Birdy Stretches to Impress

My Cat of the Week feature returns! I finally got a new submission, and she’s a beautiful lady from San Francisco named Birdy. While her claws may look fierce in the photo above, she’s all love on the inside (well, maybe not “all” love, but at least 80%). She has a quirky habit of sucking the end of her tail so that it is always wet and pointy, but I consider that part of her charm. Look at that face!

Keep the Cat of the Week submissions coming, I love seeing your pictures.

Birdy on Her Back

Coles, my housemate and arch-nemesis

While I am generally very agreeable, my housemate Coles and I have never been the best of friends. Since we first met, I’ve wanted to groom him and cuddle on our cat bed but Coles has turned me down every time. In fact, sometimes he turns me down by swatting me in the face or attacking me with his claws. Talk about playing hard to get!

He looks sweet and innocent but if you turn your back on him he’ll be clawing out a puppy’s eyes or attaching himself to someone’s ankle. That’s why he is my first, and only, “Nemesis of the Week.”

Bebe on her Orange Blankie

My Cat of the Week comes to us from Western New York. Known as Bebe Koto, she has a great set of photos.

The basics:

Full Name: Bebe Marie Koto
Age: 6
Sex: Female
Breed: Domestic Shorthair
Occupation: Rascal

Bebe Koto is mischievous. She’s the one that shreds all the toilet paper, opens the cupboard to eat the treats, and chews on your toes while you’re trying to sleep.

Bebe Green Blankie

Tired.

I don’t know Mogu personally, but he sure has a lot of youtube videos…

Chichi's distinctive face

Chichi’s human companion Reanna sent in these fantastic photos and the following biography:

Full Name: Chichi Von Peppercorn
Age: 7
Sex: Male
Breed: Red Tabby
Occupation: Crooner
Misc: He’s my friend Frank’s favorite.

Chichi Von Peppercorn’s breathy coos and raspy meows melt hearts and drive girls wild. He’s sensitive but tough, a loner and a lover, playful yet stoic—he’s a lady-killer and a man’s man with a heart of gold.

Wow, what a man. These are great photos-I feel like Chichi is here hanging out with me chewing on stuff.

Chichi on the rug

Chichi shows off his jaws

Riley in his fancy hat.

One of my loyal readers submitted the following bio for Riley, this week’s Cat of the Week:

I am an East Bay native and I think I’m 50% tabby, 50% Maine Coon, but my name is Riley due to my Irish cultural heritage and my charming green eyes.

I like people, I absolutely love smelling shoes, and my favorite activity is sleeping on clean laundry.

Sometimes I dress up for the holidays [see Christmas hat], but mostly I prefer lounging about in the ‘nude.’ I don’t have many friends, so I enjoy quiet activities alone or with the company of ‘people’ rather than ‘cats.’ I currently live with a dreadfully intolerable female cat who’s caused me to swear off woman once and for all – for good.

Wow! How could I not make a nudist Irishman with a shoe fetish my Cat of the Week? Last time I saw Riley was about a year ago when I was recovering from surgery. It was an unfortunate time to be meeting, because I had to wear one of those special collars and I had just had a very dear part of my anatomy removed. Riley and I didn’t have much to say but at least he didn’t try to eat me or rip out my stitches like my housemate Coles.

Lula shows off her claws as she relaxes on the floor.

Our cat of the week comes to us from Hillsboro, Oregon. Here is a short bio in words of her human companion:

Lula is a 4 year old tortoiseshell/calico. While her lineage is
unknown, she was found as a kitten on the streets of Forest Grove,
Oregon and now lives in neighboring Hillsboro. Being a calico, she
tends to have strong personalities. That’s right- there are more than
one. She was named, appropriately, after the heroine in Barry
Gifford’s remarkable novel “Wild at Heart” (also made into an
uncharacteristically mediocre film by David Lynch). Her hobbies
include hating, intimidating, and being surly, usually toward other
cats, birds, or the veterinary community. Though she also harbors a
secret love… for Javier’s dad.

Now I would like to clear up a small point. I don’t know who my “dad” is. I think she is referring to my male human companion. I admit there are some pretty strange inter-species relationships here in San Francisco, but there’s nothing like that going on in our house!

Lula's famous penetrating stare.

I’m a sucker for a cat with southern charm, and this cat has charm and so much more. I also strongly identify with his tendency to knock things off the table. That happens to be one of my favorite hobbies too- I even broke a television once! I’m not much of a beer drinker myself, but I do like investigating food if it’s left on the table for more than thirty seconds.

Koko and Charco relax on a pillow

In the words of one of my readers:

These cats live with your landlord’s boss. In this picture, they are taking a break from fighting like big jungle cats, even though they are both very little cats (approx 6 pounds each). The orange one is named Charco, which means “mud puddle” in Spanish, and the black one is named Koko, which means “cricket” in Japanese. Neither of them speak either of those languages. Charco has a bit of a little sister relationship to Koko, just happy to tag along. Koko has a bit of a big sister relationship to Charco, either giving her a hard time or ignoring her completely.

I might point out that the two of these cats together weigh less than me. I’m big-boned though, really.

Another classy shot of Charco:

Charco relaxes on a pillow

And now, a much awaited reader question:

Dear Javier,

I am not a cat, though I like many things that are feline. I like the
whimsical attitude taken to a ball of yarn or flicking string. I like
the cunning stalker quality of the predator puss. I like the fur coat,
unless, of course, it has gotten wet and thus all matted up. However
that is all secondary to my obsession. My question for you, my dear
Javier, is how to gain the flexibility, that you so deftly execute?
What sort of timetable might I look forward to, before I will be able
to gain access to those hard to reach places for a proper cat bath?

Thanking you in advance,

Cat scratch fever

Dear CSF,

I have a confession to make (for some reason I feel like I say that a lot). I am not very flexible, nor do I have a particularly good sense of balance. I groom my front paws, but that’s about it. My human companions groom me all the time to keep my fur looking good. When I lived on my own (on the rough streets of Berkeley) I had dreadlocks EVERYWHERE. This was way back in the day, before tree-sitting was cool. It wasn’t a fashion statement back then, it was because I have such a hard time grooming myself.

I have heard that yoga is good for gaining flexibility, but I don’t leave the house much and when I do I’m usually in a purple harness (I’ll have to explain that later).

Regards,

Javier

George likes dressing up.

Our Cat of the Week this week is a San Francisco native. Roommate to Molokko, one of our previous winners, George is equally comfortable living it up in costume or just lounging around the house. George is big, handsome, and 100% man.

George shows his strength.