Pet Channel

Lots of moons ago when I was little, my mother and I went to stay at a B&B in Gloucester. It wasn't your average B&B though, being more of a home turned into a hotel, and what a place. Over four hundred years old, with creaky, narrow staircases, and odd shaped rooms overlooking the surrounding countryside. We stayed there fairly often as my mum was friends with the owner, and as there was also a stable with horses, a hay barn, orchard and swimming pool to explore, I didn't object one iota to being dragged along to stay there. Add to that the fact they also had two dogs, rabbits, and a Siamese cat, it was on occasion rather difficult to persuade me to go home again.

The Evil Eye is an ancient symbol, present within the Greek Orthodox Church. When worn, or hung in one’s home, it is thought to protect from jealousy’s evil eye, and for this reason is often hung above the cribs of pretty babies. A neurotic pet owner had even attached a tiny eye ornament to the collar of their Siamese cat, who was obviously considered a particularly attractive specimen. Dangling in abundance in some businesses and households, the symbol is taken quite seriously, as is the wickedness of the Evil Eye. Traditionally, ladies may also wear blue clothing as an additional safeguard against the evil force.

At bedtime tonight I picked the book Skippyjon Jones, one of the many books we got at the book fair in November that I had not yet read (Mom’s read it to them). I LOVE THIS BOOK! Oh my goodness! This little Siamese cat pretends to be a chihuahua and has an adventure (don’t want to spoil the book!) - and they speak in ’spanglish’ (spanish and english combined) and rhyme! It’s too cute!

He also shared a little anecdote about Foof, a Siamese cat his family once had. His mother had brought home a stray kitten one day, and Foof apparently loathed that little ball of fluff. He loathed the kitten so much, in fact, that one day Ricardo caught him trying to push the kitten off the sixth-floor balcony.

A friend of mine is thinking about getting a cat or two. I have strongly suggested that he go the same route as myself and adopt a traditional Siamese like this one, also known as an "Applehead Siamese". Here's some information from a breeder:

NewMexiKen has been watching Lady and the Tramp — and watching it and watching it and watching it. I’m certain we’ve seen the scene with the Siamese cats (Si and Am) at least a dozen times.

Tony, probably the sweetest and most affectionate cat that ever lived, would normally be my comfort at times like this. Now he’s there and I’m here. My big bird, Sammy, and our little birds Phoenix and Big Bird, are also gone from my life now.

Diamond, a jet black Siamese cat spent nine months on the Bozeman streets, which are often roamed by other, more fearsome, domestic pets and predators. Here is Diamond's story.

Tiki, of all my pets, has had the biggest personality. He was a dignified cat constantly foiled by his own klutziness. There was a meow (a very Siamese cat meow) for any and every occasion. I’ve never seen an animal so able to accurately get his message across. He had us trained to his whims in a matter of weeks.

Sasha Louise, the Siamese cat who writes The Siamese Supremacy blog, describes her Olympic events at the following link: EXCLUSIVE OLYMPIC COVERAGE by Sasha Louise

Let’s say that your website is about Siamese cats, and you get a lot of general non targeted visitors (bulk) – how many will click on an ad about breeding Siamese Cats?

We’ve just spent the past week in Cape Town, leaving my beloved brother-in-law to keep an eye on things at home. Which he is actually notoriously bad at - and has, as usual, not really managed to do. Usually, we return to my poor child of a siamese cat in some or other state - clenching its little cat buttocks together under the strain of a bladder infection….with a deep slash near his bum since he’s decided to impale himself on something during the course of his cat adventures.

We left at 10am and though our usual 5 hour drive took more than eight we were in much better shape than those poor souls who left the Island later in the day and got stuck in hours and hours of traffic. We brought all 3 cars and and filled them with clothes and things. I carried the cats with me and that was really fun. Rhett settled right down and took a long snooze, but Rafe decided to sing with the radio for the entire 8 hour drive. If you haven't heard a Siamese Cat singing to Jimmy Buffet you haven't lived.

I just wanna share these pictures of our cat in the P.I. coz he died last week... He's a siamese cat named spicwick. He got very ill two weeks ago when he stopped eating... my bro took him to the vet but i guess it was too late coz the medication should've been give a li'l earlier... It's just sad coz he's really cute and very playful... Oh well, that's how things are sometimes... I'd like to spare you guys the drama but honestly, i'll surely miss our spicwick...

Anyway, we have a new owner! A siamese cat named Ginger, in fact, is now our owner. She has already declared our bed and couch as “hers” and I think she has her eyes on my Gamecube and laptop. She’s letting Di keep her computer though because all cats know that Dells suck ass.

