Alfie & Wilf - update!

[Harna]

Hmm - good luck!

Our garden, being a city garden, is a mere 12ft by 12ft (excluding the 'dog'leg' down one side.) So, it's not big by any stretch of the imagination and is, therefore, the reason for us having an allotment, too, where we can really stretch out as it is HUGE!

Luckily, though, we have space for some grass and our outlook is across other people's gardens and so, in the summer, especially, it's all leafy and verdant. And it helps that we have good neighbours who all have cats, too, as come the summer when we've all got our doors and windows open, it's really like old-fashioned communal living!  I can count about 23 cats in surrounding houses (most of our neighbours have two cats each!) and so it's not unusual in the summer to find an extra one hopping through the kitchen window to see what we are having for tea. .  .

I think we've reached our limit, size wise, with three cats . . . . . .  shame!

[Ellie]

Awwww Anoosh is so gorgeous 

Just need to win the lottery now to buy a bigger house, with a HUGE garden ............................. 

[Zenith (Liz)]

They're beautiful

*Want cats want cats*

[Harna]

: Persianoholic

Is there a special Purrs dictionary that could be added to?
 

Thanks for the lovely comments. We do consider ourselves to be very lucky indeed - we've now adopted 6 persians in total from rescue centres, some of whom with appalling backgrounds, and never cease to thank our lucky stars that we've had them in our lives!

(oh, and to give Anoosh an equal billing, here's a recent snap of her, too! Afterall, we have to remember who's boss!  )

[Ellie]

  How are gorgeous are your furbabes 

They are all stunning but Anoosh is beautiful 

Another Persian slave owner to blame for me becoming a Persianoholic (if there is such a word, if not there should be  )

[clarenmax]

They defo look very content and happy 

[Harna]

2 more lucky furbabes have landed on their paws     

Thanks - I think that's an understatement!   

I posted up the pics because I thought it was 4 weeks since we had them come to live with us but I was looking at the diary this morning and I was shocked to see it's only THREE weeks!!!   

It seems like they've ALWAYS been here!
 

[Dawn (DiddyDawn)]

They all look adoreable together, 2 more lucky furbabes have landed on their paws     

[gibraltarcat]

Luuuuuverly...a real cat family

[candyshandy]

They look as if they've been there for years and Anoosh looks quite happy with her 2 new fellas too!!

Its amazing how much Solly and Alfie look alike 

[Gill (sneakiefeline)]

They both sound and look great 

[Harna]

Actually, I think it may be the other way around!   

Although it looks like he'll be tough to call in (he has no interest in food like the other two so biscuit shaking completely bores him) and he likes to sit on the computer keyboard rather than be content with the especially-cleared-for-him space, he's actually the loudest purring, least maintenance cat of the three. He's laid back, malleable, and content.

Alfie, on the other hand    well, he licks plastic, tries to jump in the bath when it's full of water and person, sits on your knee when you are on the loo, runs around the house with foam balls in his mouth whilst meowing loudly, sits on your feet when you are washing up and chases his shadow around the house in the dead of night.
 

But, of course, we wouldn't have it any other way! 

[Gill (sneakiefeline)]

Wilf sounds like a trouble maker to me 

[Harna]

 

They also had their first taste of the outside yesterday, after a couple of weeks of staring out of the french doors for hours on end . . . . .

Both seemed pretty laid back - Wilf rolled in the dust and ate grass, Alfie hopped about.

 All good stuff! Although we did notice that Alfie responded to being called in and Wilf steadfastly refused to move. . . . . 


Alfie, getting some exercise


Wilf, just after he'd rolled in lots of patio dust and dirt!

[Gill (sneakiefeline)]

Dont persians just love to be in a gang , they are wonderful 

[blackcat]

  well, no evidence of tension there  they seem to have settled right in, and anoosh seems to be fairly happy with the arrangement too 

[Harna]

Short update to show you how Alfie and Wilf have settled in - as you can see, it's like they've *always* been here and are fully accepted by Anoosh, the boss of the house . . . . .


 A rose between two thorns?!   Wilf, Anoosh, Alfie


Darker, lighter, lightest! Wilf, Alfie, Anoosh


We WILL all fit on the back of the sofa  . . . . . but what are we queueing for?!
 

[bunglycat]

Harna- i do exactly the same (first time i have ever admitted it to anyone either !)
2 boxes and several photos of the cats i have had that are now on rainbow bridge waiting for us all here.

[Gill (sneakiefeline)]

They sound so very special 

I dont know if you have been to our Purrs First Birthday Rainbow Bridge thread, it has music which loads a bit slow, but covers mid November 2006- same 2007. Would you like Marble and Mahla adding in their respective months?

[Harna]

Yes, Marble was very special. She was a cat that did everything on her terms (took her 10 years to decide that laps were for sitting on - but only if she jumped up; never if she was picked up and plonked . . . .) and she was the loudest LOUDEST cat I have ever come across. She also had the unnerving habit of sitting in half-light; so that the chink of light through the curtain would fall *just* across one eye, or something. She could tell the time and would SCREAM if we didn't feed her at 6pm on the *dot*. She would purr fit to bust and was a great little companion.

She died peacefully at home last September - she had been getting slower and slower and we kind of knew that she was fading away. I stayed up with her all night and at sunrise, she slipped away with my daughter and OH and I lying next to her, stroking her and kissing her and telling her how much we loved her. We placed her in her favourite bed and the other cats came to sniff and say goodbye. They lay next to her until it was time for us to take her to the vet - we now have her ashes next to Leo, her friend and companion who passed away in 2002.  Sadly, just a couple of months later, Mahla, our other dilute calico, unexpectedly died and so we now have three wooden boxes of ashes - and I don't mind telling you (as cat people, I think you will understand) that I talk to them and kiss them goodnight every night ..  . . . . . .)

Special cats, all.

[Gill (sneakiefeline)]

She is 

[bunglycat]

That is one beautiful cat !

[Harna]

Ah, try these ones . . . . Marble. Bless her little heart 




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[Harna]

Doh!  

same pic as before!
 

[Gill (sneakiefeline)]

she is gorgeous 

[Harna]

  ha ha ha! Good job BC answered with the 'technical' stuff because MY answer would have been that I think they are called dilute because their colours are faded as if they have been through the wash!!!  

Here is Marble, our other dilute calico! (She got paler and paler towards the end of her life . . . . should have used a different washing powder . . .  )

Thanks for the eye wipe info  I'll give it a go!

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[Gillian Harvey]

BTW - these cats have eyes-that-make-marks. What do you use; cotton wool & water or one of those tear stain products??  

The only products I've found that work are Eye Envy and Kleenface. http://www.eyeenvy.com/  http://www.dezynadog.co.uk/shop/product_info.php?cPath=37&products_id=1072&osCsid=ef0d01e8eb5fc4b7ea2b6737cc73d2ec

Eye envy is expensive, has to be refrigerated and only has around a 3 month shelf life, it does work though - if you use it every day. Kleenface isnt as expensive, doesnt need to refrigerated - works as well, again needs to be used several times a day initially, then  - as required.

  Sol and Joe too. Gillian, I think you lie about being a groomer, that coat looks perfectly airbrushed to me   

LOL! Photoshopped maybe!!

[Gill (sneakiefeline)]

even the ginger dilurtes so its very pale. sorta pinkish, so they look so gorgeous , all in pastel shades 

[blackcat]

lol,. only know because when breeding siamese you need a grasp of colour genetics to get the right mix of ancestry for what you are trying for ...

[Corporal Smokey]

One point to brown. Thanks bc

[blackcat]

black is the original colour, blue is the dilute, Ginger the original, cream the dilute. So a dilute calico is white with blue (grey) and cream (pale ginger) patches

[Corporal Smokey]

Wow that is a picture of what Cally would look like if she wasn't 'broken'! Spoooky....

I use boiled and cooled water. I pop about an inch of the tepid water in an old mug and add a squirt of a gentle eye cleaner I bought from PAH which is essentially a saline rinse.

Then I use make up sponges and wipe. I was using cotton wool but i don't really like the idea of all those fibres so close to the eye (psycological I know with all that hair!) and I found make up sponges a great alternative. They're triangular ones for manicures from Wilko's and the shape is perfect.

Gillian knows of some really good eye products too but I havn't got around to buying any of them yet!

One more thing, what exactly does "dilute" mean in regard to coat colour? Or is that really obvious?....

[Harna]

Beauty is, as they say, in the eye of the beholder.  

I never *once* thought that I would ever think that persian cats were attractive but their personalities won me over. I suppose that if I spent enough time around Balinese / Van / insert-a-different-breed-here cats then I may well fall in love with that breed, too!  

I think that the cat you are talking about sounds pretty special. Corporal Smokey. Poor lamb, though. Hey; if you adopt her ( ) then we'll have both had red, blue point, black and calico cats living in our houses!  :shocked:Marble, our second cat, was calico - well, dilute calico, to be precise. We actually adopted her without ever seeing her (!) and from the moment she arrived, she was just lovely. We thought; what a gorgeous girl. Other people said to us: "OMG! What a cross looking cat!!!" Of course, we couldn't understand what they were on about. . . .

Mahla was also dilute calico. I think there is a temprement trait particular to this colouring (as there is, apparently, with tortoishell cats.) It's difficult to pin down - very shouty, very skitty, everything very much on their terms but with a whole lot of love to give when they are good and ready!

As for the 50p thing - they had arrived, they seemed HUGE and I looked around to see what I could put next to their paws to show how big they were!  50p piece - perfect; everyone knows how big a 50p piece is!  I think, though, I really need to get a shot of 'Noosh's dainty paws next to a 50p - then the comparison is complete . . .  

Yeah - grooming - Wilf loves it - Alfie not so keen; I can see why he's been got with the scissors in rescue! I am determined to persevere and make it fun for all of us!

BTW - these cats have eyes-that-make-marks. What do you use; cotton wool & water or one of those tear stain products??  

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[Gill (sneakiefeline)]

i also didnt like persians much but just adore all these on purrs 

[Corporal Smokey]

Well I've also gone even more persian daft. There's a persian at SN Sanctuary (rescue#2 for those who've followed my life story...) who's in a worse state than Cpl Smokey was. She's a really threadbear looking calico (blue and red/cream splodges on white) with a skin condition and a deformed mouth, causing her tongue to hang out. Her eyes are like Smokey's where even if you clean them thoroughly, they're brown within minutes. She has to have a bath every week and HATES it! I feel so drawn to her and keep saying to the lady how beautiful she is. The lady thinks I'm crackers. She laughed and said "Cally is many things but I wouldn't have said beautiful"

Love the 50p picture harna, that should be a new standard in cat measurement! In fact keep the pics coming, they're all great.  Sol and Joe too. Gillian, I think you lie about being a groomer, that coat looks perfectly airbrushed to me   

[caledonia]

Oh you are all about to make me persian daft   .

Would that be a good thing or a bad thing from where you are standing?!!   

I think I am definitely classed as 'persian daft ' . . . . . 

I think I am just cat daft in general! Thought I was Siamese and Balinese but my two new rescue boys are a rag doll and Maine Coon and they are great too - so just cat daft!! 

[gibraltarcat]

Ohhhhhhhh My.........
They are exquisite. Bet you can't stop gazing at them. It's lovely that they obviously adore your daughter and that she's a proper little cat person.
I was never too taken with Persians until I came on Purrs, but now am totally converted. We have a white one at the rescue where I volunteer and I'm spending lots of time with her....and No, I can't!!!!!!

[Harna]

Oh you are all about to make me persian daft   .

Would that be a good thing or a bad thing from where you are standing?!!   

I think I am definitely classed as 'persian daft ' . . . . . 

[caledonia]

Oh you are all about to make me persian daft   .

[Harna]

A REDs Club! What a *fantastic* idea!!!!   

Handsome handsome chaps!

(my OH laughed - my 'real' name is Jo!)