the power fluff

After a hard afternoon playing outside in the sunshine Mabel waits patiently on her back for a cuddle. Her tactic is simple but effective, she shows her fluffy tummy, furry little paws and pulls all her cutest faces. We can't resist!

Much more interesting things to do...

than pose for more photographs!

Getting involved

Mabel likes to be wherever we are because she doesn't like to miss out on anything that might be going on.

She has to be involved in everything we do in her own little way.

Food Shopping

She likes to sniff all new food items that enter the house. She also likes to watch every individual item as it's put away, running from one cupboard from the next. I think it's Mabel quality control!

After all the hard work required in watching the shopping being put away she likes to have a nice nap on or in the empty shopping bag.

Chores

Mabel likes to chase the loose material on the bottom of my scruffy 'cleaning-up' jeans. Whenever I'm doing chores she can usually be found hanging onto the hem of my trousers. 

She has to sit on everything freshly ironed! Anything clean, folded or ironed instantly gets the Mabel seal of approval. 

Cooking

Mabel loves being around when I'm cooking. For some reason the bit she seems most interested in is when I'm chopping onions. She'll find a comfy spot and sit watching until every last one is chopped. Oh, and if I turn my back for a second she likes nothing more than to be licking at the olive oil!

Decorating

We have been painting and decorating a few of the rooms in the house recently. If we're doing it Mabel has to do it too. She'll sit and watch every stroke and sniff in every corner. She also likes to hang from and climb up brand new curtains!

shhhhh...

Mabel's sleeping (again)!

meany injections

Yesterday was a big day for furry little Mabel. She went for her first visit (since she came to us) to the vet.

We had her microchipped and vaccinated against a variety of nasties.

I know it's all in her best interest but she was just so sleepy last night. I felt such a meany! She just went from one sleeping spot to another and even her foil ball couldn't tempt her to muster up any energy. 

We made sure she got lots and lots of cuddles, kisses and treats.

I was happy to see that she had slept it off overnight and was back to her usual cheeky self this morning.

holidays

We go on holiday for a week on Sunday and, although I'm excited, I'm going to miss little Mabel so much!

I'm sad and nervous to leave her but I know she'll be absolutely fine.

She's moving in with the boyfriend's parents for the week. They love her and I think they're looking forward to having a kitty around the place again.

When we went away for the weekend his mum popped in twice a day to feed and cuddle her but, as we are away for a whole week this time, it works out better to leave her with them.

I have learned that Mabel is not a shy cat and she takes to new places and to people very easily. I know she'll love the attention and the company of having someone with her for most of the day. She'll be spoilt rotten and no doubt will miss me much less than I miss her.

Maybe I'm more worried that she'll never want to come home!

Bowl

It was my birthday last week and, as I'm almost as spoilt as Mabel, I was bought this fancy double cat feeding bowl from Alessi by my sister. It's so cute.

So Mabel is now officially a posh little kitty.

She was very curious when I first put it down for her to sniff and she took the opportunity to have a nice sit in it! Not quite the sophisticated, stylish dining I was hoping for but I'm sure once it has food in it she'll work out what it's for.

Munchies

There's an ongoing debate happening in our house. Wet or dry Mabel food?

I'm sure it's a subject that has been discussed a million times by cat owners the world over but I just can't seem to find a satisfactory answer.

Like most people with pets I want to do the best for Mabel but there seems to be a lot of mixed thought on this topic.

I've read lots of articles online about which is best for her and even vets seem divided.

At the moment we give her a mix of both. I know dry food is good for her teeth but I see wet food as being closer to the foodstuff she would be eating in the wild. 

I feed her wet food for breakfast and tea and she has dry food or kitty biscuits to snack on through the day. I've only ever seen her drink water from her bowl once so I worry that with dry food she might become dehydrated. As usual, I probably worry far too much.

People have told us that dry food doesn't have the sugars and additives that wet food can have but I am careful about the wet food I give her. I always check that there is a high meat content and have found one with no artificial colours or preservatives and the list of ingredients on the back states a minimum of 90% chicken or fish depending on the flavour. 

I have also been told that it's cheaper to feed a cat dry food and that dry keeps for longer and doesn't spoil as quickly once it's put down.

There seems to be positives and negatives for both which just confuses me more.

There's also one other factor that I need to take into consideration... Mabel herself.

She seems to have perfected the 'is this a joke?' look whenever something she dislikes is served up to her. I mentioned before about the large bag of dry food that the boyfriend bought her? The cat he had as a child happily grew up on the exact same brand of dry food. He lived to be a ripe old age but it was not to fussy little Mabel's liking and she only sniffed it briefly and turned away! This isn't a situation we want to (or can afford to) repeat! We've tried other dry food brands (in MUCH smaller bags) and she'll pick at them but it's really only the wet food she's interested in. She'll run to the wet food and always seems satisfied afterwards.

I am more than happy to change her diet to one that's better for her... I just need to know what a better diet is!

Mabel's story

Before Mabel moved in to commandeer the house, I spent a lot of my spare time browsing websites and visiting cat shelters to find her.

I guess old habits die hard because I still occasionally look at the websites I used to help in the search for her.

I'm not looking for another cat (or heaven forbid a replacement!) but I've had my eyes opened to a whole new world that I find really sad.

There are so many unwanted cats waiting patently for a new home. I really had no idea that there were so many. It makes me want to bring them all home.

Mabel was one of the lucky ones. She wasn't ever a stray or mistreated. I can tell by her furry little ways that she was loved and well looked after by her previous owner.

I was told at the shelter that Mabel and her sister had been brought in by a 17 year old girl. She had moved in to her first home and bought the 2 furry little kittens to keep her company.

She had to give up both her kittens and her flat and move back home with her parents because she simply couldn't afford to keep them.

Lucky for Mabel she was only in the shelter for a week before her little pink nose and adorably big paws captured our hearts. I know now that not all kitties are as lucky as her.

Having an ear tickle

Cute

Last night Mabel was in super-cute mode so I took a few snaps.