Day 6: Good Morning, Mom and Dad!

The house was in one piece Tuesday when we got home.  As we thought.  And feeding them the diet they had at the cattery seemed to have helped too.  Still stinky, but not as bad.

As we made dinner, we left the door open so that they could roam about.  Well, actually, they scurried about.  Scurried in a good way in which they played running in and out of the bedroom into our second bath.

One strange trait that Oliver has is when he is in the litter box, he seems to meow and announce that he is doing some business.  Really quite funny.  And, once or twice since they were here, I had seen both of them in the same box. And speaking of traits, Sadie doesn't cover her business when finished.

Dumb me, I thought that I had captured some great video of Sadie.  More so to show the vet and any other expert the strange behavior that she has.  But, my phone decided to not start the video.  Poo!  I did get some.

Sadie would come out of hiding when called.  And near enough to be petted.  Oliver was also in close proximity which I think also helped.

I had gone downstairs to watch dinner.  And to our surprise, with calling his name, Oliver would follow me all the way downstairs.  For my wife, only part way.  You know, I am starting to call him my shadow.  He does follow us around a little bit.  Like the other F.A.Q. about Pixie Bobs, they say that they want to be part of the family and be with you.  Oliver is certainly that kitty.

Ate dinner and we heard the occasional dashing about upstairs.  Quite funny how a 3 pound kitty can make so much noise.  Did a play session with them before turning in.  Both are very playful.  Though Sadie is still a little scattered.  But a slight difference from the weekend.

 We retired to bed and shortly after getting into bed, Oliver decides to join us.  Quite funny.  He will walk around a little, then flop down for a little bit.  Then get up and flop somewhere else.

Very funny that the one flop landed him on my wives neck.

I must say right now as I am typing this evening, Oliver is sitting on my arm, on my chest, partially on my Mac.  Such a loving companion.  Or, could it be too that he smells fried chicken on my fingers from dinner.

I will also have to look it up.  Some how as he was walking around on the Mac, he managed to hide the dock on the bottom of my screen.  He has become the Apple Mac Genius.

Oliver did relax under my leg while on the computer.  I think he stayed there for a minute.

The morning came.  Thursday.  Almost a week that they are with us.  I am typically the first one up and will my coffee for my wife.  Oliver did jump up about 4am and proceed to flop down.  Of course, we would pet the little guy.  He purrs so loudly and quickly!  Very nice.  He just doesn't "settle" in one place.  Always moving around, then flopping down in another part of the bed.  Or us.  Sadie is still in bed.

It does seem like however that he does this to be fed.  That is alright.  Feeling used is not so bad.  He does like to follow me out of the bedroom.  But not quite downstairs.  He was able to jump up onto the guest bath countertop.  And into the tub.  Sadie did come out to play for a little for the morning play session.

Work day came and gone.  The kids for a second day was all well behaved.  Strange thing (rather a good thing), we fed them and Sadie was out and friendlier.  Guess bribery helps with a, no pun intended, a scardie cat.  Actually, there is a remarkable difference.  It could be the feeding schedule.  Or it also could be the pheromone plug in.  Yeah!  Still skiddish.

Before, she would either come out because Oliver is meowing somewhere in the house and she is investigating.  Or we are playing with Oliver and she becomes interested.  This evening, she came out when coaxed by voice.  Yeah, sure, maybe a food bowl.  Though after she was done eating, she would still come out when coaxed verbally.  You can tell with her tail standing straight up, and she stands up to be petted.

She is also acting a little strange, outside of her usual skiddish self.  She will flop down and almost try to roll around.  She did that yesterday for a little.  More so this evening.  She is certainly feeling good.  One bad habit though.  She does seem to get excited when she is rolling around that she starts to scratch the carpet.  She has used the scratching post.  But seems to be a little more of the carpet.  Not the same spot.  It is at random places.  It could be that she is feeling so good that she "forgets" what she is doing.

