Exotic shorthair drops things!

Exotic shorthair Chester here! Ma thought it would be funny to make gifs where I drop things - I hope you like them!

Exotic Shorthair (flat face, Garfield) cats relaxing!

Garfield and Chester relaxing on a sunny evening!

Flat faced cat gif!

This is my second attempt at making a cat gif - or an animation of still photos that I extracted from a video. It took hours and I'm not even sure how I achieved the final result, so I don't know how often I will be making these since so much effort went into this one. Perhaps practice will make it easier!

Another window sill and another sink!

Chester here. I'm taking over blogging duties so I don't have to be stuck in the comments section! 

For everyone who's new here, mommy switches between telling the story of how I first came to my new home and reporting on stuff going on now.   I'm going back to July 2011 -  that's when I've been in my forever home about a month. And when I found another window sill and another sink!

See all of those trees behind me? That's Central Park!

How great is this place!?! Mom took this when I was fast asleep. You can see all of my patterning - I have stripes on my flanks and my legs! But I have spots on my back and sides!

See that piece of paper? That came with something mommy and daddy bought called Eye Envy. I hate the stuff but I have to admit that it *does* get all of the brown from my tearing off of my nose and around my eyes. And I bet you didn't know I have a pink nose. Oh yeah - I'M IN THE SINK!

 Still here!

Just checking things out. That spoon is dirty!

And that's the tour of the sink!

I can't wait until the summer comes back - that sink was a comfy place!

-Chester

Chester's sporting a shorter 'do

Like many cats during this time of year, Chester is shedding his winter coat. His winter coat is extra plushy and dense. There's so much fur that comes off after a good grooming that lately our garbage bin looks like a bag of cotton balls exploded in it.

Shortly after Chester arrived in NY, he started shedding his Spring coat. It was also about the time that he discovered the window sills. Even in a high rise building overlooking a highway, there's lots to keep a cat interested! These pictures are from July 16, 2011.

Chester doesn't play well with others...other cats that is

(Flashback to June/July 2011) A. and I were still in awe that we had a cat. I never thought that I would have a cat of my own. A. was allergic to cats and has asthma. We did have a dwarf bunny rabbit for 12 years. Yes, that little guy lived to be 12. His name was Harey but the vet dubbed him "The Energizer Bunny".  

After he passed away, A. was devastated and I figured we wouldn't have pets since the bun affected his asthma. 

But then came Chester

Chester meowed when I approached the door to leave for work in the morning. I was filled with guilt because it sounded like crying. When I returned home, he would be waiting by the door. I thought it was time for Chester to have a friend other than his Kong.

The cattery retired a girl cat and was looking to find her a new home. This was a white girl who the breeder told A. Chester liked. I contacted the breeder about getting her as a "friend" for our boy. Well, she said that he was best-suited to be the only cat.  He started fights with and beat up the other cats - Persians! - in the cattery. Really? This cat:

Oh boy! To this day, it's hard for me to believe that Chester could be the aggressor - especially because he's so little - but I wouldn't want to make life miserable for another cat. As someone at work pointed out to me, cats sleep most of the day anyway!

Chester is in the bathroom sink

Chester is almost done shedding his winter coat. Coupled with it being unseasonably warm means it must be time to sleep in the bathroom sink!

Continuing the story of when Chester first became a member of our family, here are some pictures from July 2011 of Chester in the bathroom sink.

 

Chester plays with straws

After about of week of playing with his Kong Kickeroo, Chester moved onto a new toy that we introduced to him - the plastic straw. He would play soccer with the straw and then pounce on it. He got so excited that his tail would get bushy - which was so cute!

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