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For this trip we are taking care of two three year old ragdoll siblings, Alfie and Willow.  They have their own personalities, and they absolutely love being petted!  They will rub against your legs, hands, phone, computer, often with a lot of force.  Being head butted by a 20 pound cat – you know you have been hit by something!  Alfie purrs easily, and kneads his paws like he is making biscuits.  He is really large, and his face reminds me of a lion.

Willow isn’t a big purrer, but she follows us everywhere like a little doggie, and comes when called!  We enjoyed her taking us for a walk down the road.  We had been warned that the cats will follow you on a walk, even if you are going into the grocery store!  For this walk, we just went down to the end of the private road.  By that point the private road is running alongside the motorway, just behind the trees, so there is significant noise from all the cars.  Willow got a bit spooked at that point, so we choose to follow her instructions and turn around and walk with her back to the cottage instead of continuing.  Then we took the car out and parked it just past the private road, so we were able to continue our walk into town without the cat’s assistance! 

Ragdolls are a particular breed of cats which are quite needy.  They need to be near people, they need attention, they need brushing as their fur is quite long, and they need a lot of water.  Often pet owners feed these types of kitties a wet food, to make sure their pets are getting enough liquids. 

Alfie and Willow have an automatic water fountain.  Our pet parent said she had bought one when she first got the cats, and Alfie liked it, but Willow didn’t, so there was a separate dish of water at their food station.  Then the waterer broke, and she ordered a new one.  The new one came and now Willow liked it, but Alfie didn’t!  Apparently he much prefers to drink out of your fancy cut glass heavy drinking glass when you aren’t looking, or – very strangely, he likes water from the bidet.  Hahahahaha!  Note to self – don’t leave any water glasses sitting with water in them anywhere!  I did learn this the hard way, when Willow headbutted my glass and spilled my water all over the table.  At least I was right there to clean it up (and learn a quick lesson!)

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The cottage has a pet door, which has been programmed to allow the cats in and out only from 9am to 5pm.  Handy!  You know what that means?  Less litterbox cleaning!  YYYAAAAYYYY!

When we arrived, we brought the kitties 2 toys, filled with catnip of course.  They did quite enjoy those – with Willow preferring the little blue one and Alfie the yellow and pink one.  They have been spotted with their noses pushed into the toys, and the tail feathers slobbery.  But you know what they really enjoyed the most?  The box we had delivered from Poundland!!!  (the British alternative to our Dollarama!)  Videos on facebook!

The first night it was just a box.  The second day it got some windows and a door cut into it.  That was pretty exciting!  Then it got a clothes-pin go fasten the one side shut, and that was a great toy too!  They did seem to enjoy it a lot more when we were there to play with them with the box (watch your fingers!)  That goes back to them being a bit needy, and wanting that human interaction.    But multiple times a day we can find one of them in it or on top of it! 

Our instructions for the sit were to please keep the kitties in the kitchen with the door closed overnight, to not disturb their routine terribly much.  OK, no problem.  Especially since there are treats for the kitties (which the pet parent calls “Biscuits” here.)  Last night Willow was already in the kitchen when it was biscuit time, so I put out two little piles of them, then closed the kitchen door and went out to search for Alfie.  Alfie was hiding – on my pillow!  That wasn’t somewhere I had seen him before.  Oh well!  I picked him up like a gigantic baby, and carried him down to the kitchen.  Apparently I had taken too long, since Willow had eaten all his biscuits too!  I had to get him some more, then I turned off the lights and closed the door.

Sometime around 1:30 am, my husband woke me up by saying “The cats are out.”  And then they were in our room and jumping onto the bed.  Since it was the middle of the night, I decided I didn’t care, and let them romp around.  At least twice they were scratching on the carpet and the sound woke me. Apparently the tail of my robe belt was hanging down and was visible under the door, so that became a cat toy.  Lesson learned – make sure I actually LATCH the kitchen door, and check it twice!

Randy tends to get up earlier than I do.  He releases the Krakken, gets his coffee and sits on the couch for a bit.  Willow has found him to be very handy for a bit of one-on-one cuddle time!  She will actually jump up, climb up his chest, put her paws around his neck, and purr into his ear.  And head-butt.  Right into the ear!  LOUD.  Then she makes biscuits out of his hoodie around his neck. 

Through all this I have been neglected, not even getting to see her do it most days.  She is not a lap cat.  She is a seat stealer though!  You get up from your spot on the couch or loveseat to grab something in the kitchen, and there is 110% chance she will be in your spot when you get back.  But then - FINALLY – I got the kitty! She was feeling left out, so insisted on being on my notebook!  Of course.

A few days later, one evening we were watching a movie a bit late and she woke up and crawled out of her basket, and jumped up onto me, instead of Randy!

I got the kitty snuggles, and the whiskers and wet nose in the ear, the head butts, the purring and the hugs.  Unfortunately then I got the sharp pointy toenails in the sides of my neck because I didn’t have a hoodie on when the kneading was starting.  I decided it maybe wasn’t the best plan with a thin shirt, so I tried to intervene and put some fabric under her paws, but she doesn’t like to be interfered with in human cuddle mode, so she left me!  A prime example of being careful what you wish for!

 

Such beautiful friendly cats.