Oliver did not really come down at all over the evening like last night.  He was quite content running in and out of the bedroom.  Like I said earlier, such a little guy can make such a loud noise running back and forth.

I did get some great video of the two playing with each other.  Sadie was really feeling good. Oliver was usually the one jumping on her while playing some times.  This evening, she was the one jumping on him.  And crawling up the curtains.  Still would dash under the bed.  For sure though, she has changed from day one.  Just needs a little time.

Well, Oliver says goodnight to you readers.  He is wanting some undivided attention.

Day 4-5: Vet visit and love!

I did not post yesterday as I was not feeling good.  Both my wife and I did take off Tuesday for another full day with the kids.  And today, Wednesday, we went to work.  What will they do with 9 hours all to themselves?

Monday night was pretty much like the night before. We played with them for about a half hour.  Sadie did come out a little to catch the string toy.  Though close to the bed for a fast escape.  She is a little better than the day before.  Still not wanting to be petted.  I will let her sniff my fingers.  And that is it.  Eventually, I will press.

I had emailed the cattery where we got the kids to let her know further with all that has gone on.  I am sure with all the other adopted cats they have sent out, ours is not the unusual case.  Interesting suggestion for Sadie is to get a hold of chicken flavored baby food and offer it to her as a treat.  Kind of coax her out and show her that she may get a treat when she sees us.

Oliver is still coughing and sneezing.  Fortunately, no discharge from his nose, which is a good sign.  And the cattery confirmed this that it is not an issue.  Though, we still were going to keep the appointment for the vet.  It was suggested to just keep them around us and get used to us before stressing them out with a vet visit.

They also stink when using the litter box.  Again, new surroundings, new animals (us) and possibly the all-natural food we are feeding them.  That being said...

 
Oliver is the energizer kitty.  He is playing what seems to be all the time.  Even when we are down in the living room, we hear this little kitty running back and forth from the bedroom into the bathroom and back. Yes, loud trotting through the ceiling.

  
I still cannot believe how connected they are and my wife and I are glad we got two.  Oliver is very adventurous and is out exploring.  If he meows a few times where ever he is, this will get Sadie to come out of hiding to see what he is talking about.  This includes if he wanders downstairs.  Yet, when she is in her comfort cave, he is either in bed with her or on the floor in front of the bed.

 
I am slowly teaching him how to drink from the spout of the water fountain.  I would pretend to drink from the spout making slurping noises and I see this pretty little face watching me so inquisitively.  Ignores the water and sniffs my nose and mouth.  And doesn't understand why I am laughing so hard.

I almost got him to fall asleep in my hand.  He loves a light scratch under his chin and around his lower jaw.

Oliver is also becoming used to us standing.  These big animals (us) walking into the room would scare him and he would run under the bed.  He now stands there and watches our feet.  Perhaps to step aside if we are coming close to him when we approach. 

He is also able to jump up onto the bed himself.  Most of the time, he will leap up 2/3rds of the 32-inches and use his nails to crawl up.  A few times, he was able to get a running leap and make it all the way.  Course, when he is up there, walking all around on top of us with an occasional flop down to stretch.

Speaking of stretching, he is scent marking everything. 

Gave Ollie some exercise.  He loves his little mouse.  Tossing it down the stairs, he would trot down to get it, hop up the stairs with mouse in mouth, and drop it.  Sometimes not too close.  But eager to have it tossed again for him to fetch. 

 
Sadie, dear girl!  She is so beautiful.  I wish she would come out and flaunt it.  Her coat is so beautiful!  But, taking the time to get her used to the area and us.  I know when she comes out of her shell, she will be the queen of the house with Oliver her little minion.  For now, she likes her little cave.

They do like their water fountain.  It is stainless steel.  The top for the water to come out, you can put in an insert for it to pour out either 2 and up to 5 places.  We have the one for 4 spouts. 

Oliver seeing if the coast is clear!

