????????????

If cats are only 10" tall, why is that their butts are always at eye level??????????????

Teenager Kitty has Teenager Kitty Problems UPDATED

Mr Oliver Hammond has feline acne on his chin to the point I'm requesting a vet visit. Poor guy. UPDATE: After a vet visit it was confirmed he has feline acne. The fix is returning to his original food bowls. This will keep him from dragging his chin across the bowl while eating. It should clear up in a month, possibly with a little bit of hair loss as a result.

Resisting the Cat Crazy

Notice you didn't see a "Kitty's First Christmas" post? It's 'cause he's not a person. He's a cat. So he didn't get a stocking, presents or anything like that. Nor did I make the paw print ornament blogged about earlier. I did let him play in the empty boxes and wrapping paper for a few hours. And I played fetch with him until he grew tired of it, 28 throws by-the-way. Never the less, here are a few pics of him from the day, 'cause I really can only resist his cuteness soo much. Oh, and I did get a book about being a guy cat lover, which starts of funny but ends up being pretty informational about being a dude and owning a cat.

Cat Anomaly?

Do all cats like to follow you into the bathroom and watch? I swear, if I walk to the bathroom and leave the door open he comes in EVERY time and just sits there and watches me. Sometimes he has even jumped up on the toilet for an even closer look. Really? As you saw in the video a few posts back, Mr Oliver likes to play fetch. But only with one specific item. And he'll do it for like 30 minutes non-stop. What kind of cat plays fetch? Do they all do this and I just never learned 'cause we had outside cats? Really? I essentially work from home. So I see Mr Oliver all day. I know he doesn't sleep all day. So why is that he is up at 5am every day, jumping up on the bed and walking over my face and pillow? Is this normal cat behavior? Cat or anomaly?

Elder Bricco has a new companion

He just needs to pick him up at the train station.

Aziz Ansari reads this blog

Well, he does in my dreams. Or least the dream I had last night. In the dream we got an email from Aziz Ansari saying, "hey, i love your blog. it is soo funny. i'd like to meet the people who are obviously soo funny themselves." So we do. Based on him thinking our cat blog is funny he wanted to hang out and we did. Now in the dream it sadly turns out that he locks himself out of his house and makes me drive his car around 'cause he doesn't wanna drive and other stuff happens to make it a not fun night. Which is sad, because I think he would think this blog is funny. I bet hanging out with him would be cool and I'm sure it would be a better time than in my dream. Aziz, are you reading?

My, you look fetching, Oliver

Rowdy taught Oliver to fetch today.  My kitten is the best!!

Oliver has taken to it so much that he shoved the piece of K-tape under the bathroom door this morning so I would play with him.

Christmas Cat "How-To"

It's always the quiet ones...

Innocent weirdo?

Or...

I would have never guessed....

One thing I've constantly heard when I tell people I have a cat/kitten is "Wow, I would have never guessed that you were a cat person." Well it's 'cause I'm not. In my life I've had pet fish, frogs I grew from tadpoles, white ducks, cats, a turtle and dogs. And a lot of Farley Mowat books. The statement then is that they picture me more as a dog kinda person. German Shepard or Labrador dude. And I probably am.... But what makes them think I can't also be a 'cat person'? Is it because I'm a guy? Is it because I'm perceived as "outdoorsy"? I don't know........ What do you think a guy who is a "cat person" should be like?

Dressing Oliver up for Christmas

Work ID photo.

"I hate getting dressed up for church."

Fun with a meme generator

Optical illusion because of his tongue, but funny nonetheless.

Funny if you know your LOLcats. 

Photopusshop

Cuteness Delux

So much for cat psychology!

OK, we all know the stereotypes about cats. They're cute, curious, emotive and all that jazz. And all the cutesy LOLcats pictures I've died laughing at, tears rolling down my face only seem to have reinforced those notions in my mind. Well then why the heck doesn't my own guy, Mr Oliver Hammond, do what seemingly every other cat does?? Empty boxes and bags don't interest him at all. He ignores catnip. He isn't cutesy and doesn't like his picture taken. He doesn't like music. He's never sat on my clean clothes. None of what I consider to be typical cat behaviors.** So I won't tell you how many tries it took today just to get this one picture with his face in it. Not in focus. Not cute.

