Leia's Journal (With Some Help From Xena)

It's been soooo cold lately esp in the mornings. I'm NOT a morning kitty just like Meowmie. Xena annoys me cos she gets up when Meowmie gets up for work and is wide awake and ready to go straight away. She accompanies Meowmie to the loo and then sits with Meowmie while Meowmie gets dressed and gets heaps of cuddles as Meowmie is struggling to wake up enough to make her way to the bus to go to work.

I, on the other hand, barely manage to give Meowmie a good morning Meow before falling back asleep. Meowmie is so nice and considerate and covers me in the pink blanket she bought for me and Xena to sleep on. As Meowmie is leaving, she pokes her head in the bedroom to say good bye to me and gives Xena a cuddle. I really hate it when Xena decides I should be up too and attacks me on the bed.  Kitties are NOT meant to be day time kitties!

I love the weekends cos Meowmie sleeps in with me. Amazingly, Xena usually sleeps in with us as well - why can't she do that on weekdays too? It can be midday or after before we all get up which is fine with me.

If Meowmie gets up to go to the loo in the middle of the night (which is admittedly more frequent these nights), Xena will get up to go with her too. She obviously doesn't realise that Meowmie managed to go to the loo by herself for years before she came along and thinks she has to go with her to help her. What a silly kitty she is. Thankfully, she settles down again once Meowmie is safely back in bed.

I won't let her sleep near me though, no way! If she gets too close I growl at her. I sleep either on top of Meowmie or on one side of her. Xena is NOT allowed to sleep on top of Meowmie (that's my spot) OR on the side I choose (and it's up to me to choose which side I sleep on in any given night). Xena does understand this though and goes and sleeps on Meowmie's other side after I've warned her about it. I just wish she'd learn to sleep in in the mornings!

Cats can be cooperative when something feels good, which, to a cat, is the way everything is supposed to feel as much of the time as possible. - Roger Caras

Look! We did it! Meowmie said there was no way we would both fit on her lap at the same time but she was wrong!  It was a bit uncomfortable but we were both determined not to let each other push the other off so we put up with it.

Meowmie laughed and said it was the very first time we'd actually laid down while touching each other. We didn't even swipe at each other (that was because we were both concentrating on finding the best spot on Meowmie's lap I think). We didn't get to stay there for long because there was a noise outside the window that we had to go and investigate but still, we did it!

Meowmie has started feeding us raw food on alternate nights with our canned food. We both actually like it better than the canned stuff so I hope she switches to all raw food soon. The only problem is that Xena likes it so much that now she eats all her dinner in one go so I don't get to eat her dinner after I've had mine. Meowmie says this is a good thing cos I'm getting too fat and keeps telling Xena to eat her food before I get it. I don't think I'm too fat, I'm cuddly. Meowmie is hoping that I start to lose weight with the raw food since it won't have as much other undesirable stuff in it.  

"One reason we admire cats is for their proficiency in one-upmanship. They always seem to come out on top, no matter what they are doing, or pretend they do."
- Barbara Webster

It was a beautiful day on Sunday and we begged Meowmie to take us outside - so she did :)  It's coming into winter here and there won't be too many sunny days left for us, although I have to admit that we're a bit like Meowmie in that we love winter - it gives us so many more opportunities to snuggle up against her and keep warm.

Meowmie was doing some scrapbooking the other day. That is soooo much fun!  Xena tried to help her by standing on the pages to keep them from moving while Meowmie was trying to stick some photos on the page. She also tried to help unclutter the table by pushing stuff off it that Meowmie wouldn't need, such as pencils, scissors, glue, photos, etc onto the floor.  I don't think Meowmie fully appreciated it, but Xena was only trying to help.

Meanwhile, I just sat quietly next to Meowme and insisted that she have one hand on me petting me the entire time. I think it helps Meowmie become more self sufficient as she learns to do things like scrapbooking using only one hand. If she forgot and used two hands to do her scrapbooking, I meowed at her to remind her that one hand should be on me at all times.

