Scylla doesn't need anything for Christmas other than other people's gifts. Here she stalks through her natural habitat hunting stray ribbons and slobbering on tissue paper.
Molpe, on the other hand, really likes her tiny little stocking full of catnip and mice. We still haven't solved her mouse issue, but this year we got some mice that are about 90% similar to her inaccessible favorite, and with a little pinch of drugs they went over very well.
Here is a sight that has been rarer and rarer as our kitties have aged... I think it has been over two years since Scylla and Molpe last deigned to sleep together. Must be another summer of love.
I am allergic to everything. Everything includes cats -- from my reaction, several times over. I also own cats.
Unfortunately, none of these cats are truly hypoallergenic. People who are allergic to cats are allergic to the DSH protein Fel d 1. Research suggests that the rexes and Sphynx do produce less of this protein, but they still produce it, and so they are still likely to provoke some degree of allergic reaction.
I've ultimately been quite happy with my Devon Rexes. They have great, dog-like personalities and desire lots of human interaction. These aren't fat cats that loll around in the sun all day long; even as they have aged they are still very active. They are also great (and very warm -- low fur, low body fat) lap warmers. I am allergic to them, but much less than to a normal DSH. If I pet a DSH and then wash my hands I'm generally fine, but anything more is pushing it. I can rub one of my rexes on my face for a several seconds (don't ask) and generally suffer no ill effects.
Today, if I were going to get another supposedly hypoallergenic cat, I would go to a rescue rather than a breeder.
Here is a rare picture of the vast majority of our family. Hagar is too wet to be pictured here, and I'm the reason the photograph is poorly framed, badly lit, and out of focus. From top right clockwise, we have long-suffering NDM, little white hissy Scylla, leaky-eyed Molpe, crammed-in Líle, and snoring 'Dolon.
We brought the new puppy home today, a day earlier than expected, as the shelter decided she is coming down with kennel cough which nixed her scheduled spay. Her tummy is a little unsettled, but otherwise she seems fine, and she's very keen on spreading her disease through tongue-to-anything contact.
She was immediately interested in some small wubbies, and even slightly defensive of them when 'Dolon stuck his nose in.
She was even more enamored of a few mostly chewed bones 'Dolon had left lying around. Of course, this also suddenly fixated 'Dolon on his discarded bones. Luckily there were enough to go around.
'Dolon got really excited and wanted to play with her so badly, eventually spiraling into a barking frenzy. The puppy just retreated to my lap.
She has shown only a slight interest in the cats thus far, and so remains unscarred for the moment.
Two hours of exploring, licking, and chewing and she's finally out long enough for me to sit down at the computer. It's going to be a long night...
The cats' favorite part of Giftmas is the packaging. Scylla may not come out until New Year's.
Scylla is trying to log all of her holiday hours sitting in my wife's lap in front of the fireplace. My wife is only too happy to cater to Scylla's heat-lust, cranking up the fire place and putting on a ceramic heater despite the already steamy indoor temperature I'm indulging in for the holidays. I suppose it is hard work maintaining a body temperature of 102°F.
The dogs have been bad (I know everyone is surprised) and chewed on a few of the blankets we use on the couch. NDM was able to patch up this nice little down throw; luckily, Scylla doesn't seem to mind that it is now a bit of a Frankenblanket.
There don't seem to be many opportunities to get shots of the kitties being cute these days, since they are continually horribly oppressed by evil puppies. When I had to lock the dogs in the mud room this morning, it didn't take Scylla two minutes to find a ladder I'd just put out and zip to the top, the ladder teetering dangerously aware from the cabinets her whole way up. There were lots of cuter missed shots before and after this one -- this is why I normally rely on the wife for cute pet photos.
Slumber unites everyone in our household. This is a fairly normal evening arrangement on the Sleepytime Couch. You can't really tell from this angle, but NDM and Scylla are also bundled in there. A different approach below still can't find the buried kitty...
Scylla is spending more time on the chair in front of the fireplace than the couch anyway, now that the wife thinks she'll freeze to death in the sixty degree weather without the fireplace on. Below, her ass faces the fireplace while she buries her chilly nose in a sweatshirt hanging over the chair back.
Molpe actually likes to take advantage of everybody sleeping to get some athletic patting in, so I rarely catch her on film at the same time as everyone else.
It is that time of year when the weather drops below ninety and NDM's fireplace goes on. Scylla is loving NDM's temporary study station, since it places a comfy chair right in front of the fireplace. I couldn't resist taking a picture of her sacked out on the back of the chair.
NDM's clearly pretty serious about Hippoboscidae.
I somehow left a Scylla photo out of our documentary of Mag's initial meetings with the household. Here is Scylla, resolving to destroy this new interloper by any means.
Here's a little scale information. 'Dolon is, of course, fixated on dominating Mag by cutting her off from the sun.
It is bedtime for me, so I thought I'd slap up some leftover bedtime pictures of the kitties.
Our kitties, who hate each other, still manage to imitate each other's behaviors all the time. Here they are echo-sleeping, providing an extra dimension of kittiness.
When the Chicago lake effect turns your 80° Saturday into a 50° Sunday, Scylla knows what to do. She'll have the last laugh when the rest of us die of exposure...
These days this kind of sisterly familiarity is a rarity. Their hissing organs must have been overheated by this point.
'Dolon started out today as cute as ever, and we treated him to a dog park excursion. We keep a wubby in my car for him, and apparently because he only gets to chew it on rides it has become extra special for him. He had a blast at the dog park, but he didn't reward us for our largesse.
'Dolon backslid today, doing almost every horrible thing we've been trying to break him of for the past 6 months. His crowning achievement occurred after we threw him back in the house so we could deal with the injured robin he was trying to eat. What tastes almost just like robin? You guessed it! Freshly baked banana cake on a counter he has never, ever dared go near before. I hope his 15 seconds of bliss was worth where he ended up for the rest of the day!
Hard to believe this is the same dog who is freaked out by our snapping turtle...
Or almost too afraid to get up on the couch with Scylla...
Although I suppose he does have reason to be afraid of Scylla. It is obvious what she is thinking here, and it wouldn't be suitable for posting as an I CAN HAS CHEEZEBURGER? caption. The next photograph has been withheld out of respect for our more squeamish readers.
Here we have Molpe indulging in a dirt wallow in our currently dormant vegetable garden.
After a few hours of that it was time for her to curl up under her favorite spider plant in my office.
With Molpe occupying the best dirt, Scylla felt the only place left for her to roll around was the dirt-colored ottoman blanket.
Eventually 'Dolon managed to dislodge her and a type of détente was reached.