Oliver in the living room checking out the other scratching post.  And more string!

Oliver was downstairs wondering around.  And my wife was trying out the new camera.  She got this action shot of him jumping away from her work bag.  Quite funny!

We were kind of dreading taking them to the vet.  With how Sadie reacted trying to get a collar on (still no success).  We were expecting getting her into the carry case a big fuss.  Got the carrier out and laid it nearby for them to see.  Oliver practically trots over and wants in.  First cat, that was easy.  Now for the second one.  She was in her cave.  Pulled out the cave, picked her up, and into the carrier.  Not much fuss. 

They are pretty calm in the carrier.  Even while driving.  Close to the vet, there were some peeps.  Nothing major though as they did quiet down.  With the other animals that we had, we decided to go to another vet with these new ones.  Plus, we are planning on selling and moving to the east side of Seattle.  This would be more convenient for us.

Here they are all hunkered down in the carrier.  Oliver alert and ready to protect Sadie as she snoozes waiting for the vet.

Vet visit was not so uneventful.  Oliver went first and right on the scale, he got himself 2oz lighter.  Yup, right on the scale.  Poor little guy was stressed.  Little bugger doesn't show it with running about.  He had not coughed or sneezed there at the vet.  He was given a clean bill of health overall.

Sadie was next.  No problems with her either.  The Dr. was able to suggest 2 web sites, one in which is written by another vet with some good information on raising pure bred cats.  And, is not a "crack-pot", doctor’s phrase exact!  And also suggested a bribery tactic to get her out from her little cave.  Plus, the way we are feeding them, we have food down for them all the time.  She also suggested since we are the alpha cats, we feed the lower ones on the totem pole.  This would also get them out with excitement of their owners.

As suspected, their diet change that was sudden made them stinky.  We are such terrible parents!  We do pass by two pet stores and picked up some feed that the cattery was feeding them.  We will slowly change them over to what we originally bought them.  The doctor also provided us with a little medicine for Oliver’s "cold".  And a digestive medicine for both to get them rebalanced.  Nothing major.  Funny, the medicine for Oliver is chicken flavored.  Wonder whom it was that taste tested it to verify the flavor.

Oh, and the vet also provided us a little scent thing to calm cats.  Something like a pheromone reservoir that is plugged in like a glade that is to sooth the kitties and perhaps get them more comfortable to come on out. 

We fed them a little and lightly played before bed.  Sadie was content in her cave.  Since I myself was not feeling good and did not eat for most of the day, I made myself some soup and thought I would eat with them.  Oliver was all over me wanting to see what was in the BIGGER bowl.  It was amusing.  Even when he was crawling up my shirt.  Wish we had a picture of it.  Here I am with a book on my lap with my soup.  Lifted my soup up out of reach from Oliver leaving the book in my lap.  He proceeds to turn his back and sit down as if to wait for me to put the bowl back down. 

Bed time was fine until about 1:30.  Jingle jingle.... Oliver was up and about.  And, Sadie too was out for a little.  Had a litter box run, drink of water, play in the curtains.... being chased or chasing that invisible mouse!  Also jumped up onto the bed for a little hello time with us.  That was about a half hour.

Morning came and we needed to get up for work.  We are wondering how the day for them went alone.  I am pretty confident they will do well.  They do play well with each other and have plenty of toys. 

Our alarm went off at 5am and 10-minutes later, he decides to visit us.  He was all over us, walking, flopping down on us, up over our pillows... So loving.  Then, he jumped down when we got the food bowl out for them.  Hmm... is this snuggling and loving us just to get us to feed them?  Kind of hope so!  Or was it the pheromone thing plugged in that has soothed the kitty that doesn't need soothing. 

Oh, last thing before I hit publish.  Remember he doesn't run under the bed at the sight of us?  Well, yesterday afternoon and especially this morning, he will see us come around the corner and walk towards us.  He did follow me out the door before I could close it this morning.  Left it open and watched him explore the upper level again.  We do have a second litter box set in our guest bath.  Eventually, this is where the "main" litter box will be.  They have found it and are using that when they are out.

