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Today, on the day of his birth, we remember Emperor Nimar Nimarus Rex, first of his line, he who opened up the World of Savannahs to us. I hope that he, Isis and Reeses are enjoying they afterlife and laughing as they watch these knuckleheads play.
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When one kitton poops, they all poop. I am not even kidding. One will hop in the box and go and the other two line up and wait.
Waiting, of course, is totally ridiculous, because we have 8 litter boxes. Usually several are in the same room together. Meaning, lines do not need to form, but clearly, we must all poop on top of other poop. The only saving grace is that occasionally Siada is at the end of the line and she at least has the decency to bury and will sometimes even do the work for the other two (who just don't bury at all). Yes, I did just mention Kitton Poop (which, btw, is not nearly as glorious as the kittons themselves). But what I really want to talk about is Breeze litterboxes. Or "Litterbox Magic" as my friend Lucy put it after she tried them. When Nimar was diagnosed with diabetes, he was peeing what seemed like gallons a day. We were hauling heavy, urine laden bags of litter to the trash can twice a week. It was becoming exceedingly pricey (on top of the insane quantity of food he needed then, and the criminal cost of insulin). The BigMan decided to give the Tidy Cats Breeze litter boxes a try and I can say we definitely have never looked back.
The boxes come in both a hooded and open version. The floor of the box has slots that allow liquids to pass through to a peepad which is accessed from a drawer on the front of the box. The pan is filled with litter pellets (almost like small stones). Solids stay on top and you remove them as need with the provided scoop. Even with crazy-peeing Nimar or a parcel of geriatric cats and crazy-kittons, there is no dire cat-pee smell in the house ever. And I do mean EVER. We change used pads weekly (not every box gets used, remember, we have 8 boxes and they sometimes prefer one over another for whatever reason that cats do things). It is as simple as pulling the pads out and putting them in a trash bag. Litter gets replaced as needed. Note that the manufacturer recommends monthly, but it is very easy to go longer. And if you really want to go through the trouble, put it in a bin and wash it and rinse it outside and let dry in the sun and reuse it. After washing, I have also disinfected after that with a bit of with Lysol Daily Cleanser, as the cats are not bothered by the smell of that product and it is pet safe. If you prefer to use pine pellets, this litterbox is actually ideal for those! When pine litter becomes saturated with liquid, it turns into sawdust that will fall into the drawer below (no pee pad needed), merely by shaking the box. We have used pine before with these boxes, but I prefer the pellets as the cats sometimes track sawdust around the house with the pine litter. There are a couple of drawbacks to this system. One is that sometimes a cat just won't like the new litter. If you get a box and have that issue, I recommend trying Dr. Elseys litterbox attractant. We rarely have litterbox issues (mostly because we offer so many choices for location), but the few times we needed it, this product is fantastic. I also know that at least one owner of a 35+lb Savannah said that the box was too small for her cat, but I can say that 23lb Nimar had no issues at all using the open version of the boxes, nor does Malik (who is taller than Nimar was). All of our cats prefer these, even when other choices are given. The only other drawback I have found is that stepping on a stray pebble is the equivalent of stepping on a LEGO. Given that I am also likely step on my own stray LEGOs, I can live with this. 3 out of 3 Kittons (and one Isis) highly recommend the Breeze system! The Merry Rosette participates in the Amazon Associates program and a small commission is earned on qualifying purchases. I want to preface this post with a request that no one take what follows as a sign that a Savannah is guaranteed to wreck your home. I mean, they can get into things, make messes, and sometimes be destructive, but so can a normal cat who claws the sofa or shreds the TP. Puppies chew all the things (I even had a dog once who ate the passenger seat in my van and turned the spare bricks behind our house to dust). Toddlers write on the walls and squirt hand lotion all over the floor. Older kids try to build a swimming pool on the bedroom floor on the second story with a trash bag and gallons of water (oops). Hell, even I manage to get raviolis stuck in my keyboard and regularly make coffee stains