Detailed instructions on operation of The Scratch Lounge, by Max: or Max's best Christmas present.

Growing up fast

Elmo loving the cat scratching lounge from Claire Carlile.

Helping with drawing. All Her pictures of cats look like bears!

We love our new rug from Solva Woollen Mill. 

Watching Brave in the afternoon.

Play: what kittens do.

Play play play.......

read a bit about what to be when we grow up.........

sleep.

I am Cat, by Jackie Morris, published by Frances Lincoln. The ideal bedtime book for cool cats. Available from all good bookshops and libraries.

Kitten toy: a rope made from old turbans and two bells.

Bobbin: Mill worker, Solva Woollen Mill, Pembrokeshire.

Painting with Kittens.

So, today in my studio I began to grind ink. It seems that the grinding of ink is a thing that is irresistible to inky coloured kittens. As is the use of a brush on paper. Close supervision was obviously demanded and thought necessary by small paws. As a result I now have a piece of work that is produced using paper, ink, water, grindstone, brushed, experience, light and kittens. Oh, and gold leaf. 

The finished piece, shown in the top image is being auctioned to raise money for The Snow Leopard Trust. 
Current bidding is at £200 or around $320. To bid email Jackie ( the cat's mother). Bidding closes 48 after no more bids come in.

National Kitten Awards Week.

And this year the award for 'Best Kitten Toy" goes to The Cardboard Tube! Tennis ball comes a close second and the two together are some kind of kitten heaven. ( though where they found the tennis ball in my studio I have no idea.) Oh, and bubblewrap. That's fun too. 

Best posing position is awarded to Baggage ( still searching for her grown up name which might be Freya, or Kali, or Demon, or Pan), for choosing to pose on the precarious post at the top of the stairs, thus showing off the artwork to full cat potential.

Best working kitten goes to Bundle ( soon to be known as Genji, who helped to hold down the corner of a book that was being photographed for my blog. Thanks Genji, excellent work!

And the award for bravery in the face of dog also goes to Genji, for strolling up to each and every dog in the house to say hi. Well done to Rosie too, who was being very brave in the face of the fierce little leopard cat.

Meanwhile Max gets the 'Coolest cat' award for total indifference. If a cat could raise its eyebrows and roll its eyes to heaven he might have managed it, but to be honest there really seem to be no point ( should have called him Sartre- 'Hell, he says, is other kittens. Suppose I should be glad they aren't ginger).

And Elmo gets an award for just being Elmo, intrigued if affronted by the presence of kittendom he looks more beautiful than ever beside their monochrome majesty.

Looking back at you: outside rain, inside, kittens.

New kits on the block: A Song of Ice and Fire.

We have had a sad year here at the cat's blog. Despite the publication of I am Cat. Too many cats passed away and left us full of memories and sorrow. And I loved the gingers so much that I felt it would be wrong to get another and always be comparing. And then a friend, Tamsin Abbott, said, " you should get a Snow Bengal. They look like snow leopards and like exercise." I googled the cat, to see what it was like and fell head over heels in love.
I have never had a pedigree creature, being somewhat of a mongrel by nature, and there is much about the trade in pedigree cats that I am unsure of. How to choose? Where to go, when there are so many kittens in cats homes. All of mine have either been farm cats or have just turned up one day on the doorstep and invited themselves in. I have measured out my days in cats since I was about 22. 
So, I looked around and found Bengals in Wales, and a site where they were allowed out and yes, they are show cats, but there was something about Elizabeth at Silverstorm Bengals that I liked, not least that she lives on the edge of Snowdonia, which seems the right place for these silver darlings to come from, and her cats like to walk when they can. And she was brilliant and patient and I waited until they were 12 weeks old and the this week we drove up and up and up and into the most beautiful mountains and Wales is utterly stunning, until we found and house of kittens, and a beautiful Frost and a Maharajah who reminded me of a silver Maurice.
So, now we go forward. And Elmo is not sure about the kitten, what they are, how they might taste, if he might perhaps like them, and Max hasn't met them yet, for they live in my studio where there are dark corners to explore and a staircase and cushions and a bed and somewhere they found a tennis ball ( I am told I can teach them to play fetch. Given that when I throw a ball for the dogs they suggest that as i threw it perhaps I might like to go fetch it myself. )
So, let us introduce you to the new kits on the block, not yet part of the Pride, but hopefully soon. With the bright flame that is Elmo and the sharp silver that is them we will now have our own Song of Fire and Ice.

Baggage and Bundle.