I have helped her with her scrapbooking by chewing up the edges of some of the paper she uses, I think it makes it look so much more pretty around the edges. Meowmie has kept it and says she'll use it when she eventually gets round to making us our own scrapbook. I've also asked her to keep all the fur we shed because that will be good for decorating the pages too.  She did not, however, like my idea of keeping the cockroach I found the other night to put on our pages - guess she's just not creative like me!

Quote: If a cat spoke, it would say things like "Hey, I don't see the problem here."

Well, I can't say Xena and I are actually friends but we have learnt to tolerate each other :): We even eat out of the same dual food bowl now as you can see from the picture. Xena still pounces on me occasionally but since Meowmie's been trying out something called "Rescue Remedy" from a Naturopath she found (also called Bach's Flower Essences), the pounces are less and less in frequency. She just puts a few drops in our food each night and some in our water bowl. She says it helps me by making me not so anxious as well but I think that I'm not so anxious just because Xena isn't pouncing as much. It doesn't really matter I guess, as long as I stay happy :)  I even get brave enough these days to swipe back at her quite a bit. It's funny to see the effects these swipes have - she backs down immediately!

I love it now that winter is coming. In the summer it often gets way too hot to sleep in bed with Meowmie but in the colder weather I love snuggling up on top of her to sleep. The other night I was snuggling up with her between her legs and Xena, who usually sleeps down the end of  her bed, decided she wanted 'in' on the act too and proceeded to climb up on Meowmie's chest and settle down to sleep there. Meowmie just looked at us and said 'what if I decide I want to turn over if I get uncomfortable?'.  We just gave her our look to say 'as if.....' and turned over and went to sleep :)  I guess she accepted that.

Xena has gotten into this annoying habit in that she tends to climb on top of Meowmie and pat her with her paw, esp when Meowmie is asleep. Meowmie mentioned this to her parents and they immediately laughed and said it was because Meowmie snores (so, ok she does - and LOUDLY!) and that Xena was just trying to wake her up and tell her so. Meowmie doesn't think so though because Xena does it to her when she's awake as well. Her theory is that because she uses her hand to pet and stroke us, Xena is trying to mimick her and do the same with her paw to her. I tend to agree with her. What do you think?

Before I go, I have to mention something. The other day we were out in our backyard and after about 20 minutes, Meowmie said 'inside, come on, let's go inside' and I trotted happily inside. Usually, Xena just ignores Meowmie and keeps exploring but this particular day she decided to be a good kitty and trotted inside behind me. Meowmie was so happy thinking that finally Xena was learning to be a good girl and gave us both treats for being so good. Unfortunately, her hopes were dashed today because Xena, once again, refused to follow me when she said 'inside' (even though dinner was waiting) and Meowmie had to, once again, pick her up and bring her inside :(  Xena didn't protest tho, so once again we got treats for being good girls

A cat has absolute emotional honesty: human beings, for one reason or another, may hide their feelings, but a cat does not. - Ernest Hemingway

Look closely at this bruise on Meowmie's arm. What does it look like? Yep, you got it. It's a paw print. And guess who gave it to her? Yep, you're right again. It was Xena!  To be fair to Xena, she wasn't being mean or anything - it's just that she really doesn't know how to be gentle. I try and teach her, but she just doesn't get it. I've told her that when Meowmie is lieing down in bed, you walk up to her and climb up on top of her, not come at the bed at 100 kilometres an hour and land on top of her!  But will she listen?  Nope! Maybe one day she'll learn.

Another thing Xena still has to learn is to retract her claws when sitting on Meowmie's lap. I know that Meowmie won't let me fall so there is no need for me to hold on to her, but Xena still doesn't realise that. She lies down all comfy in Meowmie's lap and still holds on with her claws. Meowmie gently disentangles Xena's claws from her clothing (and sometimes, her skin - ouch, that must hurt!) and let's Xena know she won't drop her but Xena still holds on tightly. She is slowly getting better though apparently, sometimes she actually does retract her claws when Meowmie tells her to, though not for long.

