News

Please scroll down to read about our latest adventures

Kitten adventures - click to go to our kitten web site

Links page

Cat accessories - favourite things!
Facts page - shows details of our breeding
FRIENDS page

Amy - my first Birman

Katy and Lucy's page

Great Danes

Video Clips - See the trio playing with 'Panic Mouse'

Comparisons - how we have changed over the years

It seems like ages since we changed the web site and added new pictures and when I look back I can see that things have been very quiet indeed this year.

I am not sure why I have been so bad at writing but I guess it must be because we have been busy doing other things but, when I think back, I can't seem to remember what they were. As you know Joan went to see my breeders Gale and David Griggs at the start of the year and took some photos of their kittens, we know she was quite smitten with one of them but we are pleased to report that we haven't had a new addition to the family.

That is just as well really because we have a new cat in the neighbourhood at home, she goes by the name of Cleo and is a Bengal/Egyptian Mau cross. That means she is pretty athletic and she loves to sit on the roof of our house and look down on us in the garden. It drives the boys wild as they can't reach her much her delight and their frustration.

One day in the Summer she came into the garden so Max and Oscar gave chase, she leapt over the fence with Max in hot pursuit. So much for Joan's 'cat safe' garden! In just two minutes that concept was ruined and Max was stuck in next door's garden unable to get back over the fence. Sadly the neighbours were out for the day so Joan had to resort to using a ladder to get Max back home, no worries about Cleo though, she was back home safely in the blink of an eye leaving Max mystified.

That meant it was back to the drawing board for the 'cat safe' provisions and Max hasn't been out since now that weakness has been corrected.

We have had quite a few changes going on where we live and that has meant there are a few new cats around. They don't come into our garden but we can see them through the hedge and Max and Oscar like to defend our territory by growling at them.

The trouble is that they get so excited that sometimes they take it out on each other which upsets Joan a bit. In the Summer Max ended up with a bite wound on his head again so he had to go to the vets for antibiotics.

It was all very embarrassing because around the same time Joan got a call from the local newspaper to say that Oscar had been made their 'Star Pet' for 2008 and he was invited for a photo session at the vet's surgery later that week.

Unfortunately Oscar doesn't like going to the vets so Joan was a bit worried he would make a fuss and refuse to come out of the carrier. She decided to put his harness and lead on in the car and then carry him into the surgery. It would have been fine of course if Oscar hadn't recognised exactly where he was the minute he walked in the door. He protested very loudly at being cheated and he wouldn't stop yelling until a few of the nurses came over to say hello. Once he realised he was the 'Star Guest' he settled down and posed beautifully for some pictures which appeared in the local paper.

Early in the year one of Joan's colleagues said she was thinking of getting a Birman so Joan offered to take Max over to see her and her children. Apparently the invitation was extended to all of us so Joan decided to take Oscar as well and leave me at home as she thought I would be wary of strangers. I was stunned, as she went to the door with Max and Oscar in their carriers I wore my most disappointed expression and looked at her with my huge blue eyes. She relented and said I could go along and stay in my carrier if I wanted.

I couldn't believe it - she wanted ambassadors for the breed, how could these people understand Birmans without seeing me? Anyway when we got there I was very happy to come out and show all the family just how adorable I am whilst Max and Oscar explored their house. Within a couple of weeks they had a Birman on the way from the Birman Rescue and guess what they got - a chocolate point girl of course! What else?

So as you can see we have been having fun even though I haven't been using the internet too much. Joan has been pretty busy with work and with a few outside interests but we make sure we are on hand when she comes home to help ease the stresses of the day.

She says she loves us and really appreciates the fuss we make of her and after all that is what it is all about isn't it?

Lara