*sighs* Today, my 18-year-old siamese cat, Sylvi, passed away. I’m not feeling too good about that. During the past few years of her life, and especially last year, Sylvi’s health deteriorated significantly. Her asthma got worse and a sudden temporary paralysis in her legs after a visit to the vet had lasting effect on her walk - she could no longer lift her paws high nor jump up on anything. Walking became increasingly difficult for her. Her heart was swollen and overwhelmed and a previously undetected virus made her practically blind. Still, she lived quite comfortably (or so I believe) on medication until this month, when the pills finally stopped working. Today we (that is, mother and I) discovered her in a extremely bad condition-she could barely breathe and was unable to eat anything at all - she threw up even the little shreds of food she managed to eat. And the second I saw her, I knew this was it.

In the mornings and evenings, I have to give Zeus medication (several pills) for his heart condition, which isn’t bad as I just have to mix them in some wet food. However, every evening, I have to give Tayo, who has colon cancer, three pills orally (through the mouth, thank god!). You know what Siamese cats are like - if you look at them the wrong way, they try to disembowel you with their claws. Well, I have to grab this cats’ head, pry it’s jaws apart, drop in a pill, and then sort of hold it’s jaw shut until it swallows. Then I have to do that two more times. Fortunately, this is a pretty easygoing cat, and he just wriggles a little and looks at me like I’m Satan, which is sort of how I feel.

My dear friend Thesaurus Rex (who no longer blogs, pity) asked me a while back to take some shots of his two wonderful siamese cats. I’ve decided, therefore, that they should be the stars of this week’s catblogging. Without further ado, here are Gus:

I played a few duets with the older daughter, the one who's been playing flute for awhile and is now taking up the piccolo. She had a fingering chart that included two notes at the top end of the flute's range, which I had never seen before. I tried them out, and got the C# out okay, but the D was a bit of a challenge. One of our cats (the Siamese) was sitting on the couch next to hubby, and she was very unhappy because high pitched sounds mean distress to cats. Siamese cats are loud anyway, and she was positively yelling. When I managed to get a piece of the high D out she turned and bit my husband. Not hard, just enough to get his attention. Probably meaning, "Make it stop! Make it stop!! Poor kitty. She was quite relieved when we stopped. Our other cat hid under our bed the entire time they were here, and didn't even come out for hours after they left. I felt bad for her, but other than bringing her food and water into the bedroom so she'd have access to it, there wasn't anything I could do.

The series of “Cat Who” mystery novels by Lilian Jackson Braun follow the exploits of James Qwilleran and his Siamese cats, Koko and Yum Yum. For the first four books, the only thing exceptional about the little group was the uncanny mystery-solving skills of Koko.

No, I am not talking about the blue-plate special at your local Chinese eatery or the latest sexual position I have created. Last week as I was getting ready for a motivational conference I had an issue with my cat that I thought I would never have to deal with. As the weather has gotten a little nicer, I have opened my windows a little to get some fresh air in. Several weeks ago we had unseasonably warm weather so they were opened then too. My two siamese cats (kittens actually) grew quite fond of the open windows and started laying in the window sills (double hung). When it turned cold, I had to close the windows. Much to my cats suprise they were closed. The first attempt at jumping into the window sill ended up with a head-butt into the window pane. After a few more attempts, they finally realized they were closed (so I assume they did). At any rate, since the weather was nice last week I had the windows opened again. When I woke up one morning, one of the cats jumped out of the window sill back into the bedroom. The other did not move. As I got up out of bed, I noticed that Mai-Tai (yes, they are named Mai-Tai and Wasabi) had wedged herself between the window and the screen while standing on her hind legs. As I attempted to get her out, the screen popped out and out the second floor window she went and I heard her hit the deck below.

I’m not an avid mystery reader, but was given my first “Cat Who” book over two decades ago because I had (still have) Siamese cats. Anyone who knows anything about this series of books knows that two of the main characters are Siamese felines named Koko and Yum Yum. Ms. Braun took KoKo and Yum Yum’s names from Gilbert and Sullivan and the mustache of the main character, a journalist named Qwilleran was copied from Mark Twain.

My only exposure to cats during those years were cats that were none too friendly. These included my grandparents' Siamese cats (Some had friendly moments but were mostly not friendly to me.), my friend's pissy, mean black & white cat, and the pissy, mean black & white cat that belonged to HB's family. The only good cat experiences I'd had were with my grandparent's farm cats who seemed to be pretty happy-go-lucky, loved to be loved on and would purr and purr.