and seem to have this cloud of shattered glass and ceramics that exists in my wake. But back to Savannah specifics (because Savandalism is a real thing), Nimar was a chewer. The good thing was that he mostly only chewed his Kong chew toys (which he loved). He would carry one to his plate and eat some food, chew a toy, eat some food, chew a toy. We were going through a toy about once a week with him after he got sick (and was chewing more aggressively). Aside from that and cardboard boxes, he really was not a destructive cat. Siada is even better, she works hard at chewing up boxes, but aside from that her desire to use my shoes as a scratching post is about the worst damage she does (as long as you don't count flipping over a whole pizza that one time). And Layla, well, she isn't much of a destuctor, but she falls off tables regularly. I am really only worried she will do damage to herself with her goofball antics. And this brings me to Mr. Malik. He has perfect litterbox habits, never claws the sofa, properly reduces boxes to piles of confetti, will only turn taters into hashbrowns if I leave them within his reach, but he also has an issue with foam. He hates it. I have no clue what foam ever did to him, but his life's mission is to remove it from this earth. He never chews feather pillows or normal fluff filled pillows, but Papa's foam pillow was an enemy, until I put a heavy linen pillowcase on it. He bit it twice to test (taste?) it, but has since left it alone. He also likes to add air conditioning to the bedding. Fleece blankets have to exist between layers of cotton bedding (which sometimes also 'develop' holes). The whole thing was really bizarre to me until I saw someone on one of the Serval forums that I follow pose the question "When does the destruction of blankets phase end..." The first response was, "hahahaha, they live up to 25 years". So THAT is where he gets it from. I had a brilliant idea though, that I am hoping solves the hole-ridded bedcover issue as the weather grows colder and I desire to keep all the heat next to me. He didn't like the linen pillow case, and I have a ton of linen scraps from decades of crafting medieval garments, so I decided to make a patchwork quilt out of linen. This idea is pretty brilliant as it should yield a durable, Malik-proof blanket, and use up at least one of the bins of linen scraps that I have been hoarding for decades. The only problem is that he really, really wants to help me make the dang thing. The Merry Rosette participates in the Amazon Associates program and a small commission is earned on qualifying purchases.
I create historical costumes, primarily from the Viking Age. As part of my research process I became familiar with types of wool that were used in period and bought several Icelandic sheepskins. Nimar absolutely loved laying on them, with this multi-colored one being his favorite. He spent a fair bit of time keeping toasty warm on this fleece in the middle of the floor. I put the fleeces away when we welcomed the Kittons into our home, for fear that they might want to groom or eat the fur. Apparently, they really just prefer to pose for photos there.
When we went to pick up Malik from the breeders house, she gave us an awesome gift bag full of goodies (for him and for us). When I saw it though, I had to choke back tears because on the top was a large, stuffed white rat. She noticed me looking at it and said she likes for the Savannahs to have larger toys to play with. She didn't know I was reminded of Nimar at that moment, as he had that very same rat, but I was and my heart ached with both the loss we had and the joy of bringing a new baby home.
It was one of those rare toys that actually survived for quite some time in our house. I think he got it when he was 5 or so years old, and we still had it (missing feet, ears, face and tail, and covered with gross cat food) when he passed. He carried it around before his illness and it became victim of his excessive chewing habits after the tumor started to take over. But I can say he loved that thing
