Heads up: This is a very long post.
Last year on this day (9/30/2014), Sakura-chan joined our family. It feels like she's been with us much longer than a year, though. As I wrote in my introduction thread, we got her from my husband's friend who was about to go on deployment.. The long story is that Sakura, who was named "Kibby" before, was actually the recently-divorced friend's ex-wife's cat. When his ex-wife packed up and just left one day, she also just left her kitty behind without a second thought. My hubby's friend did not know very much about cats and figured that she would be much happier living with another cat and humans who knew a great deal more about how to take care of cats (including one who would always be home to take care of her). He knew my husband and I already had Charvone, who is very social and friendly guy, and that we were talking about adopting another cat for him to hopefully become friends with, albeit at a much later time. We changed her name to "Sakura" because we didn't really like the name "Kibby" and because I wanted something I could say easily in English and Japanese. We thought she was sweet, shy, and delicate!
Sakura with Charvone on the front patio at my parents' house:
We were wrong about that, though! Sakura's true personality has since come out and while she is very sweet and affectionate and very good at looking completely innocent, she is more of a diva type and not shy or delicate at all. She is very playful and can be destructive (shredding toilet paper and knocking things over) if she doesn't get what she wants. Sakura still follows me everywhere in the house and curls up next to me when I'm asleep. She has some separation anxiety and will scratch at the door if I am behind it (like when I'm using the bathroom or on the other side of the window when I'm doing chores outside). She is a chatterbox, constantly talking in meows or trills, and she enjoys playing rough with Charvone or my parents' cat Fry when we visit them. Sometimes I think I should've named her Tyson (Evander Holyfield v. Mike Tyson II, 1997), because her favorite move is the "ear-bite" (though not too hard). I think that may be one of the things she learned from living with dogs, since I read that mama doggies nip their puppies on the ear to correct/discipline them. She also throws some lightning-fast kitty punches--I think she may have studied the Way of the Hundred Fists from the Diablo III Monk. Then later on, Sakura-chan snuggles up to Charvone, if the weather is cool enough. She enjoys grooming other cats, like Charvone and Fry.
Sakura curled up next to Charvone, Sakura holding Charvone down and washing his head:
I think Sakura-chan has Siamese or Oriental Shorthair ancestry somewhere, since she was originally adopted locally and there are many Siamese breeders (both legitimate and backyard breeders) in this area. Even after her eating the same amount as Charvone, she hasn't gained much weight and is always trying to beg for more food (quite the glutton!) or steals some bites of Charvone's food. She is long and lean with a narrow face and large wide-set ears. Sakura is very intelligent and can fetch her favorite toy and even randomly brings the toys to me while I'm in other rooms. She sometimes figures out how to do things by watching Charvone do them first, such as getting treats out of the treat-dispensing toys, if not on her own. She also responds to her name and comes up to me if I make eye-contact with her. She even shows up when I just mention her name in conversation sometimes.
A closer look at Sakura's face shape:
We love Sakura-chan very much and we are very glad that she joined our family. We hope she and Char-Char (and they are practically inseparable!) will be with us for a very long time.
Last year on this day (9/30/2014), Sakura-chan joined our family. It feels like she's been with us much longer than a year, though. As I wrote in my introduction thread, we got her from my husband's friend who was about to go on deployment.. The long story is that Sakura, who was named "Kibby" before, was actually the recently-divorced friend's ex-wife's cat. When his ex-wife packed up and just left one day, she also just left her kitty behind without a second thought. My hubby's friend did not know very much about cats and figured that she would be much happier living with another cat and humans who knew a great deal more about how to take care of cats (including one who would always be home to take care of her). He knew my husband and I already had Charvone, who is very social and friendly guy, and that we were talking about adopting another cat for him to hopefully become friends with, albeit at a much later time. We changed her name to "Sakura" because we didn't really like the name "Kibby" and because I wanted something I could say easily in English and Japanese. We thought she was sweet, shy, and delicate!
Sakura with Charvone on the front patio at my parents' house:
We were wrong about that, though! Sakura's true personality has since come out and while she is very sweet and affectionate and very good at looking completely innocent, she is more of a diva type and not shy or delicate at all. She is very playful and can be destructive (shredding toilet paper and knocking things over) if she doesn't get what she wants. Sakura still follows me everywhere in the house and curls up next to me when I'm asleep. She has some separation anxiety and will scratch at the door if I am behind it (like when I'm using the bathroom or on the other side of the window when I'm doing chores outside). She is a chatterbox, constantly talking in meows or trills, and she enjoys playing rough with Charvone or my parents' cat Fry when we visit them. Sometimes I think I should've named her Tyson (Evander Holyfield v. Mike Tyson II, 1997), because her favorite move is the "ear-bite" (though not too hard). I think that may be one of the things she learned from living with dogs, since I read that mama doggies nip their puppies on the ear to correct/discipline them. She also throws some lightning-fast kitty punches--I think she may have studied the Way of the Hundred Fists from the Diablo III Monk. Then later on, Sakura-chan snuggles up to Charvone, if the weather is cool enough. She enjoys grooming other cats, like Charvone and Fry.
Sakura curled up next to Charvone, Sakura holding Charvone down and washing his head:
I think Sakura-chan has Siamese or Oriental Shorthair ancestry somewhere, since she was originally adopted locally and there are many Siamese breeders (both legitimate and backyard breeders) in this area. Even after her eating the same amount as Charvone, she hasn't gained much weight and is always trying to beg for more food (quite the glutton!) or steals some bites of Charvone's food. She is long and lean with a narrow face and large wide-set ears. Sakura is very intelligent and can fetch her favorite toy and even randomly brings the toys to me while I'm in other rooms. She sometimes figures out how to do things by watching Charvone do them first, such as getting treats out of the treat-dispensing toys, if not on her own. She also responds to her name and comes up to me if I make eye-contact with her. She even shows up when I just mention her name in conversation sometimes.
A closer look at Sakura's face shape:
We love Sakura-chan very much and we are very glad that she joined our family. We hope she and Char-Char (and they are practically inseparable!) will be with us for a very long time.
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