I may post other random stuff quickly on my Facebook account.  But, the majority will be here.  So save this link and check back on occasion.  Thanks for reading!

Day 3: Time off from work to be with the kids...

Family is very important to us.  And thus, we decided to stay home with the new kids.  It was a fun day.  Oliver is so full of energy.  We wonder if his battery ever runs out at times.

Here is Oliver up on the bed getting his side and tummy scratched.  He has a little ball on the end oh his tail.  A few times, he will wag it.  He got up onto our bed himself.

They do like the curtains.  They were playing hide and seek here.  

Oliver has a collar on with a bell on it.  And we heard it a few times at night.  Then a litter box visit.  A few laps of water from the fountain.  Oh, and Oliver has some stink to his bowels!  Wow!

Morning came and was another play session.  

Sadie is becoming more playful.  And, at times if you are near and reach out to pet her, she will head butt up to your hand with tail up straight.  Though, other times she will dart under something.  Not sure about her at times.  I do have a collar for her and when I picked her up to put it on, she did freak out before I had a chance to pick up the collar.  At this point, no collar.

The two though are quite connected.  It would seem that she relies on him a lot.  Playing with toys, looking around, what ever.  If he meows, she is not far from him.  And, the other way around too.  Quite happy to get them both.

Speaking of adventure, we opened the door again for them to see briefly what is outside of the safe zone.  And, aside from looking around our 3rd floor house, they decided to try the stairs.

Unusually, Sadie is taking the lead.  It was brief.

Did the second landing.  More house?

They did find the dining, kitchen and living room interesting.  They did explore this floor for 10 minutes.  Sadie kept going for the stairs back to the safe zone.  But would turn around and back to her little brother.

We left them go in their zone behind closed door while we went out of the house to do some chores.  My wife also had some work to do.  I was also downstairs relaxing.  However, we could hear somebody running around upstairs.  I had to investigate.  And found Oliver running in and out of the bath back and forth.  

Quite a connection between the two.  Either of them would cry, the other would come to see what is going on. 

On our chores, we popped into a pet store and got a few more toys.  Interesting what they like.  Their favorite toy now is this little mouse made of denim fabric with a long tail with some stringy puff ball.  I exercised him by tossing the mouse down the first part of the stairs.  He would bound down to get it, bound up with the mouse and drop it.  Quite funny.

Sadie also was playing with the mouse.  Though not up and down the stairs.  Still, she liked. it.

Oliver lives being pushed over and petted.  Though, this afternoon here on Monday, it would seem that Sadie is reverting back to not wanting to be petted.  But will still play some.  Kind of strange.

An ex-coworker I chatted with on Sunday evening asked if we had Pixie Bobs.  I said I did and she let me know that they just adopted Kevin.  Another Pixie.  She suggested a vet that she goes to that the one veterinarian used to raise Pixies.  We called and got an appointment for the kids tomorrow evening.  This should be interesting with how the kids are acting with getting them into their carrier. 

Day 2: Coming out of her shell

In our last post, I had said that Sadie was pretty much to herself.  With Oliver being the brave sort to investigate the present domain.  Not to worry, we made it a point to take baby steps and to let Sadie go at her own pace, with maybe a little coaxing from us.

Our set up is to have the kids quarantined in our bedroom that has a sizable bath.  The litter box is in the bathroom.  Beside my bed is a water fountain for their water.  And we have 2 bowls of hard kitten food.  One is in the bedroom with the other in the bathroom by the tub.  At the foot of the bed is a cardboard emery board for them to claw on which Oliver loves!  Finding a wicker square bucket, we turned it on its side and placed a pet bed for them to sleep in.  Dark and protected.