Nimar was our beautiful overlord, the Emperor. This weekend, a new King has joined the household. I am absolutely delighted to have an F1 in my life again, and, honestly, I am still trying to process that whole concept. I do, however, want to talk about the differences in our first few days with Nimar vs. the first few with Malik. We picked up both Nimar and Malik from the breeders' homes in Ohio. Nimar was more than twice the age of Malik when we got him. And he was a bit wild-shy around strangers (perhaps even the breeder). She had to chase him all over the house to catch him when we got there, and she tried to trim his nails before we took him and he was having absolutely none of that. He rode in the crate the whole way home expressing his indignance of the situation. When we arrived at Malik's breeder's house, he was bouncing around the living room. He would not immediately come to us, but within mere minutes his curiosity got the better of him and he investigated the new people. We even got to pick him up! We all watched him play while Teresa, the owner of the cattery, filled us in on his diet and habits and talked about his siblings (who also had just gone to their new homes). Then we packed up his little spotted self and headed for the car. He did fight like a little demon in the crate for the first ten minutes. Loud chirps, alligator rolls, thrashing about. And then he was so kitten-tired (that is an extreme form of tired that just makes you fall over asleep) that he curled up with his new wooly mammoth and fell asleep for a few hours. After that, I let him out of the crate, put the harness on him (the small Hyendry harness we had left from Siada and Layla) and offered him food and water and a potty (none of which interested him). He was, however, excited to explore the vehicle and was very content to sleep on my lap for the duration of the ride. At home, he readily explored his new space. He would be jumpy with a sudden move or noise, but also readily accepted us as his people. He would rub on our legs, chirp to be put on our laps (where he would climb up to perch on shoulders). If he did not want to be held he was, of course, a ball of wriggling claws and fierce noises, but when he is ready to cuddle, he enjoys being close to us. By contrast, my beloved Nimar spent most of day one behind the toilet. We had to coax him out with toys, and lure him to us with feather wands. You could not pick him up at all, and it was a couple days of very hard work to get him to let us really pet him. Once he decided we were ok, he eventually stopped being skittish and gave up the headbutts at every opportunity. I understand this is not at all uncommon behavior with early generation cats, but brining Malik into our lives is much like bringing in Siada and Layla who clearly wanted to be close to people, to cuddle, and to be annoyingly right-in-your-face from the start. I think that perhaps this is due to a mix of really good personality and good socialization on behalf of the breeders we worked with this time around. The experience they have working with hybrid (and wild) cats really shows. I have mentioned before that ten years with my beloved Nimar taught us a lot of things. That time also taught us what things we need to enforce from the start if we ever want to make them work long term. One of these things was nail trimming. In a decade, I managed to trim exactly ONE nail on that cat. One solitary talon-of-doom. During his illness an entire team of vet techs could manage it, especially during that last year when he just quit caring, but prior to that, it really only happened when they had him sedated for something. Understand that he was never bad about clawing on the furniture (though there is that one part of one wooden door frame that he took serious issue with and regularly mauled, but given that that it was just one spot, we choose our battles wisely and let him have it), but you could get accidentally nailed (see what I did there?) while playing, or if he ran over your face or something on one of his mad rampages. But yeah, one nail trimmed in that whole time. We should have been prepared for that really, as the breeder was trying to trim them when we went to pick him up (after she spent five minutes running around the house trying to catch the little bugger), and even then she could not get them all because he was spitting mad and fighting her. We decided this time would be different. I learned very quickly that Siada sleeps HARD in the car. After about five minutes of looking out the window, she curls up on my lap in the back seat (with papa driving) and I can trim all the reachable feet (sometimes one is under her and she wont let me have it, but it is still pretty effective and definitely better than my track record with Nimar). Layla tends to follow Siada's lead and so now often sleeps well in the car too, which means I can get some Layla feet then as well. This process happens almost every week as we travel back and forth to the Cabin. This week I saw a chart about pet nails being passed around one of the Savannah forums. I cannot, sadly, trace it to the original source, but I found it on a number of sites online and have included it and one of the sources below. How did I NOT know about this? How did I not know that the quick could recede, thereby allowing you to trim even shorter after a few days. This is game changing information!