**I often say one gets the cat one deserves. I think I deserved a more photogenic cat.

Oliver is thankful

If Oliver could talk, I'm sure that he would say that he is so thankful that his Diane came home last night to spend time with him.  He was such a good boy while we were gone.  People tell stories about how their cat is mad at them when they leave and tear the house up or pee on the bed or something.  Ollie was totally normal.

He was soooooo, sooooo happy to see me.  He kept coming over to be petted and scratched.  He even crawled up in my lap for about 30 seconds, which is something that he has never done before.

He's also grateful for a full food dish, and for simple toys.  He doesn't play much with the expensive games we buy for him, but he was going wild playing with these little finger-sized elastic splints. I came upstairs to find him poking around under the credenza.  Apparently, he had knocked one of the splints under it.  He kept trying to get me to get it for him, but I couldn't see it.Man, he wanted it so badly!!  Finally, he squeezed himself under the credenza.  I was afraid he was going to get stuck or something.  Maybe he's part-cockroach, because he squeezed in and out of it with only some discomfort.

Once he made it under the credenza.

Starting to squeeze out again.

His favorite motorcycle?

Ducati, of course!

More Dr. Hammond

My comfort when I was sick.

He looks like a toy kitty

Hah! He thinks he's people!

Eating seared ahi from Blue Water Grill.  He's not spoiled or anything.

Initially, I was very opposed to giving Oliver any "people food", but we quickly broke that barrier.  He tried to eat Rowdy's breakfast burrito the first morning he was allowed out and about in our house.  He's since had fried egg, cooked ground turkey and hamburger, deli turkey, edamame, ahi, corn, rice and broccoli.  He likes to play with his food and bat it around sometimes, but the ahi he gobbled up from my fingers.  Who wouldn't??

He was so funny with the steamed broccoli.  He would only play with it, and ended up knocking it under the couch.  Even funnier was when my husband said to him (with only a little irony), "Do you want Daddy to get that for you?"

Oliver is also quite the music aficionado.  He doesn't like classical music, but he likes rap.  The sudden change in tempo and the loudness of symphonic music isn't something he likes.  However, I am listening to Yo Yo Ma right now, and he's tolerating it.

Little Weirdo

I don't have any pictures of this, for reasons that may seem obvious, but sometimes I go into the bathroom and shut the door, then I see these little paws reaching under the door.  When I open the door, Oliver is just standing there, looking at me like, "Where've you been?"  He's like a little kid!

Cat-ness Neverclean

So in real life, I'm not really a cuddler. Oh yes, I guess I should introduce myself. I'm a guest author for this blog, so you'll be seeing me post often. I'm the other half of this secret cat fancier's household. So rest at ease, this will still be about the same ol' kitten you've been seeing in posts here. Now back to me being not much of a cuddler. I'm not. And according to the cat documentary I watched on youtube last night, cats are the only animal to willingly domesticate themselves. They chose people, on their terms. By reputation, cats are capricious. So it was with great surprise that Mr. OH is such a cuddle kittens. Now don't get me wrong, he definitely has his aloof moments. But when he wants love, he wants it all the way.

Thankfully he has yet to carry this type of behavior to the bedroom....

By Popular Demand

I'm surprised at how many requests I've gotten for pictures and post of Oliver.  People really do go for cute animal pictures.

When I was sick last weekend, I spent most of the day curled up on the couch under this blanket.  Ollie now loves cuddling up to it.  Last night, he made a little nest of it and took a nap.

He loves tummy rubs, and will stretch out like this when he wants one.

Don't Judge

Yes, we are going to do this for Oliver's first Christmas with us.  The interesting thing is, it was suggested by my highly masculine, Christmas-hating husband.  He also has already been thinking of what we might give Ollie for Christmas, and whether or not O would have his own Christmas stocking.

