Cheshire

Brozhy turns one year old sometime around now.  Heck, he might've turned one a while ago.  Oh well. I thought I'd simultaneously poke a little fun at people that do baby-update posts (even though when I have a kid you'd better bet I'll be updating you ALL the time, probably annoyingly so, just to bug you) and sort of reassure people slash repair whatever damage I did in your opinion of Brozhy when I wrote the last post about him.  Before we begin, random fun fact: Brozhy's name when we adopted him was Teddy.  Like a bear?  No se.

First of all, I love what he's done for Sam.  Sam was a total anti-cat person before, but for no particular reason.  He thought they were stupid and boring and ugly and evil.  Or something.  But now it's the opposite.  Sometimes I have to remind Sam to get back to whatever he was on his way to do because he got distracted by playing with the cat.  Most of the time if we pass near the pet aisle in a store, Sam will be like "Wait, I want to look at cat toys!" and then we will spend the next five minutes looking at them while Sam tries to convince me we should buy X or Y because "Brozhy would love this," or "He would go crazy over that!" or whatever.  Anyway, I just love that while Sam originally got the cat mostly for me, it turns out he loves Brozhy just as much or more.  Bonus: sometimes I'll be in the other room and Sam will be somewhere with Brozhy and I'll hear, in varying creepy voices, that nursery rhyme "Kitty cat kitty cat where have you been?"  It never fails to crack me up.

Not sure how I feel about this...

Brozhy has finally reached full size, and he is quite the handsome cat.  I love looking through his thick fur while I pet him.  He's also a great jumper and climber (sometimes this gets him into trouble...that TV is precarious enough without him sleeping on top of it).  His personality (felinality?) is also really starting to show.  After we got over the fact that he sometimes gets in terrible moods, he has become quite the pleasant cat.  If you're wondering how we solved that, we didn't really.  We've just all learned to better deal with it.  We actually had to ease up on punishment because it was too harsh and he didn't understand why and it was making him meaner.  I realized that most of the time he just wanted to play, but I'd freak out and yell or whatever and he'd think I was going to attack him, so he went to town on my legs.  If he's in a stalky-hunty mood and he's coming after me with more than a little nip, I'll distract him with a string or whatever toy is handy.  It nearly always works.  As for the biting when we pet him, we learned that usually it begins as a nip, which is how some cats show affection when they're purring.  I knew that.  It's just that sometimes he goes a little crazy, and again, if we overreacted, it would make it worse.  I know when I'm petting his stomach (which he only likes in very small doses) and he nips non-affectionately, it's time to stop.  If he keeps biting, he gets to cool off.  He knows the command for that.  If he's too riled up, he gets pushed off the bed or kicked out of the room or whatever.  Usually now he's a very sweet and cuddly and curious cat, and I make sure I treat him that way instead of as a vicious animal like I was before.

Give it here Malfoy!

He knows commands!  He always comes a-running and a-chirping when I call his name (unless he's accidentally trapped himself in a closet somewhere).  He also knows "dance" which is that he must stand with his paws on the wall or on his hind legs before he can get his breakfast in the morning.  He also will go to bed on command, sometimes with a little nudge at first.  His bed is an old towel behind the toilet and he goes right to it every time.  He gets a treat for this.  I'm always impressed.  He also knows "go on!" which is used pretty much for everything-- "get out of the closet," "get off of there," "go cool off," or whatever.

It is Tocktober, after all...

He is super affectionate.  He follows me everywhere I go.  Actually, I'm surprised he's not in the room with me right now.  He probably went to London to visit the Queen.  Whenever we come home he's waiting for us at the door, purring and meowing.  When I lie down or sit down, he comes and lies beside me.  He enjoys purring and kneading my hair, neck (ouch!), clothes, pillows, any jackets or blankets or anything left on the bed, everything really.  He likes to watch me in the kitchen, so sometimes I'll move his scratch tower in there so he can sit on it and watch.  Often he will forfeit being right next to me to lie belly-up in a patch of sunshine, so long as I am within view.

Fluffy

He is incredibly talkative, from morning til he goes to bed.  As soon as he hears us stirring in the morning (through two doors no less), he starts meowing at the bathroom door to get let out and be fed.    If we're somewhere (like eating dinner in the kitchen) and he wanders away, he will meow like he's lost until we call him back.  He chats at me while I'm doing whatever, especially when I stare at him or meow back.  I can literally carry on a conversation with this cat (though I don't know what I'm saying).  When I talk to him in English, he usually gets called "Beebs," "Boo," "Toes," "Stripes," or "Ocelittle" (like an ocelot, but not as much-- Sam wants me to point out this was his invention).

Who?

All in all, I'm very glad we've decided to keep him, and that we realized that it was just us that needed to adjust to his personality/felinality (seriously, is this a word?).  I realize that he's still really playful (and often uses his teeth) and for anyone who can't defer, deflect, or defend themselves, this may be a problem.  I know this might still cause problems when children roll around (ha! what an image!), but for now, everything's Jake.

Party hat!

Happy birth...time Brozhy!

Also he puts up with my shenanigans.  Thanks Brozh.

Oh!  Here's a song for your day.  I think I posted it before, but man, this video is an awesome match to the song.  It's quite mesmerizing.  Have a listen, folks!