The other morning, I woke up to this.
Izaak just sitting in his cat bed, on his baby blanket, chilling.
It was really funny…and not a little surreal.
Zak sat that way for a really long time, too.
Just contemplating himbs peets.
Apparently, they were very interesting that morning.
Suddenly, Zak started to aggressively groom his tailtip.
Lick, lick, lick…
…lick…oops, almost lost it!
Take that, tail!
Zak was very thorough.
And then,
suddenly…
..Zak was done.
“What?”
Singapuras, having American Burmese in their ancestry, are brachycephalic. They’re not as bad as, say, Persians and Exotics, but it’s there.
With Izaak, it doesn’t really cause any problems, except he gets black eye boogers pretty much every day.
Okay, so maybe it causes a little problem for Zak.
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Because Zak hates having his eyes cleaned.
But he is such a good boy, all he does is push my hands away.
And he is wicked strong, too!
As I was cleaning his eyes the other day, I came up with a little song:
Hands…pushing hands…I don’t want…you to clean…my eyes
Don’t clean my eyes!
(Bom Bom Bom)
I like them just the way they are…
(are…are…are…)
Or, if you prefer something a little more modern:
Don’t clean…Don’t clean my…
Don’t clean my eyes for me
And that, right there, is the Singapura Stink-Eye™!
The other day, a friend posted an infomeme about dandelions. I think it has some very important things to know.
We are lucky that our område’s lawn is a natural mix of grass, moss, yarrow, clover, and many different flowers including dandelions. They don’t mow it super-short or super-often, so it gets really nice and natural. There’s also no sprinkler system. If it doesn’t rain, the grass turns brown…c’est la vie. It’s so much nicer than those perfect, manicured lawns in the States.
Dandelions are also wicked fun to gallop through. Just ask Izaak.
So this happened today.
Angel was in her bed, and Izaak wanted to be in her bed. Look at her face. She knows she can’t do anything about it.
Although, Zak was in there very awkwardly. “Yes. I am very comfortable here. Why do you ask?”
I’m not sure which is funnier, the leg over Angel’s shoulders or the tail scarf.
They stayed this way for a long time, too. I think Angel doesn’t mind it as much as she pretends…
Singapuras love to sleep under blankets, and Izaak is no different. He also likes to sleep touching skin, and most nights he sleeps either on my legs or next to my feet.
Björn captured this scene last night when he came to bed. Thank goodness I recently got a pedicure!
The other day, I looked over and saw Izaak licking my laptop.
It was perfectly clean. Nothing at all lick-worthy there.
I have no idea.
And it wasn’t just one or two licks. He licked my laptop for a good five minutes.
Why, Zak? Just…why?
Even when she was a kitten, Lorelai has been a very skilled shoulder cat. She can jump from the ground to your shoulder in one easy leap and stick the landing, without sticking your shoulder.
Izaak…not so much. But he really wants to be a shoulder cat. And he’s been practicing.
“Aw yeah, I got this.”
As you know, Alfred has a very special relationship with Logan, and I always wondered how he would react to Izaak.
Well, sometimes I find this:
Freddy cuddling and grooming Zak.
Zak doesn’t seem to be as into the cuddle session as Freddy is, but he seems to understand that Freddy needs it.
And maybe he does. Freddy and Zak don’t have the same relationship as Freddy and Logan did…but I guess sometimes Freddy just misses Logan, and Zak is the next best thing.
I love Izaak’s face.
I love the way he looks at me with such intensity. It’s like he’s trying to communicate with me telepathically.
Zak is so expressive. He goes from that to a goofy yawn…
…back to stink-eye in the blink of an eye.
As I have said before, Singapuras are big fans of sharing…whether or not you want to share with them.
This happened the other day. That this is Angel’s bed is well established. But Izaak thought she needed company.
So he wedged himself into her bed.
Zak tried to appease Angel with some licks to her head.
I am not sure how successful that actually was, but Angel didn’t kick Zak out of her bed.
Izaak loves to sit on my legs. He sleeps on my legs, and he seems to prefer skin contact, which is a trait of many Singas, I have noticed.
I posted a couple of these photos to a Singapura Facebook group. One person commented, “I always find for such a small/lightweight breed they have the ability to become 100% heavier!” Another added, “Cats can control their relationship with gravity. They can land as light as a feather or as heavy as a bag of potatoes.”
Sounds about right. Like their cousins, the Burmese, Singas are “bricks wrapped in silk.”
Zak sat so heavily, he left a pawprint on my leg! And he isn’t that heavy, either; last week he weighed in at 3.6 kg.
And it was still visible an hour later!
I have had a rather crappy 24 hours. It’s finished now, but it just really drained me, emotionally.
Therefore, today’s post is the blogging equivalent of just making pasta with whatever sauce because you have zero idea what to have for supper and can’t be arsed to make anything but you really need to eat.
Recently, Izaak has decided he wants to try to be a shoulder cat. He’s started jumping on Björn the way Lorelai does.
