He’s a hit at work too! My colleagues just love him! And Pixel’s not shy when it comes to attention. So it’s win-win for all!

Check out his graduation pictures in our photo gallery to see him chewing on his hat!

I arrived into my new home around midnight on June 18th with Continental Flight 667!  The flight wasn’t bad, I made it out pretty happy – starving but really excited! I wanted to be petted! Irina gave me treats and spend some time cleaning me with wipes but I didn’t care, I kept eating and wiggling my very short tail in excitement for all the attention I was getting. There is this super tall dude that kept hugging Irina and flashing his camera at me! Over all, he’s pretty mellow and nice, his name is Alex. He sat on the floor with Irina while I sniffed my new room around and took a nap on Irina’s lap.

So far I don’t like my play pen – too boring; even with toys in it! So I decided to get some attention; I barked and I wiggled my tail and I cried… Anything to get attention and be loud… I bet they think I’m pretty cool now – so tiny but so much personality!  And my hard work of 7 minutes paid off! Irina moved her pillow and a blanket to the floor and moved me to a pretty soft and comfy doggie-bed near her and  that’s how we spend our first 4 hours together… I did get a little too excited and pooped on the floor missing Irina’s foot by less than an inch so that made her put me on the wewe pad but why would she want to do that when I finished my business already?!

In the past few hours I found a few cool hobbies: I like to chew on Irina’s hands and ear when I feel she’s beginning to doze off. And I like to chew on my spiky bone and cupcake toys.

Yeah…. she’ll be spending most of her time in the bathroom for the next months…. that’s how long it’ll take me to put the ornaments back!!!

[Alex, 12/17/05] I got mail from dad the other day – it looks like their cat is enjoying the xmas tree as much as ours Should we open a contest?

She spent the first 9 hours in the carrier, covered with a towell over it to shade her from light and noise. Sasha and I took turns peeking into the bedroom with a flash light to check on her.

By midnight Levin and his gf leave. Im glad they were over. It helped me keep my mind off the cat half the time. We didn’t do the dishes… we left the table with coffee cups on it and raced to the bedroom… just sat there keeping her company. (I gave Halva her painkiller sometime between steak and desert. She seems better- her eyes followed me in the room… she knew she was home. )

2am: I let her out… she wanted to pee Sasha takes her to the bathroom… she pees and even eats a bit.

The next two hours she spends in the middle of the bed, sleeping off and on. Not a lot of space for Sashka and I left but our spines will have have to forgive us. Sashka starts to talk thru his sleep so I bite the lip and move the cat from her comfy position. She’s fine.  Her purring habbits got back to normal – she’s fine again! The three of us squeeze in on the queen bed. I remember thinking about the remodeling show I saw three years ago: a millionier bought his pregnant wife a 20ftx20ft bed to sleep on. I know why he bought it now… And at that point I wish I had a drink earlier.

4am: she makes herself comfy behind my back and at 6 she starts to move around the bed, jumping thru Alex and jumps down on the floor, I get up… my body feels stale, I’m tired, I’m half asleep but I don’t care - get down with her… she starts to walk around the bedroom looking for a comfy spot to pee, I get her to the barthroom she’s walks 80% better. She pees, I check for abnormal discharges – find nothing: GOOD NEWS! I perked up and and run to the kitchen: find her pills, dunk it in butter (so it goes down her throat faster/better), I come back to cat that’s spread out on the rug, her shaved belly clashes with her look – she wants to be petted. I do some of that slip the pill down her throat just like the night before and back to the bedroom we go. She perks up ALOT.

7am: I add dry food to her watered down canned. She eats like normal.He bottom part of the body moves with her now instead of dragging like earlier in the day. She’s good! I can finaly pass out now.

11am: Sashka and I wake up: she’s playing with something – it’s making noise. Sasha takes her to pee, he brushes his teeth… we’re tired, hardly got any sleep. We let her walk thru the whole apt. She perks up and wants to play only she’s not aloowed.  We all get into the bedroom, hop into the bed hoping she’ll join us. Eventually she does and fall asleep under Sashka arm, on his shoulder – she took my spot, bitch! And I wish that I cared… I’m too tired to think.

It’s 1:02pm and I want to spend Sunday like a weekend day. I’m gonna call Pashka see if he wants to come over and have some leftovers steak with us. 

So yeah, for all of you who want to know what to do for a new kitten – my recommendations are for indoor cats only.

- 3 vaccinations of FVRCPP. It’s a combined vaccine against common really bad feline infections. Each costs $12 or so. These vaccinations are done 2-3 weeks apart.

