Kitty Cousins

I spent the weekend at my sister's house in Santa Barbara.  One nice thing about visiting Andrea is that she has cats.  A lot of cats.  Four, to be precise.  (I don't mean to make her sound like a crazy cat lady or anything... she is married and is, compared to me anyway, actually quite hip.)  So it is fun to stay at her house, since there seems to always be some cat or another milling about.  The last couple of times I've visited, most of her cats have seemed not that social with visitors.  But this time around, they were super friendly to me.  Probably because I didn't bring Rob, and they can smell his disdain for cats (yea right).

And of course I couldn't leave without snapping a few pics of the kitties for the blog.

Felix, a sphinx, has appeared on the blog before, back when he was a wee little thing.  Well he's still a wee little thing, and he still hasn't managed to grow any fur.  So he seems to spend a lot of time under the covers in bed, because he has no fur to keep him warm.  When he isn't doing that, he is scampering around the house silently, sneaking up on unsuspecting victims people.


Boris is a tuxedo cat in the truest sense -- not a faux wannabe tuxy like Pepper -- even down to the little bowtie on his upper lip!  I call Boris big Pepper, for obvious reasons, but he is a much more dignified cat than Pepper.  He also has slightly longer and thicker fur, making him a bit cuddlier (sorry Peps).  He isn't the most social cat, but he generally tolerates humankind, and if I'm lucky he lets me rub his tummy.

Coover is the alpha cat, and also the most people-friendly of the bunch (he slept with me while I was visiting).  I think Bruiser would be a better name for him.  He has a giant head, and a giant body to match, and is a lean mean head-butting machine.  Actually he is not mean, he is super friendly.  He has this interesting rough or course fur on his back.  When we have brought our kitties over in the past, Pepper hissed at him every single time he walked past her.  I guess there can be only one alpha cat.


Last, but certainly not least, is Sasha, the giant fluffy beast.  I think she is a Maine coon (which is on my kitty bucket list, by the way).  She is super fluffy and soft and has the coolest tail ever, but she is very shy, so it can be hard to get any love from her when I visit.  Her personality is a bit like Oreo's -- shy but super sweet.  Sasha can purr really loudly, and makes some very interesting noises when she purrs, sort of a chirping, trilling noise that sounds like she is communicating with the mother ship.  I realize it would be morally reprehensible to have a favorite kitty cousin, but if I did, it would definitely be Sasha :)