Do you know that Meowmie didn't come home to feed us until nearly midnight last Friday night?  She said it was because she'd been to a concert by someone called Robbie Williams (she listens to his albums all the time and I must admit, he's not too bad) and that she'd really enjoyed it. I say, it's no excuse!  She gets fed on time and so should we!  Okay, okay, so we have nibblies left out for us all the time so we won't actually starve, but I still think it's a Meowmie's duty to make sure we have our proper food at the proper time in the evenings, no matter what else she has planned. Both Xena and I told her off for a good five minutes after she got home so I hope she has learned her lesson. I'm sure she won't be pulling THAT trick again! 

Since it was such a nice day today we went out into the back yard. Meowmie even let Xena go out there without a leash. I don't think she fully trusts her yet because she always stays a step behind her all the way but Xena was good and didn't try to pounce on me or run away - she must be learning... slowly!

I usually behave myself when we're out there but there is a plant that I love to eat although Meowmie is not too happy with that and that's her ribbon plants aka spider plants. Xena's developed a taste for them too since I introduced her to them. Everytime we manage to get near enough to one to taste it, Meowmie shoos us off it

She does let us eat the asparagus fern though which is good because it's particularly yummy. She doesn't like asparagus ferns much but she lets this one grow in our backyard because Xena and I like it so much (plus it's so hard to kill - that's the reason she likes the ribbon plant too - a gardener, our Meowmie is definitely NOT!  lol).

It was Meowmie's birthday a couple of weeks ago. Unfortunately, Meowmie doesn't give us any pocket money and we're not allowed to go outside so we couldn't buy her anything but that was ok, she said that us being there for her to cuddle was more than enough for her - awwwwwww, what a nice Meowmie she is. We did try and find her credit card so we could log on to the net and buy her something but we searched and searched but couldn't find it :(   She must have it well hidden.

Meowmie did buy us a pressie last week but we're not sure if we like it or not. It's a ball and inside Meowmie says she has hidden some treats. She's explained to us that we have to roll the ball around and the treats will drop out of it if we roll it on the right side. Well, we've tried that but it doesn't work!  We don't think there's any treats in it at all. We think she's tricking us into trying to give us more exercise so for now we just leave it alone on the floor until Meowmie gets frustrated and rolls the ball herself so the treats come out - then we run to her and get them

Quote: Cats are rather delicate creatures and they are subject to a lot of ailments, but I never heard of one who suffered from insomnia.

One of my favourite times of day (apart from bedtime) is dinner time! Meowmie buys two of every food (in small cans) so we can't fight over who got the best or the most dinner - we get exactly the same. Xena and I both agree our favourite flavour is Seafood Mornay. Neither of us is too fussy about meaty foods, we much prefer the fishy varieties.

Xena has gotten a lot better and doesn't steal my food that often anymore like she did when she first came to live with us. She must realise that there's enough for both of us now and that she doesn't need to sneak food anymore. In fact, sometimes she even leaves some and I eat the rest of hers. She still gets metamucil put in her food (for her prolapsed rectum problem) but Meowmie doesn't think that will do me any harm.

I'd like to have canned food for brekky too but Meowmie refuses to start that one up. She says that if she does that we'll start waking her up at some ungodly hour asking her for food and there's no way she's doing that. Meowmie, I wouldn't - I love snuggling up in bed with you too much but I can't guarantee that Xena wouldn't do that.  So we'll both have to be content with having dry bikkies left out for us all day instead.

Of course, Xena is so greedy at times that she often wants Meowmie's dinner as well as ours. Meowmie always puts her down on the floor when she does but Xena just doesn't learn and keeps going back begging for more.  I never hassle Meowmie during her dinner time because I know that people food is often not very good for kitties but Xena just doesn't understand that.

We do get some people food though - we both love banana yoghurt so when Meowmie has some, we both hang around her and keep asking her for some. At first she's always determined not to give in but Xena and I team up and give her such pitiful looks that she doesn't have a choice really lol. Kitty Power rules!

Quote: If we treated everyone we meet with the same affection we bestow upon our favorite cats, they, too, would purr.

Meowmie went shopping today and guess what? More toys for us!  Yay!!!  She's such a great Meowmie. She said they were only $2 each so she couldn't resist getting them.