- 1 vaccination against Rabies. It can be combined with the last FVRCPP. Cost me $14.

- Deworming. Most cats have round worms (they’re born with them, if i understand correctly). The first time you’re doing FVRCPP, ask your vet to give the deworming mixture to the kitten – it has absolutely no adverse effects if the cat doesn’t have worms. Alternatively, you can bring cat’s poop, pay $20 for the poop exam, find out that the cat has worms, and then do the deworming . Pick yourself. The deworming itself, for a 6-week old kitten, is like $4.

- Spay/neuter. That’s the biggest operation your cat will hopefully ever have to go through. In any case, it costs $70 for a female and $50 for a male, plus $15 for pain medications. Like I said, we only went through ours today – so I don’t have much advice. Other than this one: when you bring the cat back, make him/her stay in the carrier, in a quiet, dark place – the light irritates them BADLY after surgeries. I also found out that spay (operation for females) goes much easier than neuter mainly because of after-effects – there are no stitches for a female.

Æó÷êà (typical dog name)
MoMo (one of Irina’s cousins called Nemo that)
Ìàñÿíÿ (Russian cartoon character)
Êðûñêà (little rat)
Ãðàöèÿ (grace)
Àðåâèê (russian woman’s name for someone from Caucasis)
Ðûáêà (fishie)
Òàòîøêà (untranslateable)
Òàìïîí (tampon)
Âîäêà (vodka it is)
Tonic
Èñêðà (spark)
H2O
Omelette
Posh
Ïåøêà (pawn)
Æîïêà (little butt)
Ãðóøà (pear)
Kryshka
Poulet
Ìûøêà (little mouse)
Êàïèòîøêà (untranslateable)
Âàðâàðà (ancient Russian woman’s name)
Ïàëàãåÿ (ancient Russian woman’s name)
Àéñèäîðà (just a weird name)
Ñåëåäêà (herring)
Ïèïèñüêà (little… pussy?)
Ïóïñèê (pussy cat)
Ïÿòêà (heel)
Godiva
Êàëîðèÿ (calorie)
Òîðòèê (tart)
Corna
Danialla
Marchika
Noroc
Silvike
Liduca
Ferechire
Âàíî (Georgian guy’s name)
Ãîãè (Georgian guy’s name)
Tarkat’e
Fat’e
Frumoasa
Õàëâà (Halvah – name of a Russian sweet. You can actually buy it in a Russian store in Crossroads in Bellevue)

DON’T listen to anyone who insists that the cat should live with shitty Russian food. You’re not in Russian anymore, there should be no excuse  why your cat has to suffer thru lack of vitamins and hearburn. Besides cat food is cheaper to have the cat addicted to rather then bliny s ikroi and less messy than eating borsh.   

1.     Buy a $3 plastic litter box (tazik), don’t use more than 1 inch(deep) of litter in it.  It’s REALLY HARD to change your cat’s habit once he’s used to something.

3.   Canned food – buy the small cans (usually run between 39 -80 cents/each). One tea spoon is a good serving for now. Refrigerate after opening and serve at room temp.- always! Do not microwave! It kills all the neutrinos.  Caned food sticks to their teeth- so don’t feed it more than twice a week… Try on Sundays as a treat day.

4.   IF your cat has fleas, buy carpet powder/spray as well as the treatment for the kitten. Those fuckers can live in carpets/sofas up to a year without blood.

5.  Keeping food in an air-tight container will keep it crunchy and fresh tasting longer. Go to Ikea and invest in a $7 glass container. IT WORKS!

6.   TREATS: most kittens don’t like them. Why? They can’t smell them. Give it time: by the time the kitten is two months old, he’ll be begging for them. Treats are great to work with if you have a rewarding system.

8.   Carrier: GET ONE! You don’t want your cat stuck between the gas pedal and your foot, better yet, behind the breaks! We got ours at FredMeyers (local grocery chain store) for $19. Halva loves to play in it! Like right now she just closed the door behind her once she got in.

9.   Get the stain remover with some enzyme content: so the cat can’t pick up his odor should he pee in the wrong spot of the house.

10.   Get a place mat to put the food/water bowels on: cats are messy at eating: it’ll be easier to clean up. Same for litter box: get a mat designed to trap the litter: it hurts to step on crystals at 3am when you run to the bathroom to pee. Trust me!

11.  Call us if you have questions! The pictures should help you out with looking for what you need. CHMOK!

Any ideas of names for your kitten yet?