I love the little grabby hands.
He’s pretty awkward, though.
Not at all the graceful little squirrel that Rory is at all.
He really has to work at keeping his balance!
More gratuitous grabby hand action. Sorry this post is so listless, but I am just completely out of spoons.
When Izaak decides he wants to nap somewhere…
…He naps there.
Regardless of whether or not someone else is already napping there.
There’s this one old cat tree is especially popular for some reason.
Dashiell has taken a liking to sleeping in the cat bed in that tree.
And because Dash wants to sleep there…so does Zak.
And when Izaak wants something…he usually gets it.
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Whether you want it or not…if a Singapura wants to cuddle with you, you CUDDLE!
I just want to feature Izaak today. He is my constant little buddy; as I am typing this he’s sitting next to me on the sofa. I think he is trying to fill the hole Jacoby left when he died.
He has the funniest run. And he doesn’t walk…he trots with a swagger.
He loves to sleep under the blankets with me.
I think it started the first time we met.
We bonded over the crazy trip from Stockholm back to Skövde.
He slept on my lap the whole ride home.
Look at him looking at me on his first night here.
He helped me pack for Lorelai’s first cat show (he couldn’t go because he hadn’t gotten his Swedish pedigree yet).
He started in on his chicken necks before he even had his adult teeth!
Zak loved running outside right from the start.
He charmed the judges at his first show.
He’s a stubborn, goofy, talkative boy. In typical Singapura fashion, he’s decided who his person his and there’s no arguing with him.
As I posted last Sunday, Izaak and Angel’s cat tree battle has become an afternoon ritual.
Angel goes to hang out and chill on the top of the cat tree, Zak tries to unseat her, and she defends herself.
And she is 100% capable of defending herself. I mean, look at that hiss! She may have only two teeth, but this girl is FIERCE!
Angel has no problems keeping Zak in his place.
Zak attempts to take over the top again…
…but look at Angel’s cocked arm. She’s more than ready for him.
Zak makes one last half-hearted feint at Angel…
…and nearly falls out of the hole in the bottom of the house.
…and…Zak out.
Izaak has two brave brothers and a daring neice, so he has bravery running through his veins.
And Zak is brave! The other day when we were outside, our upstairs neighbours were unpacking their car…and Zak just hopped right into Bruno’s doggy pen in the back! If ate dry food, he probably would have eaten that, too.
Izaak loves his Ikea mice, but he also loves his Ikea rats.
The other day, he wanted us to throw him his rat instead of one of his mousies.
Which, when thrown, were dutifully returned.
Eventually, though, the whole “throw, fetch, repeat” theme didn’t seem to matter so much on the “throw” part of the scenario as far as Zak was concerned.
I guess he thought that if he killed the rat ahead of time, he wouldn’t have to fetch it and bring it back?
Yesterday, I showed you the cat toys I found in London to bring back for the cats.
But what did the cats think of them?
I got our resident soft toy expert, Izaak, to examine them. First I gave him the Donald.
Zak really liked “killing” this toy…even before I had a chance to take it off the cardboard!
So what did he think of Donald when I took him off the card?
Yep, still good.
Putin was also a hit. Not as much as Donald, but still worthy of a solid kicking.
The Catmium credit card and the Catberry were…okay. Zak liked the card’s rattle.
But which was the “best” toy?
ALL of them, apparently! Although I think Zak’s favourite is Donald. The hair probably reminds him of his mousies.
Björn took these photos while I was sleeping…
These were actually taken after we rushed Jacoby to the hospital…but never brought him home.
Izaak was sleeping on me exactly the way Jake used to do.
It’s almost like Zak knew what was going to happen before the rest of us did.
I have been asked how the other cats are dealing with the loss of Jacoby. They definitely know he’s not there…but they don’t seem to miss him. He was sort of a loner, although he would sleep with the others, especially Alfred and Izaak. Jake of course was mainly bonded with me, and Zak has kind of decided that I’m his, too.
As you can see, Zak decided it was okay for Jake to let him share me with him (this was how I woke up on St. Patrick’s Day).
But since Jake’s been gone, Zak (who as we know loves playing with furry plush toys) has started playing with one of my Pusheen dolls. I found she had been dragged into the living room. And there was no question who had done it…He looked too proud of himself!
Zak has a very specific way of playing with Pusheen, too. First, he pretends to ignore her…
…and then he whips around and SMACKS her!
And after that…
…it’s pretty much on like an early video game involving gorillas and barrels.
After a brief spar, the opponents retreat into their neutral corners, eyeing each other cautiously.
And then bite,
bite,
bite,
ATTACK!
Uh oh, looks like Pusheen may be winning…
…Oh, no, Zak’s got this.
It’s so funny to watch Zak drag Pusheen around. She’s almost as big as he is!
Well…Zak wasn’t wrong. It did help cheer me up a bit.
The Daily Abyssinian...and Singapura 