We had dinner downstairs away from them and decided to perhaps give them some wet food as a treat.  Now, at this point, we have not seen Sadie eat anything yet and hoped that she would eat a little of the wet.  Oliver was an eater and did not mind the hard food.  Well, they both loved the wet food.  It was just a little.  It was very nice to see Sadie eat a little something.

After they ate (they stopped eating the wet food), we played with Oliver.  Sadie was in her bed area under our bed.  She heard Oliver's commotion and came out to investigate.  And, she actually played a little.  Very happy to see that as well since she has been hiding under something the last 24-hours.  Funny though, my wife and I moved slowly as to not startle her.  A few times, she sat there as if she was the queen.  Well, soon to be queen of the house. We were in aww with how beautiful she is.  To bad we did not have my camera handy.

Played with them for about 30 minutes and into bed.  They are very quiet kitties.  We expected them to hunker down in the pillow tent I had made for them.  Or even back in their pet carrier.  The next morning, it was a surprise.

Not a good pic, but what do you expect in the dark at 6am!

We started to move around and we heard the little bell on Oliver's break away caller jingle.  Start the playing.  He is quite the player.  Again, to our surprise, here comes Sadie to play also.  I knew she needed some time.  Still does need some slow time, but she is coming our of her shell.  She also used the litter box for the first time.  36 hours is quite some time.  Course, Oliver needed to go for the second time.

 It was funny to see Sadie attack the string, then Oliver.  Back and forth.

But, sometimes, they pounced at the same time.

With Oliver looking on, Sadie takes a tumble backwards with string in paws.

Sadie sacked out as Oliver continues to play.

Again, we did not want to smother them.  Plus, we were hungry for breakfast.  Leaving them alone for a few hours.  I did peak in and they were in their bed resting.

Before lunch, thought we would hang out with them.  Oliver is certainly the adventurous one.   And we played a little with Sadie getting in on the action.

Here he is after jumping up onto the bed himself, plopped down on me and proceeds to knit butter.  Those nails are like pins!

Here is the very reason why we choose to bring Oliver along with Sadie.  When my wife was sitting looking at the kittens at the catery, here this little guy was infatuated with her shoes.  And still is!

He certainly likes to be petted and pushed over to be scratched.  However, if Sadie is in eye sight of this, she comes out and wants petted too.  Those little tiny nails of theirs.  Like pins!

We left the door open to get towels from the closet.  And Oliver decided to cautiously look out the world that he has known the last 36 hours.  I was thinking that he would be comfortable doing this.  But for Sadie's sake, everybody should stay put.  Left him explore though.  He even tried the stairs.

After checking out our office and second bath, what else is around here?

Oliver's first stairs.  Did not make it down past the 2nd landing before getting back to safety.  We left him explore some more.  He meowed and that got the interest of Sadie.  She too came out from the quarantine area to see what he has gotten into.

I find it funny that Oliver is very loyal to Sadie and has helped her get out from underneath the bed.  Great young man!  She still likes it there under the bed though for safety.  Doesn't come out too much.

A little play time with Oliver and my wife on the bed.

Day 1: Pixie Bobs in the house!

So you want a Pixie Bob?  This is a blog on our two Pixies that we had gotten from Forest Hunter Pixie Bob (http://foresthunter.com) in the Seattle area.  Wanted to share the good, and not so good, of our two beautiful additions to our family.  This is not a how to, an F.A.Q., or anything else like that.  Just sharing with you this great breed of cats from the Northwest region of the U.S.A.  Our thoughts and pictures of these two will be shared with you.  Follow us on our Pixie Bob excursion.

My wife and I moved to the Seattle area in March 2008.  We fell in love with what the NW had to offer.  The food, the weather, being able to go to downtown in a half hour, or snow shoe on Mt Rainier.  We just wanted to immerse ourselves with the area.

