Alistair Lattimore » Animals

Meet Finnegan, A Crown Tail Siamese Fighting Fish

Al — Sun, 11 Sep 2011 07:25:26 +0000

Anita dropped in yesterday to wish Hugo a happy 3rd birthday and gave him a spectacular present, a crown tail Siamese fighting fish!

When Anita asked Claire what a cool present might be, Claire suggested a pink fighting fish because pink is one of Hugo’s favourite colours. Of course, not knowing what colours fighting fish come in, we were shocked to see a beautiful pink/purple coloured fighting fish arrive.

Needless to say, Hugo is very excited by Finnegan and regularly stops to gaze into his bowl and drag one of his chairs over to get a closer look. Throughout the course of the day, Evie managed to say “fish!” a few times as well. In case you were wondering, the exclamation point is there deliberately, Evie says fish with gusto.

Princess Is On A Holiday

Al — Tue, 12 May 2009 14:33:35 +0000

After months of discussion, procrastination, discussion, deliberation and more procrastination – Claire and I finally decided that we needed to find our beautiful ragdoll Princess a new home.

The decision has been really difficult to make as we love Princess a lot, she is positively gorgeous and has a fantastic nature. However, since Hugo arrived – she is no longer our baby. At the start it wasn’t quite so bad as Hugo was sleeping more, which meant there was more time to give Princess the affection that she craves. Unfortunately as Hugo has grown up, we’re left with less and less time and we’re honestly not giving her the attention that she deserves.

We were very reluctant to simply give her away – as we really wanted to know she was going to an excellent home – not just an okay one. I talked to some friends at work, to see if any wanted their first cat or optionally a second or third but that didn’t pan out. However, when Claire’s younger sister Lucy suggested that they’d love to have her – Claire and I thought it perfect. Perfect because Lucy & Michael already have a fancy pants Layanese and Lucy was in fact the person that gave Princess to Claire as a birthday present back in 2006!

Lucy & Michael were a little unsure how their Layanese named Boost would react to another cat in the house and we were a little nervous as well. To make sure things were going to work out, we packed up Princess’s gear for a night or two away as a test. As it turns out, neither of us had anything to worry about as Boost & Princess hit it off straight away. Initially there was a lot of sitting close to one another, looking each other dead into the eyes and then the rampant playing started – which is a sure fire way to know Princess is relaxed and happy.

We’re really sad to not have Princess in our lives on a daily basis, Claire and I are constantly expecting to hear her distinctive little ‘burr’ sound around the house. Fortunately, she isn’t far away and we know that she is in a fantastic environment with people that love cats as much as Claire and I do.

Tracking Outdoor Pet Movements

Al — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 13:12:54 +0000

Ever wondered where you pet might go while outside, does he just laze about the house or does he prowl the neighbourhood. Apparently that question was just too much for Mr Lee, so he developed a set of utilities to solve that problem:

CatTrack: Affix a small GPS logging device to your favourite pet and when they return home for the night – you can download the GPS data and view the path/route within Google Maps.
CatCam: Affix a small camera to your favourite pet and actually see where they are. For those that don’t deal well with maps, you know who you are.
CatCam Live: Affix a small camera and wifi equipment to your animal to stream their pictures live, no more waiting for your animal to return home to download the pictures taken during the day.

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Ragdoll Rest & Relaxation

Al — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 14:20:21 +0000

I’m not sure if it is unique to our ragdoll Princess or all ragdoll cats, however our one in particular will rest and or sleep in very strange places.

One specific fetish that Princess has revolves around sitting on or in a bag, of any description. Claire and I could be in any room in the house, where there are ample places for kitty to sit but if we put a bag down (plastic, paper, luggage, ..) – she will without a shadow of a doubt choose to sit on or in it instead, regardless of how comfortable it may or may not be.

Expect more super cute kitty photos to follow.

Who Would Have Thunk It

Al — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 03:19:36 +0000

My cat, the white fluffy Ragdoll, likes sultanas. Maybe I shouldn’t be that surprised, she does a lot of things that I don’t consider to be all that cat-like, but sultanas are something that I wouldn’t have expected a cat to like at all.

Like Father, Like Daughter?

Al — Sun, 09 Dec 2007 13:12:57 +0000

I was recently laying down on the carpet stretching and massaging my back muscles with the use of a Bak Ball and Princess thought she would keep me company.

As I have mentioned previously, Princess isn’t all that normal in the laying down department, so instead of just sitting near me like a normal cat – she laid on her back.

I didn’t notice her there at first and then Claire pointed it out – it does make a funny photo.