So last night I got brave. I decided, while in the house, that I would test this out and try to trim the nails shorter (even though I just did them last Friday). This is a real thing! I could trim them again, shorter. But even more important, I was able to just walk up to Siada as she was sleeping on the sofa and pet and kiss her and then pick up her dainty princess feet and trim all of the nails. She barely woke up. And to make the miracle even more impactful, I was able to do the same with a sleeping Layla. They are so used to the process, and so over their fear, curiosity, or need to bite the clippers that it was not even the most mild of annoyances as they slumbered. I guess we will see if we can continue our training (and good luck) with our new little F1 boy whom we will be picking up in just a few days! Nimar had very set routines. He would butt heads with you strongly if you tried to deviate. This was actually very beneficial once he became ill, as we could readily determine when something was more wrong than usual, because he would alter his routine. Even with our reliance on his stubborn plans, it was easy to build new routines for him if he found it rewarding enough. When we started traveling with him all of the time, we did our best to make trips, especially those to the Cabin "special" in an attempt to make him less riotous when it came time to transport him. (So, yeah, that did not much work, but he did love the new traditions we built for him at the Cabin.) Among these, was giving him an egg every weekend morning. In fact, he would hear an egg crack and come running to sit at my feet and wait for his special meal. Once it was plated and cooled off, I would tell him to go to the living room so his papa could watch him enjoy it and he knew right where to go and wait for me to bring it. When I was cooking breakfast this morning, I saw Nimar's little egg pan sitting next to the sink. I only ever used it to cook his single egg in the mornings or his three wild-caught jumbo shrimp every Saturday evening (because you eventually get to a point with a terminally ill animal that you allow them to have pretty much whatever they want). I decided that since it was Easter, that the little girls could also enjoy an egg for breakfast. I told them that the pan was special as I was fixing it and I told them why. Then took them out to the living room so that their papa could watch them make an epic mess out of it. Will this be a new tradition? I don't know, as they seemed more interested in flipping yellow yolky shards all over the rug than they did eating it. But they were cute doing it and I enjoy the rather bittersweet memories of my little guy.
Do your cats have favorite songs or artists? I have found that my Savannahs tend to have strong preferences in that department. Nimar did not like to travel, he did not like being in the crate or the car. Unfortunately for him, he had to get over it when he became diabetic because his survival was dependent on him being with us at all times. So we got him the biggest crate ever (a large dog crate on wheels), and added a litterbox to it and did the made chase with a blanket to catch him to cram him in the box. Once we got in the car, he was usually good for an hour of or so of travel (naptime for him, while his people did the hard work of dealing with the idiots on the road). After that time, he would start to throw a tantrum. Sometimes it lasted minutes, sometimes it involved much cage rattling and gnashing of teeth. That was the case once when I was doing the 2.25hour trek to WV. There was a full-on feline tantrum in the back of the car. I was making me crazy so I turned on the radio. He upped his volume. I upped mine. Then the song finished and the next in queue was Led Zeppelin. Much to my wonderment, he stopped mid-wail and listened. And continued to listen, to the whole song. He laid down, but was still alert listening. When the song changed again, he started fussing. I grabbed the handy iPhone and loaded up my own Zeppelin collection and he completely chilled out the minute the vocals started. After a few songs he was sleeping peacefully. This continued to work, without fail, for the next year or so until we lost him. We tried other things and the only thing we found that appeased the beast was the dude on the satellite radio that taught banjo lessons. Go figure. (I also want to note that turning on K-pop would send him into a mad rage, which was fine because I have similar feelings about it.) I have not yet figured out Princess Siada's music preferences, but I know that Layla loves John Cougar Mellencamp the way Nimar loved Robert Plant. She was throwing an epic tantrum a few weeks ago while being forced to ride in the kitton basket in the car. Bellowing her little lungs out over the awful injustice of it, when on the radio came some of that heartland rock and she became very silent and went from caterwauling-let-me-out-of-this-prison kitty to a BEST DAY EVER little angel. Go figure. Of course, at this point, I cannot help but get a little wistful, a little sad, when I hear Led Zeppelin. I still miss arguing with my boy about traveling, even though it was complete drama from all ends, because I meant he was still with us. And one particular song will likely still always bring tears to my eyes. It did not take long at all for Siada and Layla to become inseparable. Layla trots after Siada, imitating her actions. They are now co-conspirators for destruction of the domicile, which, fortunately, amuses us to no end. Watch where you sit though, they have no qualms in blazing a trail right over you in pursuit of each other. When Nimar was young he would run right over you on the sofa, or even jump the entire sofa with you on it. As soon as you heard the thunder of his paws, you inwardly flinched because you never knew where he would land or what part of you might provide a runway for feline antics. All those feelings are coming back now when I hear the two girls pounding through the house. There are even some quiet moments (that are just so gooey, sweet and 'awwwwww' inducing that you cannot stand it). I can definitely say at this time that BK#2 (lovely little muppet Layla) was a very, very good idea. |
AuthorSavannah Caretaker who is honored to do the job. The Merry Rosette participates in the Amazon Associates program and a small commission is earned on qualifying purchases. This revenue goes towards helping to feed the Furrals!
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