Christmas Decorating

I like to respect Remembrance Day but the day after, it is totally fair game. On Tuesday, November 12th. We decorated for the holidays!

Yes there is presents under our tree. There are even more now. While we were doing this, we set the camera up and actually made a video (don't worry I sped up the time). So if you would like to see how Christmas decorating goes in our household, you can just press play! Psst.... There is a lot of shenanigans to do with the cats. They pretty much made the entire video.

And here are the pictures you see me taking in the video. Gizmo is hilarious... but I'm not bias or anything. 

Oh Gizmo...

How To: Travel with Cats

As you know, we recently moved from Vancouver to Toronto which is about 4300 km. Our cats came with us on that move. Before I start, there is one thing I hate and that was when people would ask me what we were doing with our cats when we moved. We are bringing them. It never even crossed our mind to leave our pets behind, they are apart of our family and they are completely capable of coming with us. 

That being said, I was very anxious about bringing them along especially because Gizmo is a very anxious cat himself. I read horror stories online (of course) and also just plain felt bad. We were moving over a period of 2 long days which is not great for the cats. 

When travelling with cats and well, animals in general. You have to figure out what you want to transport them in. Are you going to bring them into the cabin or put them underneath? My suggestion is that if you can, bring them in the cabin with you. Make sure you check your airline restrictions on the carriers as well. 

We did our research and it is not recommended to sedate your pets when going on an airplane in case of complications, but a Vet will guide you to go into any pet store and get this liquid that is supposed to calm them down. We tested it 2 days before to make sure there would be no allergy. We did use this the day of and I think it worked on Kitty but Gizmo was way too anxious to even care about any medication telling him to calm down lol. 

Try to get them to drink some water and eat a little before and if they do, make sure they go to the bathroom. If they are too nervous to eat, drink or go to the washroom, don't worry. My cats hardly ate or drank anything. Don't worry about them going in their kennel. Animals usually don't soil their beds unless they are still young and don't have much control. 

Warning: The airport makes you take your cat out of its carrier and carry it through security while your kennel goes through the machine. Wear long sleeves and maybe bring a harness and leash just in case. We didn't have one because I wasn't prepared for this. Gizmo also scratched my arm up good. 

Put one or two toys in their carrier so they have something they know. My cats didn't notice them but it doesn't hurt.

When you reach your destination, your cats will probably be so giddy to get out of the carrier you will realize they are fine. The most exciting part for my cats was when their cat post came. It was something they recognized and it had their scent all over it. They immediately jumped on it so try to bring something that is theirs from home. It will make the transition easier. 

In the end, everything worked out and it really wasn't that big of a deal. They lived! 

Kitty Witty

Kitty Witty is my nickname for her. Her original name was never actually Kitty but I will share on that later.... 

Kitty was born sometime in September 2009 (Brandyn thinks) and she is a purebred Burmese.. We found this out after we fixed her. Lame sauce haha. 

But anyway... Brandyn was living with  his friends Grandma renting out a room from her and I guess someone she knew had some kittens so she took one home. Apparently Kitty took to Brandyn and kind of just became his cat. About 3 months later, Brandyn and I became an item.

 Kitty's original name was Kitty Catter Magader (did I even spell that right?) I don't even know but Brandyn and his friend named him.... This is how the conversation went when I first met Kitty...

"Ohh whats her name?"

"Kitty Catter Magader"

"Excuse me?"

"Kitty Catter Magader"

... I literally didn't even understand what her name was because they said it so fast. After I had figured it out I scolded Brandyn for giving a cat three names and then took it upon myself to call her Kitty. Kitty has had 3 different names total I think.... One of Brandyn's roommates decided to call her Peaches once as well  but Kitty seemed to stick.... :) 

Kitty is your typical female cat. She only comes on her terms .... she doesn't like to be held or anything...and she refuses to respond to you. 

Other times she is a very interesting cat. For example.... she doesn't like to touch the sand (or maybe doesn't know how) in her litter box so instead of covering up her business... she scratches at the side of the litter box which can be REALLY annoying. She also likes to pee in the bathtub... which is also really annoying and stinky. In this apartment we have glass shower doors. It keeps her out. She also seems to be quite lazy with her meow. It'll kind of just be a squawk. But she can do some funny things too....

And this is a snapshot Brandyn got once. This is a usual occurance. Little 7 lb Kitty sleeping on the pillow above mine and my 17 lb giant Gizmo taking up my side of the bed.

If I could... I would have more cats! Because I love animals :)

Introducing....

Gizmo!

It recently occured to me that I have never formally introduced my cats which is wierd because they are like my babies and if you have been to my photo challenge tab... they cover most of it! So here I introduce my cat Gizmo! (Prepare for some serious awes)

Here's the story of how Gizmo came to be mine... In 2008 my cat died and my Mom was taking a break from owning a pet. I don't understand how people replace their pets right away but maybe that is how they cope. In 2010, someone we knew's cat was pregnant so I convinced my Mom to take one of the kittens. On June 28th, 2010, Gizmo and his brothers and sister were born. I was there for his birth which was gross needless to say haha and I hung out a lot. Two kittens were immediately ruled out because they were long haired (and one was a female and my Mom doesn't like female cats). 

So there were 2 short hairs that were also boys... I started to notice Gizmo because he was so quirky. He had such personality at such a small age and you could say I picked him or he picked me but I knew we were going to take him when he was ready. The long haired kittens and Gizmo had homes and there was one left who didn't have a home and I felt bad. I also kind of wanted Gizmo for myself. So I convinced my Mom to take this one and Gizmo would be mine (I was 18 after all and would be moving out soon). We ended up bringing both cats home at 5 weeks because the people we got them from couldn't handle having the kittens around. They got into too much mischeif. 

My Mom named her kitten Spencer. You may see a bigger version around my blog too. He was always twice the size of Gizmo but now they are very close in size.

 

When I moved out a year later, I took Gizmo with me. Spencer now has 2 other cats to play with - they are from the same Mom as well. My Mom was going to take one to be Spencer's companion and then caved and took 2!! Haha .. the things animals do to you... we are all such suckers

Anyway here are more pictures of Gizmo growing up :) 

Gizmo is such a funny cat. He is so chatty. We often have conversations although they usually consist of "Meow"...."meow"... I think he just responds when he hears my voice. This cat plays fetch! I throw a ball and he runs, grabs it in his mouth and brings it back. Its phenominal. If I tell him to get down or no, he meows and then actually does so. Who ever thinks cats aren't trainable..didn't try hard enough!

 

Stay tuned for Kitty's introduction!