She got us a mousie on a spring thing that we both love. I was playing with it and Xena tried to butt in so I swiped at her and told her to go away. To my surprise, she actually did! There's a first time for everything. It's about time though that she started taking notice of me. After all, I AM older (and wiser) than her. She could learn a few things from me, I reckon.

It's a very cool toy. We swipe at it and it just springs back at us so we try and catch it. Xena must have thought it was a real mousie though cos she started to try and eat it so Meowmie packed it away for a while until Xena calmed down a bit. I'm smarter than that though - I know it's not a real mousie. All Xena got for her trouble was a mouthful of fake fur.

Meowmie also bought us this toy - I'm not sure what you'd call it though. It has three balls in the middle of it. I've tried very hard but I just can't get the balls out. I'd really like to though because they rattle and I'm sure there's something interesting inside of them... if only I could get them out. I'll just have to keep trying.

The last toy Meowmie bought us was a fishing rod toy with a cute fishie on the end of it. We had loads of fun with that one too but we can only play with it when Meowmie is around cos she has to hold the other end of it for us. I think Meowmie likes it too because she can use it to play with us when she's tired cos all she has to do is sit down and hold one end and we get to do all the work. I think she's planning on using this toy just before bedtime to try and tire Xena out so Xena will just go to sleep with us when it's bedtime instead of pouncing on me all the time. I hope her plan works!

Quote: "A home without a cat- and a well-fed, well-petted and properly revered cat- may be a perfect home, perhaps, but how can it prove title?"

Look at the new toys we got today - it was like Christmas!  On Saturday, Aunty Melanie (a friend of Meowmie's) rang her to say that Kitty Tunnels were going cheap at the shops and since she knew Meowmie had been wanting to get us one, bought one for us while she was there. The second toy we got was free cos Aunty Melanie's kitty, Kitta, has two and obviously doesn't need two so she generously donated one of them to us. Thank you so much Aunty Melanie and Kitta! Meowmie reckons she'll have to move out of our house so there'll be more room for all our toys - that's so nice of you to offer Meowmie

The tunnel looks like it will be good fun. Neither of us have actually gone right inside it yet but we've checked it out extensively from the outside. It is open at both ends and has two large holes near the middle where we can poke our heads out while we're in the tunnel if we want to.

The other toy (not sure what to call it) looks fun too - there's lots of things to bap at - it has a little mirror, a mouse and a feather thingie. Xena and I stood on opposite sides at one stage bapping all the different things at each other (I tried to hit her but didn't succeed). I'll just have to keep trying I guess.

This is a strange subject but today I'm going to talk about litterboxes and how we use them. Xena and I have two litterboxes between us and just share. Usually Meowmie alternates boxes changing the litter in them to keep them clean weekly ie she will change the litter in the first one, one week and then change the litter in the other one the next week. Well, the other day, for some reason, she changed the litter in both of them at the same time which got me thinking, since they were both filled with new litter, and I have decided, for the sake of cleanliness and organisation, to use one for urinating and one for pooping in. Xena has been good and has been doing the same as per my instructions. (Yesterday though, she forgot, so I had to go into the 'urinating' box and kick out all her poopies so she would learn). I rather like this arrangement as it keeps everything where it should be.  

Meowmie thinks we're weird for doing this but she thinks it's a good arrangement too since it means she really only has to scoop one box (the poopy one).  She's amazed that we thought this up all by ourselves. She's never heard of kitties doing this. Do any other kitties have this litterbox arrangement too?

I can't believe Meowmie let Xena post in my journal again!  Look at the scratch Xena gave me yesterday. That's twice she's done that now. I don't think she deserves to be allowed to post in my journal, do you? She should be banned until she learns to behave herself properly. I mean, she's not allowed to even walk in the backyard without a leash cos she can't be trusted. Meowmie's just too soft with her I think. If I had my way, Xena would be banned for life from my journal (and from our bed!).

Meowmie keeps telling me I have to be patient with her but what about my poor nose? I know it's only a tiny scratch and I don't complain about it much, but she shouldn't have done it in the first place. I never scratch her so she should have the same consideration with me. I'm sure I was never as naughty as she is at her age.