Bad Kitty

Al — Wed, 30 May 2007 13:30:46 +0000

Today, Claire purchased the a pack of Spacebags – the vacuum able plastic storage bags. After giving them a good run with some of our infrequently used items, Claire was nothing but impressed and wanted to show me them immediately.

We walked into the spare room and Claire was shocked that the bags were no longer collapsed and thought that she must not have sealed them correctly. Upon closer inspection, it was revealed that Princess decided that this new contraption needed to pass the claw test.

You guessed it:

Kitty 1, Spacebags 0

Naughty kitty, naughty.

Ragdoll Relaxation

Al — Mon, 31 Jul 2006 13:05:40 +0000

It has been nearly three months since I last posted anything about Princess; so it is time for a little update.

As I mentioned in the last update, Princess isn’t very lady like. For whatever reason, she has taken to sleeping in her perfectly lady-like position in the doorway of our bedroom. At night, if she isn’t sleeping on her back in the doorway; you can be sure she is sprawled over one of our bedside tables.

To unwind from a stressful day, Princess likes to play with her toys. One of her favourite toys is a simple household clothes peg; she thinks they are just great. She has been known to play with them on her own steam for hours at a time and also retrieve them too! A little while ago, we kept on losing her favourite pegs and we couldn’t work out where they were vanishing to. On the weekend, Claire and I decided we’d hunt the house high and low to find out where Princess has been stashing them. After checking all the expected places, we ended up being very surprised!

Farewell Gizmo

Al — Mon, 01 May 2006 10:59:06 +0000

One day about in about 1990, my cousin Rachel turned up at my place with a tiny golden Pomeranian cross Corgi puppy. From memory, mum & dad were not that pleased about the situation since they had no notice what so ever! None the less, the cute fluffy puppy soon became part of the family.

I don’t recall who named her, however she got her name “Gizmo” from the 1984 movie Gremlins. When Gizmo was still very tiny, she hadn’t grown quite into her ears yet. As such, when she was on her back – her ears deflopped and sat up nicely, she looked very cute.

As she was growing up, she was the most beautifully natured dog. About the only problem we ever had with her in that regard was that, at times, she could be a little snappy around little kids. She would never really bite, however if they were patting her too hard or doing something to annoy her – she’d give a little snap in their direction and it soon brought the kids back inline. One of my clearest memories of Gizmo happened regularly in the evening when George (read: Dad) would return home from work. As soon as Dad made any noise as he was pulling into the driveway, Gizmo would bolt flat out from one end of the house to the other. She would arrive at her destination with gusto and excitement, tail wagging furiously just begging to get a pat! Unfortunately, as she was growing up her excitement often got the better of her bladder and she would piddle near the door!

Gizmo also loved riding in cars. Our family owns an old Ford Falcon ute which we restored many moons ago. It doesn’t get used for a lot of stuff these days, mostly heading out to the dump and for convenience. Since it was an old ute, it had a very distinctive sound to the engine and exhaust; Gizmo knew it well. As soon as we’d turn it over, she’d be normally be there in a snap hoping she could come for a drive. She’d sit on the parcel shelf, and stick her head out the window in the wind, she loved it. For those uninitiated, the parcel shelf is the small shelf that is at about shoulder height when sitting in a ute and is immediately behind the seats.

In the last few years, Gizmo’s health has been quietly deteriorating. She has been nearly totally deaf for the last two years and as old age set in, her general mobility has decreased too. In the last year, that has since become more of an issue as her arthritis started to really hinder her movement. Getting up and down steps had become difficult and you could see her back hips and legs had become a little weak. Its really sad to see your family pet get old and its a shame that we outlast them I think, but it is just part of the life cycle.

I’d prefer to remember all of the great times she has brought our family and friends over the years. You’ll be missed Gizzy.

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Ragdoll Retriever

Al — Wed, 19 Apr 2006 13:23:19 +0000

Since you are all familiar with Princess now, I’m going to reveal a new talent that she has developed in the last fortnight – retrieving! Yes, you are thinking of the right thing – just like the Labrador Golden Retriever.

We first noticed it when she found a pink peg in our laundry basket and was having a merry old time playing with it on the tiles. When she finished batting it around on the tiles, we’d pick it up and throw it again; at which point she would chase and subsequently play with it again. Soon enough, we’d throw it and she’d play with it and started bring it back to our general vicinity.

The video below was taken not long after we found out about this new skill, so the second retrieval is a little sketchy. We now play fetch with Princess regularly and she loves it. She is now taking to initiating the game herself by finding her toy and bringing it to us so that we’ll throw it!

If you’re having trouble viewing it above, you can view it directly on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iriOxbeoyIE.

More to come.

Ragdoll Relaxation