Then one day, I read about Pixie Bobs that was started here in the Northwest.  We wanted a Pixie Bob.  We just loved how they were so much like a dog in temperament.  The countless sites we have read shows that they are truly devoted to family.  They always want to be with you.  And besides, they are so cute with the natural bobbed tails and that wild cat look!

We did our research and found a few registered Pixie Bob caterys.  We contacted them to ask what kittens that they had available and to chat about this new breed.  Two had kittens available, if not soon available.  The arrangements were made to visit them and to see what is available.

Unfortunately, both canceled on us.  Though, re-arrangements to visit one was made.  The owner of the catery had picked out a little girl for us named Sade.  They were born October 1st, 2013.  Our visit was October 20th, I believe.  Here they are just 20 days old and they were so cute.  The entire liter was there to see.  One was spoken for.  The owner of the catery was keeping her for her own.  But the other 2 girls (Sade included) and a little boy was available.

It was literally herding cats.  My wife was so focused on a cat choosing me since I seem to have a gift of choosing animals.  What she did not notice was the little boy by her feet.  Sade was quite comfortable with me that my wife did not notice that the little boy, Cuba, chose her.

We only intended to buy one.  And on the way home, we talked about getting a Pixie Bob.  Actually joked at getting 2.  Deciding not to go to any other Pixie Bob catery, I had set the ball in motion to get Sade, but to change her name to Sadie.  Also inquired about Cuba.  Cuba's name was also changed to Oliver to my wife's request.

We were told that we would not get them until mid to late January.  We wanted pet quality Pixie Bobs   which meant that we were not going to show them.  They were going to be guaranteed and fixed.  It was a long wait for us since early October, we had to put to sleep our cat of 21 years.  It was an empty house for us.

Sadie is kind of reddish fur on her with a 3/4 tail.  That meaning that she had a tail and not one that is bobbed.  Sometime they are not always born this way with a short tail that this breed is known for.  Though, this breed is not surgically altered to a short tail.

Oliver we think was the runt of the litter.  The catery assured us that he is just a late starter.  He has the bobbed tail, though slightly longer than what is desired.  Feeling it, there is a little more bone at the tip giving him slightly puffy end.

The pic above is that of the "kids" from a vet visit courtesy of Forest Hunter.  Oliver is on the right with Sade enduring the picture on the left.  You can certainly see the size between them.

On January 24th, we were able to bring them home.  Finally, they were here!

Here is Oliver first steps in his new home.

Sade seemed content in her carry bag that they came home in.

I did get her out to just let her know that all was ok.  She kind of started to go to sleep.

Oliver being brave and looking about.

Oliver falling asleep outside the carrier.

And Sadie asleep inside the carrier.

The next morning, we found the two sleeping together in the carrier.  They seemed quite comfortable in the carrier.  Everything was so new, we did not want to bombard their little minds with so many new things.

Oliver was set and ready for the day.  Quite the playful kitty.  And talkative.  They say that they do not meow.  Though, they do.  More like chirps.  He also ate a few tie bits of food and drank some water.  Yup, later on he did use the litter box.  Though, he was running about strangely.  My wife picked him up and took him to the litter box and placed him in front.  He hopped in, did his business complete with covering the evidence, and hopped out.  Sadie on the other hand.....

She is still unsure about her new surroundings.  I had made a pillow tent and she was there for most of the day.  Though, she did come out on her own from the carrier this morning.  Went to under the bed.  Then to her tent.  This is here on my wife's shoulder just being reassured.  

She does come out of hiding if Oliver meows.  She wants to know what is going on.  And, a few times on Saturday, we just left them alone in their containment area that the catery suggested we do until they get used to the new surroundings.  Definitely a good idea.  Though we think that Oliver can hold his own in the house, it is good that he stays in the area to keep Sade company.

When we do go in to check on them, they are sleeping together.  I do not suggest to get 2 Pixie Bobs as it can be expensive.  But, we had the the means to get two.  I do hope that Sadie comes out of her shell.  And also hope that Oliver doesn't get too rambunctious.