lesson on how to eat delicately, so he'll drop his food and then eat it off of the floor - ON PURPOSE!  Look at his face at the mention of  bad water. As you can see, even an apprentice cat won't touch the bad water.

Now, I'm going to tell you a story about good water so it helps you understand what I mean. It was my first New York City winter...and I was cold. I would sleep in mommy and daddy's bathroom on their soft bathmats to stay warm. One night, I woke up - not looking forward to the icky water - and there was a bowl of water a  few paws'-length away from me! I thought maybe I was having a dream but when I went to drink it, it was real! It was clean and fresh and I was so happy! Ever since then, I always go to the good water when I'm thirsty. (Dad put the water in the bathroom so Chester wouldn't haven't to walk to the kitchen for water when he was sleeping in the bathroom. By accident, we discovered what cats do in nature for water - they go to a stream or some other source of water, far away from their kill - mom.)

Mom tried to record me drinking good water - she doesn't understand I can't drink if someone is filming me! But here you can see how the water is in the bathroom, and not next to my food in the kitchen.

My son, grandaughter, and The Kid (Garfield)

Chester here! Marla - who owns my son Guillaume and my granddaughter Guinevere - was in New York last month and visited with mom and dad. I was kinda sleepy (she was over during my afternoon nap) so Garfield entertained in my absence. 

He tried out some of the catnip foil balls she brought as a gift:

Wow, what a great toy!

I'm sure you're wondering what the kitties look like - here are some pictures of them and their buddy Miette!

Guillaume and Miette

Guinevere and Guillaume

Guinevere

Guillaume. They have my good looks and catitude!

Which brings me to the one that mom calls Padawan and I simply refer to as The Kid - Garfield.

He has gotten his cat legs and wants to play - all the time. I'm glad he's acting like a cat and that he can jump so high with Da Bird but he wants to play at 11:00 in the morning and 11:00 at night. Did I mention who he wants to play with - it's me. He forgets I'm retired and like to sleep. Mom and dad bought something called Bully Remedy in the hope that he chills out a little. The Kid was also pooping and peeing in the bathtub that is next to the litter box. Dad did some research and mom had to buy something called Urine Destroyer. After they cleaned out the tub, mom and dad also filled it with water. That did the trick! And luckily for them, this is a guest bathroom so they don't wash up in this bathtub.

I would like say that is all for now but I have the very worst news of all. Garfield has something called Giardia in his system...and now I have it! We are not showing any symptoms but we have to take some medicine from this plastic thing and it tastes terrible, I dribbled it a couple of times on my ruff, and once I teared up once because I didn't want to take it and mom and dad made me do it. Garfield kind of looks forward to it because I go first and he likes to copy me. And he loves to eat so he thinks it's food. He resists swallowing it once he realizes it's not something to eat - but he doesn't hate it like I do. (Tonight is the last dosage - mom).

Things are getting back to the way things were BG (before Garfield). I'm back to kneading my fleecy blankies on the couch. I've even started to hang out in the bed with mom and dad at night on the blue fleecy blanky. Best, though, is that I'm playing more than I used to. Maybe that Bully Remedy is working after all because The Kid doesn't try to play when the toy is clearly meant for me.

Garfield the cat's makeover!

Chester here! Mom made a nine-minute short video with Garfield about this first bath. They are in the bathroom 'cuz this is before I said it was ok for him to come out into the rest of my apartment. I hope you like it even though I'm not in it.

How am I doing?

Chester here. My secretary has been neglecting her transcribing duties but she finally set aside some time for me so I can update my blog!

So there's this other cat - Garfield - living with me and my humans now. I know what you're all thinking...how am I doing?  Well, thank you for your concern.

At first I was pretty mad - who was this smelly cat behind the door in that small room where I sometimes wait for ma and dad?

Then I was perplexed.

Then I was pleased. Does this look familiar - it's in the picture above this one. They bought it for him - don't I look good sitting on it?

The thing is - this guy is no threat to me!

Actually, I've taken him under my paw. He needs a lot of help

About his dirty and smelly coat. I like to think I had something to do with him getting help. I took one whiff of his tail after his first bath (the one where he was covered in something called Fast Orange grease remover and then shampooed) and bit him on the back. Guy - do something with that stinky tail!

His tail needed to be cleaned again with the Fast Orange to get rid of that odor. After that, ma and dad washed his tail again with a stud tail creme to loosen more dirt and bathed him a few days later with a shampoo for oily coats. Finally - they got him really clean. Here's the kid after his last bath (he looks good, huh?)

Garfield demonstrates how to play with Da Bird

One of the fun things about being a house cat is that you can play with Da Bird.

Garfield demonstrates:

Garfield's New BFF Chester

Mom Janna here. Just to wrap up Garfield's story, after about 3 days it was clear that the boys were on the road to getting along. Neither Chester nor Garfield wanted to do a slow introduction so we accelerated the process so that each step took a day that the cat behaviorists recommend to follow for a week.

