Been away!

We've been away for a long weekend, and on sunday, we received a picture from our friend who's looking after Freya, fussing and feeding her while we're away.

Now.... Does that look like the face of a cat who's beside herself with worry, missing her lovely Mum & Dad??

I don't think so either.... talk about LACK of LOYALTY!!!! I'm gonna have to have a word with that cat when we get back!!! :-)

My favourite website!

I've just seen this on my favourite website...
www.icanhascheezburger.com
could it be a Bengal?He has a lovely spotty tum!

gratuitous photos!

I was thinking tonight while showing some friends Freya's blog, that there just aren't enough pictures of our little star here.

So here's some more, for no apparent reason!....

Little Miss Determined!

**I just noticed that Anna's already written about this story.... But mine's got video!!! :-) um, although it is Anna's video!!**

The first time Freya explored the kitchen, she found a tiny hole in the floor between two cabinets. For some reason, she dived in this hole, (full of the last 30 years' dust!) and seemed to love it.

We coaxed her out with some treats, and put a piece of wood in the hole to block it. About 5 minutes later, she'd plucked the wood blockage out, and dived in the hole again.

Right we thought, we'll put the wood back in the hole, and barricade it with a tin or two.
Didn't delay her at all, so we put another tin. No problem for her.

Eventually, we settled on 2 cans, a box of laundry tabs and a cereal packet, and ran for the camera!!!

take a guess... :-)

Bloomin' scavenger!

ok, I'm beginning to feel threatened by repeatedly being outsmarted by a cat!

Anna has been bugging me for about a year to get rid of my kitchen bin - it's one where it's a frame, and the black bag just hangs from it. I've had it forever and it's really efficient and functional. Anyway, I've resisted Anna's persuasion for ages, and then Freya appears, and discovers how easily her claws rip through the plastic. So it only takes three days of this for me to relent and go out and buy a fancy metal bin. Anna's overjoyed.

Then today, I cooked some lovely sausage sandwiches. Once finished, I took my plate into the lounge, and started eating. Suddenly, in a flash of inspiration, I remembered that I'd left the sausagey-pan on the cooker, and the little furry scavenger would be sure to lick it clean. So I leaped off to the kitchen and she was no-where to be seen.

Just to be safe, I put it into the sink to keep it safe. Upon my return to my plate of yumminess, I caught the furry one with her face inside my sandwich! She wasn't even interested in the bread!

She spotted me with the eyes in the back of her head, grabbed a WHOLE SAUSAGE, and jumped down under my desk.

Luckily I was wise to this trick, having owned a pretty street-wise cat before Freya.[1] I was fully aware of this game. I knew how it worked. I walk towards her, she grabs the sausage, and she runs off.

My trick was to bear down on her at great speed, and true to my feral kittie training, she dropped the sausage in her panic, and legged it upstairs.

I'm not totally mean though - I'm keeping her stolen trophy and I'll let her have it later, just so she doesn't think it's a reward for nicking my sausages!!!!

[1] Scampi was as cute as a button most of the time, but if she pinched a bone or something, you'd better be pretty gutsy to try and take it off her - she wouldn't run away, she'd front you, growl, hiss and spit until YOU left the room to let her have it in peace.
Awww, I miss her so much....

Favourite past-time

The first time Freya went into the kitchen, she noticed a cat-sized hole beneath the sink, where a small piece of wood was missing. In a flash, she slinked through the hole to explore. She reappeared when she heard the sound of biscuit treats being shaken and emerged with cobwebs on her nose. As we weren't sure what else she might find in the black hole, the missing wood was found a pushed into place but she soon pulled it out!
Then we blocked the wood with a tub of washing machine tablets - which she immediately dragged out of place. It became her favourite game! We added large tins of tuna, then potatoes, then a packet of cereal. We managed to catch her on film relishing the challenge of her obstacle course. She is delighted that so far we have not succeeded in hammering a nail in the wood due to its awkward location. And so, for now, the game continues...

Freya's Background

We first noticed Freya on the RSPCA Ashford's Website but didn't really pay attention much, as she was 5 years old and we were looking for a younger cat, and they also suggested that she might only be suitable for experienced Bengal owners, and we only had experience of a very frisky feral cat. Anna fell in love with her straight away, but was discouraged by not being an experienced Bengal owner.

Speaking to Leslie at Ashford, (The best Cat rescue person you could hope to meet) we were excited to hear that Freya might be ok for us after all, and decided to go and visit to see if Freya liked us. Straight away we were bowled over by her colours and spots, as we hadn't seen a Bengal before. She jumped out of her pen, and just seemed so curious and confident and made it quite clear that we'd be suitable for her!


It seemed she had an interesting past though. She had been rescued from a breeder along with over 20 other cats. 4 of the other cats have their own blogs too - there's a link on the right hand side of this blog. We believe Freya was one of the breeding queens so there's a chance that Samwise, Merry, Frodo and Gandalf are her kittens! Lets hope they remember when it comes to their mum's birthday, eh?

I guess she likes pork!

I had a lovely pork chop today, and when I'd finished, being a responsible kittie-dad, I wrapped the bones and fat in foil, and then double-plastic bagged the remains and put them in the bin.

You know what's coming, don't you?

Within less than 2 minutes, I noticed the little sweetheart sitting under the coffee table with a shiny silver-foil package, rubbing her paws together, just dreaming about what she was about to do to her delicious prize.

Unfortunately mean old dad appeared at that point, and snatched it away.

She'll forgive me one day...

In disgrace!

This morning, about 8:00 AM, I was woken by the sound of pottery smashing.

After rolling over and going back to sleep for another 30 mins, I went downstairs to find that she'd knocked the peace lily off the table and smashed its pottery cover. For the past 3 days, I'd noticed the tips of the leaves have been a bit jagged and squared off. I guess I'll have to buy a new pot cover now. It can come out of her biscuit money!

freya not on kitchen cupboards anymore

We suddenly noticed today, that Freya hasn't been hiding on top of the kitchen cupoards anymore. Before today, she'd have her breakfast, and then throughout the day, if ever you wondered where she was, you could be sure to find her on top of the dusty cupboards in the kitchen!

Still, I'm sure she dusted while she was up there...

Now she spends most of the day hanging out with us in the lounge.

Becoming a lapcat

Freya has really started being a lap cat! The transformation is amazing after all the time we spent, where she would run away from us whenever we approached her.

It was interesting actually, how I'd come downstairs in the morning, and she'd hide under the table when I approached her, so I'd walk into the kitchen to get her breakfast and she'd happily follow me - I could then seize the opportunity to grab and pick her up for a cuddle - she absolutely loved it, purring loudly and snuggling - but the picking up was always a trick.

By the evening, she'd warm to us, and we could pick her up, and play with her, and we were great friends. But then by the next morning, I'd have to start all over again tricking her into a cuddle!

The evenings are great; We sit on the sofa, and Freya takes up her position next to Anna, and gets all the cuddles and strokes she can handle. Not a sign of the frightened cat we've known for the past week or two.