Contented Kitten

We've had Oliver for two weeks now.  He continues to be a very obedient, sweet kitten.  We are trying to get him harness-trained, so we can take him outside on a leash.  He's not really liking it that much, but he acted the same way when we first put a collar on him.

Where's Oliver?

I don't see him anywhere.  He's a tricky one.

They like hanging out together.

Dr. Hammond and First Bath

Yup, falling more deeply into crazy-pet-ownerdom by having this as my cell phone wallpaper.  

Yesterday, my husband was having a (thankfully short-lived) Crohn's flare.  He stayed home with Oliver while I went to church.  He texted me a picture of Dr. Oliver Hammond taking care of him.  They snuggled on the couch for most of the morning.

He has his little paw on R's arm like, "It's okay, buddy.  I'm here for you."

This morning, I gave him his first bath.  He was not happy.  In fact, I was a little worried that he wouldn't ever let me touch him again.  He did stay in the tub, and he did get mostly clean, but he howled the entire time, and I could feel his heart racing.  Oh well!  He'll get used to it.

The self-drying period commences.

First Vet Visit

Oliver went to the vet today to establish care and get a good going-over.  I was a little worried, because he cried in the carrier all the way to the vet.  He's never been so distressed by a car ride.  However, once we got back into the exam room, he was a total sweetheart.

Both the doctor and the assistant commented on how calm and sweet he was.  He even was still when the assistant took his temperature.  Ollie has a clean bill of health, and we are starting him on some preventative treatments.  That's the way to go for pets and humans, in my opinion.  Do what you can to stay healthy and avoid disease!

When Melissa, the assistant, brought him to me after his leukemia booster vaccine, she said, "I wish all cats were like him."  At one point in the exam, she said, "I can tell he really likes you!"  That made me so happy!  I think we got a keeper with this little guy.

Napping off his exciting morning.

Squeeeeee!!!!  How adorable is this?

Jellicle Cats

T.S. Elliot was onto something in his Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats, though I think Andrew Lloyd Webber took it to annoying lengths in Cats.  Still, it gives an entree into a discussion of naming cats.

The neighbors have a cute little cat that is probably a kind of bengal.  He is orange and white, but it's in a swirl pattern.  When we thought he was a little stray and we wanted to lure him into our house, we called him Scribbles or Cinnabon.  Those names seemed to make sense, given his pattern.  You know what his owners named him?  Ralphie.  What the?  That cat is not a Ralphie.  But anyway.

When we were thinking that we were getting a Russian Blue, we threw around several names (because we were not going to stay with the name Seymour).  Boris Badinov?  Koshka?  Finally, we decided on Oslo (because we love that city) (my last name)-ovich (his last name)-ovski.  That was an awesome name, if I do say so myself.

We just couldn't fit that name to Oliver.  Oliver was the name he had at the Humane Society, and it just seemed to fit him.  It made us think of Richard Hammond's little car that he drove across South Africa, so we added the last name Hammond.  He is officially Mr. Oliver Hammond.  I had to giggle when the vet's office left a voicemail saying that they were calling to remind that Mr. Oliver Hammond had an appointment.

His nicknames are Oliver and (less-often), Hamster.  We also call him PsychoKitty and Weirdo, because he does those kooky cat things.

A site for my cat, because I don't want to look like a crazy cat person on my other blogs

Mr. Oliver Hammond

The purpose of this blog is to be safety valve of a sort, to keep posts about my cat from overwhelming my personal blog.

Mr. Oliver Hammond, my very first pet, joined our household three days ago.  We adopted him from the Humane Society.  Our original plan was to adopt the Russian Blue who shared the kitten room with Oliver and five other kittens.  Sadly, Seymour was not interactive at all, and he flunked his audition.  Oliver was playful, sweet and charming, so he came home with us.

Oliver has been such a great cat.  He is affectionate, playful, and obedient.  He adjusted well to our home, after spending a day and a half in our powder room getting acclimated.  He hasn't clawed the furniture, and he stopped trying to claw at the curtains immediately when we told him "No!"

I can't think of a better first pet.  He is such a sweetheart.