Garfield was dropped off to us on a Monday and we decided to take him to Chester's vet on the Saturday when Chester was scheduled for his yearly check up.  The vet confirmed that Garfield was healthy, even more so than Chester who has small nostrils and meets most criteria of brachycephalic syndrome, or not-so-great breathing because of his flat face. I contacted Lisa and informed her that all was working out and could we complete the adoption process. She congratulated me and informed me that because I already filled out the forms, paid the adoption fee, received a copy of Garfield's earlier pet visit report, and my references checked out, that all was done.

We are all still adjusting to having Garfield as a member of our family, but since so many of you were hoping they would get along, I wanted to share some photos of the boys together:

Garfield the Cat: A two-week test

In the previous entry, Garfield's rescuer (Lisa) wanted to drop him off for a two-week test...that day. It's not that we didn't want to welcome Garfield into our home, it's that we didn't expect him to come into our lives before we bought his food, another litter box, and set up a room for him. We also needed to read up a little on introducing a new cat to Chester. And we had to mentally prepare for a new cat. I asked if he could be dropped off the next evening instead to which she agreed.

I learned a few things when Lisa dropped off Garfield. Other people were interested in adopting Garfield but  our experience with the exotic shorthair breed helped to make us the number one choice. I think Lisa also liked our family situation in that we don't have kids but consider our animals as our children. She saved Garfield from such a crummy situation and he has such a good personality that she didn't want to just leave him with anyone.

I already posted one video of Garfield. I made a few of these because I don't remember as many details as I would like about Chester's first days with us and I wanted to have a better record this time. This was happening so fast and there was so much to tell, I wanted to get it all down in my own words but in the quickest way possible.

Here's Garfield's first video:

Garfield the Cat: Decisions

Walking home, I started whining that I felt bad for Garfield. Andy knew where this was going so he went through a very long and persuasive (and sometimes ridiculous) list of reasons why he would make someone else - but not us - a good cat. This list included: he would scratch up the furniture, how do we know that he is housebroken, what if he doesn't use the litterbox, Chester hates other cats, Chester will beat him up, one cat is enough, what if I'm allergic (Andy has severe asthma and allegies and is allergic to cats - but not to Chester), etc.

At home, I posted pictures (with captions about Garfield along with contact information) to social networking sites and contacted other bloggers in the NYC area. I even e-mailed the links to the rescuer to show her that I was making good and publicizng Garfield.

I woke up in the middle of the night and wept about the cat - his plight and that I couldn't help him. Then, I made a decision - I e-mailed the rescuer and told her that I wanted to be considered as someone who could adopt Garfield and could she bring Garfield over for a couple of hours to see how he and Chester got along.

Not only did I receive a yes answer the next morning, but Lisa offered to drop Garfield off that day for a two-week stay!

Garfield the Cat: Can Someone Adopt Me?

I couldn't include a cliffhanger in this story if not for us ultimately adopting Garfield ;)

Our next stop was to be an appliance store to browse at washing machines and dryers, but I asked my husband if he wouldn't mind us stopping to check in on the cat.  Very quickly after returning, a couple of things happened.  Andy said I should share pictures of the cat on social media sites on which I participate. The other thing is that I started rubbing the kitty's cheek at which point he did a big stretch (that's my hand!)

I had asked the woman (Lisa) who was in charge of the kitty if all of this was ok before I started shooting  away with my iPad's camera. I also explained that my cat is the same breed and he has a small but passionate following on the internet.

I soon learned that the cat was named Garfield, he had all of his shots and was healthy (she wrote down all of the details of the tests for which he tested negative), he was neutered, and had been living in the basement of a 99 Cent store in the Inwood section of Manhattan. To emphasize Garfield's plight, Lisa said that he was treated like trash. The previous owner was a cashier working in the store and it was she who surrendered the cat to the rescue organization. The cashier's daughter adopted the cat while she was at college in a town an hour north of New York City. The girl brought the cat back home with her but ended up not going back to the school. The mother became the cat's caretaker and really did the best she could. She took the cat to work with her but the store manager did not want the cat on the sales floor so he was banished to the basement. The rescuer lived in the same neighborhood as the store and intervened on behalf of the cat.

Just an aside that as I write this, I still have a hard time dealing with how Garfield must have been living. Persian and Exotic Shorthair cats are bred as indoor-only cats and Garfield was made to be the store's mouser. He lived (for a cat what might be akin to) how Charles Dickens described the conditions of the poor and orphans in the England of his time; the Garfield we adopted was filthy, smelled bad, and was underweight.

He relished the times we visited him in the bathroom where we kept him until we were sure it was time to make one-on-one introductions between him and Chester: