Abyssinians are more interested in water than most cats. They aren’t the only breed to be water babies, of course, but they’re less afraid of getting wet than your average cat.
This is based on a photo of an Aby swimming in the Black Sea that was posted on the Facebook Abyssinian Cat Club. I wish the water around here was warmer (and cleaner!) – I wonder if Jacoby would like to add swimming to his repertoire?
(Click cartoon to embiggen, or you can view all cartoons in Slideshow mode on Flickr.)
Abyfriend Kim sent me a care package from Canada that arrived just in time for the final Olympic hockey games a couple of weeks ago.
In the box (which included Jacoby’s mittens and his Olympic shirt), were a pair of pink pajama bottoms with grey cat faces printed all over them.
Jake was not sure about all these cat heads on my lap.
He kept trying to settle onto my lap but just couldn’t seem to relax.
He just couldn’t seem to get comfortable.
I think he didn’t like all the little kitty faces staring at him.
He finally managed to find a comfortable position.
But he was still restless.
I think all the staring disembodied kitty heads must be kind of creepy to cats…kind of like how a bedsheet covered with scary clown heads would be to us!
Sometime in the past year or so, I’ve noticed Jacoby has these spots on his ears.
I’m not sure when they first appeared; just one day I noticed they were there. And they’re only on his ears, no where else on his body. Just the ears.
Jake does have a chronic yeast infection issue inside his ears which crops up every few months and is treated with Tresaderm, but this doesn’t seem to be related to that.
I thought it might be, at first, though. I thought they were bald spots, so I thought that perhaps they were caused by him scratching or shaking his ears. But the spots aren’t actually hairless.
If you look very closely, you can see that the spots do have hair on them. Well, as much hair as the parts of his ears without the spots. They seem to be more depigmented than they are hairless, sort of like reverse freckles. Curious, I did a Google search for bald spots on cats’ ears, and I found this article on The Cat Site about a 4 year old Aby boy with the exact same problem!
Look at this photo of his ears! They look just like Jake’s ears!
Unfortunately, this person hasn’t got any more answers than I have. The best advice I’ve had so far about how to take care of these depigmentation spots?
A brown eyeliner pencil to cover up the pale spots! This won’t cure it, of course…but I’ll try it next weekend at the cat show.
This week’s Photo Hunt subject is “Ink.”
I found this tattoo picure on Pinterest while looking for other people’s Aby tattoos…I think it’s marvelous.
And of course there’s my friend Sanna-Leena’s Aby tattoo…
And the tattoo I saw at a TICA show…
The idea I have is semi-realistic, but not photographic – something of a cross between the two shown above. I need to find a good artist to do this…I may have to go back to San Francisco to get it! I have a scar on my forearm where a mole was removed, so that’s where I’d like this to go. I’m planning it for next year, when I turn 50.
Jacoby’s always enjoyed Easter eggs. I think it may be because his birthday falls right around Easter.
He was actually born after Easter, which fell on 12 April in 2009. This was his first Easter egg, 4 April 2010.
In 2011, Easter was usurped by Kylie’s birthday, as both were on 24 April (note the brown paws in the upper left corner).
But in 2012, Jake got a box of Mycrobe’s needle-felted Easter Eggs!
And last year, Jake and Tessie had leopard-print eggs with treats inside.
My favourite Aby Easter photos, though, are these of Gun-Hee as a kitten, playing with eggs that are just so HUGE compared to him!
Even though we no longer live close to the garbage and recycle room, Jacoby still likes to come with me when I take out the trash.
We have this canvas basket that we use to carry the recycles to the bins. It sits by the door and collects the recycles during the day, and when Jake sees that I’m about ready to take them out, he waits in the basket, too. Obviously, I can’t leave without him if he’s in the basket!
He just sits in there and waits for me to take him on a ride.
I have never known a cat who loved to ride in and on things as much as Jake does!
Curiously, he only likes to ride in the basket on the way to the bins, when it’s full.
On the way back from the garbage room, Jake prefers to walk.
He already knows where our new apartment is, too.
Here’s our door! Let’s go in!
For being such beautiful cats, Abys take a lot of less than beautiful photos. Not that they don’t love the camera, but…sometimes the camera just doesn’t love them.
These are all based on actual photos of Abys I found on Facebook. There is one whose name I am not sure of, but the rest are Kiipi, Bella and Kumal, Yaro, Racy, Poupette, Jasmine, Ollie, Xapuri, Gaatsbi, Buttercup and Sophie.
Yes, they really DO all look like that!
(Click cartoon to embiggen, or you can view all cartoons in Slideshow mode on Flickr.)
Remember, kids, when you adopt an Aby, you’re not just adopting a cat…
…you’re adopting a constant companion who will help you with EVERYTHING. All. The. Time.
My husband was working on detaching our IKEA Pax cabinets from the wall and from each other prior to the move.
(And for the record, IKEA really only engineers these things one way. They’re great when you’re putting them together. Taking them apart? Not so much.)
While my husband struggled with and swore at the stupid one-sided screws in the sides of the ironically-named Pax, Jacoby monitored the drill bits and guarded the screwdriver.
Good work, Jake!
Happy Easter, everyone!
I made a little kitty Easter basket with plastic eggs from the grocery store filled with UT treats and dry food.
Plastic eggs these days have little holes in the bottom, which is great, because cats can smell the treats through those holes. They also have hinges so the tops and bottoms stay together. Yes, there has been vast improvement in plastic egg technology since I was a kid!
Jacoby was instantly interested in the basket of eggs.
Most of the eggs were filled with Royal Canin UT dry, but in the greens ones I put his special UT Support treats.
Naturally, Jake opened the green eggs first.
It was a lot of fun watching him root around in the basket to find the eggs with the “good” treats in them.
Jake loved his Easter basket.
I mean, he really loved it.
Happy Easter, everyone!
This week’s Photo Hunt subject is Indigo.”
Traditionally, denim jeans are dyed with indigo. And Jacoby loves when I wear jeans. Something about the fabric seems to attract cats.
He loves jeans so much, it doesn’t even seem to matter if I’m actually wearing them or not!
Once upon a time, Angel and Jacoby would share beds and sleep together.
It was super adorable.
I had such high hopes for them becoming BFFs.
Look how cute they were!
Sadly, it didn’t last. Around the time Jake turned one, Angel decided she didn’t like him anymore.
After that, the best we could hope for was an uneasy detante.
Jake keeps trying, though!
It’s well illustrated that Jacoby loves the cart in our building. And even Angel has been known to investigate the cart when we’ve brought in groceries after a shopping trip.
This is a pretty unusual sight…Jake was happily perched on the cart (which he does so that I don’t take it back downstairs without giving him his ride)…
…but to my amazement, Angel hopped up there to join him!
She sat there with him for a long time, watching us put away the groceries.
I was amazed: no hissing, no growling…I don’t think Angel would have stayed on there if I’d tried to give her a ride, though! Maybe someday we’ll try that. Baby steps. For now, it’s enough that she sat on the cart with Jake.
This actually happened. I was vacuuming the apartment, scattering cats in my wake. Until I got to the bedroom. Jacoby was sleeping on the bed in there.
He just raised his head and stared at me with the most offended expression on his face you could possibly ever imagine.
(Click cartoon to embiggen, or you can view all cartoons in Slideshow mode on Flickr.)
Somebody’s turning FIVE today!
Whose birthday could it be..?
Why, it’s Jacoby’s, of course!
Unsurprisingly, Jake was eager to eat his delicious cat food cake.
The cheerfully burning candle did not deter him in the slightest.
I guess after five birthdays, he’s become an expert at eating around the candle.
Jake didn’t even get one curly whisker!
After cake, it was time for his present – a Whack-a-Mouse game!
Jake was so excited…
…he knocked it off the cat tree!
Oops!
I guess this is more of an on-the-floor game.
Every time you give a cat – even an Aby – a new toy, there’s that moment of truth…will kitty play with it?
Well, I needn’t have worried.
It was such a hit that Angel had to check it out, too!
Jake and Angel actually played with it together for a little while.
Without any hissing! I wonder if that was Angel’s birthday present to Jake?
Today is a very big day…Jacoby is 5 years old!
So, here are some Somali kittens to sing him a birthday song!
Last Saturday, Jacoby and I went to a CFF (Cat Fanciers’ Federation) cat show.
The CFF is one of the oldest feline registries in the United States, but it’s also one of the smallest. Originally called the Atlantic Cat Club, it was once a part of the CFA, but broke off and became their own club in 1919.
The territoty of the CFF is rather small: They only have shows in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Maine, New Hampshire and Connecticut. But that also makes it very close-knit and friendly.
But the most fun thing about the show was, we got to see Buddy, Stan and Patty. You may recall Buddy (JazzyAbys Buddy Rich) earned his Grand Premiership in CFA back in August 2012, at the show at the Mansfield Holiday Inn. Well, Buddy is working on his Grand Champion Alter title in CFF.
And he almost made it, too. Despite finishing first in an Allbreed Alter ring, Buddy ended the day needing one point to Grand!
Part of the reason Buddy didn’t make that last point was that he wasn’t able to be judged in two rings since his humans were judging, too. In Stan and Patty’s rings, Jake was the only Aby.
And it was great fun to have Stan and Patty judge Jake for the first time. Ever since Gun-Hee’s first show when he was a kitten up against Fats Waller, I’ve been in awe of their cats. Wally was CFA’s Best Aby of 2008!
A good time all around in Patty’s ring! Wave to the people, Jake!
For his first CFF show, Jake did really well. He was 6th Best Shorthair Alter, 6th Best Allbreed Alter, 3rd Best Shorthair Alter and 3rd Best Allbreed Alter in his four rings.
Since he was the only Novice Abyssinian, he earned a winner’s ribbon in each ring. In CFF, it takes four winner’s ribbons to become a Champion in the Alter class…so now, as soon as I file his paperwork, Jake’ll be a Champion in his third cat registry!
This was also our first cat show since the Westchester show last November.
I think Jake kind of missed going to shows. He had a good time hanging out and meeting people. Unlike last year, though, he didn’t win the Spectator’s Choice Award (I think he came in second).
This week’s Photo Hunt subject is “Ginormous.”
Moving house is a ginormous undertaking for cats and humans alike. We’ve finally put our old apartment on the market and our Realtor held several open houses over the weekend. He came over this past Monday to go over the pros and cons of the different bidders and discuss our next moves.
He sat on one of our window seats to try it out, and during the conversation Jacoby hopped up on the neighbouring cat tree to listen.
Which just goes to show you that you cannot make a major life decision without an Aby’s help!
The Daily Abyssinian...and Singapura 