Tora is still Neil’s favorite at our house, and he spends a lot of time looking for her and chasing her, even if it means getting stuck behind the couch.
Category Archives: Cats
Are you Sleeping?
Hey Tora, what are you doing? Trying to take a nap? Don’t you want to play with me instead?
Tora?
Hi!
You have soft paws.
Very soft paws.
Mom, I’m playing with Tora!
You’re sleeping again? Hey Tora, don’t go back to sleep, I want to play!
Tora’s Best Friend
Neil may be fond of Marcel and me, but his favorite person is a cat. Tora is going to be in trouble once he is able to move more quickly on his own.
Tora’s Nemesis
Tora hasn’t been spending too much time outside lately. We thought she was sticking close to home because of the time she got lost, but now we think it’s because a neighborhood cat is hanging around and she doesn’t get along with him. When he first showed up last year, he seemed friendly, (towards us at least, Tora and Kame didn’t like him, even though it looked like he wanted to play) and Marcel and I considered adopting him when we thought he was a stray.
Even though he has a home down the street, he wanders into our house frequently, and this past weekend I almost locked him in my car when he jumped in and hid in the front seat while I was unloading groceries. He chases Tora into our house, or up a tree (so he has clear access to the house). There have been several times that I’ve had to chase him out of our basement because he and Tora are fighting. After this long, I doubt they will ever get along, but I hope she can stick up for herself at some point, and not just hiss at him when he’s hanging out on our back step.
Tora waiting for the coast to be clear before she comes down
The tree on the side of our house is usually where Tora ends up if the black cat is around
After Tora came down from the tree, she sought safety near us in case the cat returned. She even went to Neil. Unfortunately, he was too busy playing and didn’t notice her.
Kame’s Meow
When we got Kame in the spring of 2010, she was very young – only 5 weeks old. Normally, we wouldn’t have taken her, but the environment she was in wasn’t very good, and she was at risk of getting eaten by a large dog. At the time, we were doing the office renovations and we didn’t want her underfoot with extra people in the house, and we didn’t want her to get outside through the open door, so we confined her to the spare bedroom with the guinea pigs (now Neil’s room).
Tora absolutely hates kittens, so Kame was without feline companionship for a couple weeks, and since kittens are curious and the room wasn’t that large, it didn’t take her long to find the guinea pig cage. She spent close to a month with Kirin, Sunti, and Pokka, sleeping with them and playing. As she grew, Tora calmed down a bit, and started spending more time with her, eventually bringing home small animals in an attempt to teach her to hunt (which she never did get the hang of).
All that time, however, Kame had never meowed. She would squeak, or chirp in a way similar to a guinea pig, but it didn’t even begin to sound like a meow until a few months ago. At times, she would get very demanding and would push her head under your hand, forcing you to pet her, and if you protested, she would let out a squeaky meow – kind of a cross between a chirp and a meow – and would only do it once.
She and Tora spent a lot of time together, and as Kame eventually grew larger than Tora, they would occasionally get into spats, usually when Kame sat on top of Tora and tried to bite her head. But they also enjoyed napping together, and they would always team up against the raccoon or neighborhood cats that would wander into the house.
As of now, Kame hasn’t been home in 3 weeks, and we are beginning to think that she may not come home again. She’s never been gone for more than a day or two, and usually then it was because she was locked in the garage (one of her favorite places to hide was up in the rafters). Hopefully she’s just a bit lost and will come wandering back like Tora did a few months ago.
Comfortable in the living room
Lounging in the back yard
Curled up in a favorite napping spot
