Mr Kitty and The Old Boys

Recently someone inquired how is our Mr Kitty doing so I felt I have to oblige the audience with a few words and photos of our latest acquisition. Latest because he is the last to join the two boxer dogs team we had already.  

He is just over a year now. We brought him in after my daughter's persistent mental warfare for months (which apparently worked we are really dog people here, or that's what we kept saying to ourselves?!) It was for her birthday and he was so tiny, just 4 weeks old and didn't know a thing (genie mac, he was so cute). 

I have to admit that he brought absolute havoc in the house. 

• He climbed and jumped everywhere (that was a shock compared to The Old Boy who was a lively puppy but never did anything so outrageous except once when he was really young and untrained and he reached on top of the stove and pushed a pot of soup on the floor. We found him hiding in the opposite side of the room behind the potted palm. he never did anything like that ever again ) 
• He had a lot to say and all the time, apparently this type of cats are called vocal. From all the cats in the world we managed to pick the most vocal kitten ever (compared to the Old Boys who never ever bark or utter a sound, except when playing, because we thought them not to do it. Fat chance trying to teach a cat not to meow)  
• Last Christmas, he totally wrecked our Christmas tree because he was constantly climbing on it and hiding among the branches. At the end it just broke in two (at least it was after Christmas) The Old Boy never did that, except on his very first Christmas when he gently pushed the tree over to get to all the chocolate decorations, which he unwrapped and ate happily during the night. Well, we never bought any more eatable decorations since then. 
• every time I was washing the dishes Mr. Kitty would climb on my shoulders, digging his lovely
  
  sharp claws from my ankles to my neck and then would watch fascinated until I finish (I can not describe all the scars we got from those so tiny but so piercing and sharp little tools of death)
• he loved to sit on top of the table while we eat and watch with the occasional "meow" (at least the Old Boys sit under the table while we eat, ha-ha) now that he is older he knows he is not allowed on the table and he only sits on the chairs and looks from there. Imagine a pair of piercing eyes staring at you over the edge with a bunch of twitching whiskers  
• by the way, we though Mr Kitty was a girl at first, until about 6 months later when we discovered that certain male attributes are growing, so from Kitty turned into Mr Kitty 
• The Old Boy kept following him everywhere like a shadow. It took him months to find out what the hell was that... 
  

Hanging around with our well trained and behaved dogs was definitely positive influence to Mr. Kitty

• he learned his name and when I call him he responds with a meow and comes, even if not right away. Sometimes he is too far, or too busy I presume, if he is out in the neighborhood, but as long as he can hear me he is home in the next 5-10 minutes.   
• he loves a good treat as much as anyone and at home we have our routines and the tree of them line up together, they all sit like good boys, we wouldn't have it any other way. So cute, two huge boxers and a tiny cat on the side 
• he also likes his walks and quite often he comes with me and the Old Boys for a short walk to the Waterfall. Imagine the look on peoples' faces when they meet us in the neighborhood ;) We are already known to everyone in the village because rain or shine we walk our dogs every single day. Now people say stuff like "You walk your cat too?!????!!!!??!!!"

So more or less this is what I can think of our Mr Kitty right now. This very moment he is rolled up in a ball in the middle of the sofa and he is not going anywhere - there is a wicked storm outside so he is taking it easy today until it is over. If push comes to shove he will share the sofa with me and the Old Boys while we watch some TV. 

Imagine that, a perfect evening....

Mr Kitty having fun

 

My daughter just said a few days ago, that if she knew having a cat is so much fun she would have asked for one a long time ago.

I tend to agree..even though I always considered myself strictly a dog person.... 

Occasional sunny spells

Occasionally after a horrific summer like last one, here in Ireland we get fantastic autumn days, with lovely sunny spells.

Every time the weather is clear, warm and sunny people are up and about trying to get the most of it because you never now when it will get bad again, an here in Galway county, it happens faster than anywhere else. 

Remember The Twilight movies with the vampires hiding out in Forks because it is the rainiest and cloudiest place on Earth, well believe me they should have come here, there is definitely more cloudy and rainy days all year round and the landscape is as dramatic!! 

The occasional sunny spells do bring the spirits up and we get a a lovely break from the constant drizzle and heavy overcast skies. It becomes lovely and sunny and bright. The colours are warm and all I want to do is climb the mountains and walk the forests and swim the ocean and take photos all the time...until it starts again

Forgive me for feeling a bit bitter and sarcastic but a lot of bad weather can really bring you dawn sometimes....

Anyway here are the photos from the last occasional sunny spell 

 Thanks for walking the Bog road with me 

Heather in the summer grass

If I hear the words "purple" and "green" the first thing I think about is purple heather snuggled in the green summer grasses of wild Connemara bogs. 

I can feel the fresh breeze touching my skin, the sun from behind the fleeting clouds is week but almost warm. The smell of bogs and water, grass and wild flowers is overpowering and sweet.

There is nothing like Walking Connemara in the summer.  

My boxer story

For the last week or so we took care of a third boxer.

Yes, I am not joking. We already have two lovely chaps and decided we need more. When you have one boxer, it is never enough. You get so much love and attention from them it is addictive. Honestly, pure addiction. The way they look at you, the way they can read you and predict what you are going to do before you do it so they can join you and you can not say no.... Doesn't that sound like the perfect relationship?!

Anyway, we got the first one as a puppy, 7 years ago. He has imprinted on us all perfectly now. I never had a dog before him and I never knew it is so wonderful and rewarding. We got boxer books, we read, we watched a lot of dog shows and now I can say that we are pretty good with dogs. We walked him every single day for at least and hour an half, most of the time two and more. No matter the weather and believe me around here in this part of Ireland, the weather is pretty bad most of the time. As long as he has had his walk and a good meal after, no dog will create any problems after that, believe you me, he is only one big sofa cushion for the rest of the day and night... We always say he is our Big Love..

Then 4 years ago we decided to find him company and rescued number two. The poor thing has had a

lot of of problems in his short life. He was starved, totally dehydrated, scared out of his head, about a year old and not house trained, didn't recognise any name we tried. So sad!! But now, when people look at him they can not believe that he was rescued he looks as good and vibrant as any other dog. One of the most heartbreaking things about him is that he is always trying so hard to prove that he is a good boy, even after all this years, he still has the need in his heart to prove that. He looks in my eyes and assumes his best "I am a good boy" position and shows me that he is good...... he simply doesn't deserve anything bad to happen to him. We can only speculate what it was but he was definitely tied up in a confined space, he couldn't move much for a long period of time, the scar from the extremely tight collar never heeled, his coat didn't grow back. And he doesn't like to get dirty at all, amazing, isn't it?

So a week ago we sheltered another boxer with the hope that we will be able to keep him. Unfortunately nothing went as we planed. The boy was fabulous, I fell in love with him straight away. Unfortunately he had a big issue with our boys. We knew there will be a bit of tension, introducing new dog and all, but things went completely out of hand and at the end and we had to give him up.

We kept them separated, blocking the doors in the house so they can not reach each other, the house was divided in half basically and not very livable. On his own, the new boy was fantastic, quiet, so loving and adorable but the moment he spied the other two he got wired and tensed up and simply jumped at them to fight. And it wasn't about dominance anymore, they fought 6-7 times and he lost every single time. He attacked the others once even when they had their backs turned, when one of them was sleeping and so on.... So no matter how much I liked him, and how good his life could have been here with us, we had to say good bye. I am so sad. 

I hope you find a good family, my boy.

Without words, Ode to Light

Sometimes there is no need to say a word. The photos tell the whole story for me. 

Without words, Ode to Light

 

Thank you for being here!!