March 2014 fur friend of the Month – The Cat on my Head

How much do you know Lily Olivia, Mauricio, Misty May, Giulietta, Fiona, Astrid, Lisbeth and Calista Josette all from the blog ‘The Cat on my Head’?

Well lets talk to them 🙂

Hello moggies can you introduce yourselves and how you came to your forever home?

(The current group are Cats nine through 17 in our household. Lily Olivia is the bridge between the two groups having been in residence with every kitty we have had.)

LILY OLIVIA (15) was liberated from a group of kittens that were always playing in the street a few blocks from our home. Her three, male siblings, Winston, Parker, and Sebastian, were liberated by a friend. If you need further info, it is in this post:

MAURICIO and MISTY MAY (9) -
 AKA “The Babies” were adopted from a lady whose cat had kittens and had an advertisement for “free kittens” in the local newspaper.

Some experts say that cats don’t fetch. They have never met Mauricio who thinks such a game is perfect cat entertainment. Named for a retired Brazilian national volleyball team setter, he’s also a pretty good ball-handler. Misty May, the current “Cat on My Head,” is named after the famous Olympic Beach Volleyball gold medalist; though, she can’t be bothered with frivolous play.

GIULIETTA  and FIONA (Turning 4 on Tuesday the 18th) -
AKA “Tribble” and “Trouble” and “The Kittens” 
When I was looking to add a kitten to the family, I vowed to get only one—a black, short-haired female as I was still missing my “heart” kitty, Thelma. A friend sent me to see a couple of litters one of her friends had at her house. I immediately fell in love with a grey, long-haired beauty (Giulietta) and then her doe-eyed, short-haired sister. Tom was just returning from a trip to Italy, which included a visit to Juliet’s balcony in Verona, and so Giulietta seemed like one perfect name. Named for a character on

American TV’s USA’s “Burn Notice,” Fiona, the velveteen cat, has channeled Thelma’s laid-back personality (my lap is her favorite resting place) even though she resembles Louise.

ASTRID and LISBETH (2 ½)
 AKA “The Angels”
 These additions to the household are not related but were raised in foster care together. After being abandoned and bottle-fed, Astrid was placed with Lisbeth’s litter and raised by her mother, Tuxie. Named for a character on Fox’s “Fringe” Astrid was adopted from the TNR/Rescue group, Barn Cat Buddies, in Hardy, Virginia. Lisbeth, named for the main character in the Stieg Larsson novels, was adopted from Roanoke, Virginia’s, no-kill shelter, Angels of Assisi. (I originally saw Astrid on PetFinder and immediately fell in love with her sweet face.) best friends at first, these two, unfortunately do not get along anymore.

CALISTA JOSETTE (CALLIE JO or C.J.) (Will be 2 years old in June.) Another Barn Cat Buddy, this kitty came to us as Josette. The name Calista had not been on any of the kitty name lists I keep, but none of those names worked with Josette, which we wanted to keep for a middle name. She is a dilute tortoise shell and one of four kittens born to a feral mother. She is the eighth cat in what is normally a seven- kitty household. I fell in love with her at an adoption event held by Barn Cat Buddies.

Favourite treats?

This would have to be catnip. I make catnip toys for the TNR/Rescue group I work with to sell at adoption events. This, of course, drives everyone crazy. They are constantly trying to steal the toys as I am sewing them. See these posts: http://thecatonmyhead.com/kitty-quality-control-inspectors/ AND http://thecatonmyhead.com/nip-heads/

In the summer, our housekeeper grows catnip and brings them bagfulls and last summer we grew our own, which I am sure we will do again this year.

They also like just about any cat treat on the market; though, not every cat likes every brand. At Christmas, I got them this gadget that can be used to shoot treats into the air.

Average day activity

Breakfast at 8:30 a.m.: 1/8 of a can of “stinky goodness” per kitty. There are those who gobble so they can steal that of the slow eaters and so who turn up their noses and leave their food for others.

The three oldest (Lily Olivia, Mauricio and Misty May) have full outdoor privileges. When they do go out, they usually just lie around after inspecting our entire yard and that of the neighbor. We live right in the city so they cannot roam too far. Misty May and Mauricio will then usually nap in the yard. Mauricio also naps on the two-person rocker on the front porch. Lily can usually be found napping on the settee on the front porch. She used to always spend her days across the street on porches of various neighbors, bit now that Misty May and Mauricio have taken up being mean to Astrid instead of her, she usually stays at home.

The remaining five have their catio, which consists of a large lower screened-in deck and an upper open deck. If the weather is good, they will spend the entire day there, napping and watching the birds and squirrels. We have three feeders. Two are just inches outside the screen and another is further down in the yard. They also have a cat tree/condo on the deck.

Dinner is at 6:30 p.m. (same amount of food as breakfast)* and everyone stays inside after that, unless it is saummertime. I do still everyone to be in at night.

If not napping during the day, they have tones of toys to play with. Some are red dot crazed, especially Fiona, Astrid and Calista Jo. Giulietta likes the red-dot machine.

* We don’t starve them. They do have dry food and water available at all times.

Naughtiest thing done to date?

Lisbeth is the naughty one of the bunch; though, you would never know it to look at her sweet face. We get fresh flowers for the kitchen every week or two, and her favorite thing is to eat those. She probably likes that better than nip. But even better, is pushing things off of tables or counter tops, watching them fall and then looking over the edge to see what has happened to the object. She has smashed huge vases or merely sent piles of mail and magazines flying.

I cannot say it is naughty, but something that can really causes havoc is Astrid jumping from countertop to countertop in the kitchen. She’ll usually land on something like a placemat and cause drinks to spill on piles of mail.

Mauricio tries to steal our vitamins and prescription drugs at breakfast and likes to chew on silverware.

We have a rule of no paws on the placemat, but we lost that battle years ago. We do require that paws remain off and the cats remain down while we are actually eating. The rule came about, when our second cat, Steamer, snagged an entire pork chop off my plate.

Who is their super hero?

That’s an easy one: There dad because he keeps the bird/squirrel feeders filled; though, after the recent post with Lily as Captain America, maybe it could be her. (Just kidding.)

Thank you so much for giving us your time we love that you all get on so well and are well looked after 🙂

Giulietta and Fiona will be celebrating their birthdays today on their blog, so you have another reason to head over 🙂 Click here