July – August 2015

We had a lot of fun looking after this adorable trio over 7 weeks.  Without meaning to devalue the fond memories we have of our other assignments (indeed, we have been very fortunate to meet wonderful people and pets half way around the world), the truth is that this became our favourite house & pet sitting experience, and still remains so to this day.

We fell in love with the city and became good friends with our hosts, who went to incredible lengths to make us feel welcome.  We have been fortunate enough to return two more times and hope to return many more in the future.

Gorgeous, adorable Bafana. A ginger cuddle monster who would jump on a chair to greet you and rub noses the moment you walked in.

He would get grumpy with the twins, particularly when they tried to steal his food, but couldn’t be sweeter with his human friends. He would look up every time you called his name and reply with the sweetest “meow”. And when he looked at you with his big green eyes, you couldn’t help but love him.

As a senior cat with some health issues, he wasn’t particularly playful, but he allowed us to put drops in his ears and cream on his chin without fuss or complaints.

He enjoyed having brushing sessions whilst lying down, spending lazy afternoons on a shady spot in the garden when the temperature went up, getting a good amount of cheek rubs at any time of the day, and following you everywhere when he was awake. And I really mean everywhere!

Sadly, barely a month after we left, he was diagnosed with an inoperable mouth tumour and he had to be put to sleep. I cried for 3 days every time I thought of him and remembered the many sweet moments we had shared together! R.I.P. sweet Bafana, we’ll never forget you!

Mukiwa is technically a Colorpoint Shorthair, a man-made breed derived from the Siamese. Although different in appearance, the breed’s main character traits remain: they are said to be highly intelligent, inquisitive, affectionate and very vocal. And boy, Mukiwa was vocal!

If he wanted something, you can rest assured he would let you know… loudly and repeatedly!  You would sometimes hear him calling from the top floor with a loud, long “meeeeeeooooooowwwwww”, as if asking “where is everybody??”; and the moment you answered his calls, he would come running downstairs to meet you wherever you were.

When it was time to eat, he would helpfully tap the kitchen cabinet door to tell you exactly where the food was (whilst meowing loudly, of course!). And when he wanted some attention, he would tap your arm and… yep, you guessed it,  meow loudly if you didn’t immediately obliged. We really had some very interesting conversations with him!

He was such a character and so much fun to be with. He usually followed his brother Pafuri around and it was just so cute to see them interacting together – playing, exploring, sleeping together and grooming each other. If we wasn’t following his brother, he was following me!

Pafuri is an Oriental Shorthair with a beautifully shiny black coat, an insatiable curiosity and a seemingly overwhelming need to know what you are up to at all times. He was my little supervisor and followed me around as if wanting to ensure I was doing things right, be it hanging the laundry, filling up the dishwasher, or watering the plants.

Initially he had been terrified of us, as he is of every new person he meets – in fact, all it took was the sound of the doorbell to make him jump out of his skin, run out through the garden door, and disappear into the neighbours’ garden for a couple of hours.

Thankfully, his very inquisitive nature made it relatively easy to earn his trust, as he loved playing and could never resist a game of “hide and chase”. From playing fetch with a stuffed toy elephant, to chasing bugs or playing with a long blade of grass in the garden, pretty much anything could be turned into a toy to keep him entertained.

We loved watching him and his brother Mukiwa interacting together, it often seemed that they were somehow conspiring to get up to some sort of mischief. Their sometimes naughty but always sweet character was as heartwarming as it was entertaining to watch, and we didn’t have a boring moment with them!

June 2015

We looked after this wonderfully varied trio for 10 days. Although very different in age and looks, they all had one thing in common – they were all incredibly friendly and affectionate.

By the time we got to the house in the evening, they had been alone all day, as our hosts had left in the morning. When we walked through the door, their reaction was “at last, someone’s here to feed and cuddle us!” rather than “who are you, and what are you doing in my house?”. They certainly knew how to make us feel welcome!

As a typical oriental, Kali was vocal and determined. We couldn’t get over how confident and affectionate she was!  As we arrived at the house late in the evening, she made it clear she wanted her dinner.

So I sat down and got the laptop out to go over the feeding instructions we had been given… I had hardly opened it up when she was already making herself comfortable and pushing it out of her way!

As the youngest cat in the household, she was full of energy… and even though we tried to satisfy her need for hunting things with various games (including making a toy for her which she loved chasing), that still didn’t stop her from gifting us with 2 live mice which she released in the kitchen for us (and which we released back into nature, well away from the house).

She followed us around the house and was great fun to be with, and she certainly kept us on our toes for the entire duration of our stay. And wasn’t she photogenic!

Lucy was a sweet 20 year old grandma with huge brown eyes who would sit next to you and give you a long stare until you stopped whatever you were doing and gave her some attention.

She was a frail little thing who had some difficulty walking, and sometimes needed some help to jump onto the sofa where she went looking for cuddles. Lucy gravitated towards Mark, and didn’t really care if there was another cat or a laptop on her way. Work? What work?

She shed an incredible amount of hair but was happy being brushed to help with that, provided we did it gently, particularly around her hips that seemed to be giving her some trouble. She was also having difficulty using the litter tray and missed it 9 times out of 10. We suspect she was suffering from age related arthritis or other degenerative joint affliction.

She still enjoyed going for little walks in the garden when it was sunny though, and having a good sniff around before coming back inside for the next snooze of the day.

Jimmy was a big, muscular ginger boy who loved spending time out and about, rain or shine. When we first met him, he wasn’t in the best shape. His right eye was clearly swollen and we feared he had been in a fight. The scars on his face told us this probably wasn’t an isolated incident.

Indeed, he got into scuffles with some frequency, so they had a small supply of antibiotics at home. Over the next few days we gave him 2 daily pills and made sure the wound remained clean and disinfected.

He was a very good patient and allowed us to do what we needed to do without resisting too much. By the end of our stay, the only visible sign left was a tiny scab and a bold patch on his forehead.

Needless to say, along with the antibiotics and the topical antiseptic treatment, he got lots of extra cuddles whenever he wanted them. He was a real softie who loved being fussed over and was a true gentleman when it came to dealing with the girls in the house.

He seemed particularly fond of Lucy, and would often have his afternoon naps next to her, allowing her to groom him when she felt maternal. In the evenings, he came looking for any available lap space and waited patiently for one to become available if the girls had beaten him to it.

Some days he had to admit defeat and just sit next to us on the sofa, where he still got plenty of attention!

December 2014 & January 2015

When we arrived to meet Sachi & Thomas, they were sitting on the sofa and we both instinctively went down as we said hello from a distance. Our host started telling us they were typically wary of strangers and “would take a while to…”. He never finished the sentence, as both cats jumped down from the sofa and came over to give us a good sniff and a head butt. Apparently, it was their seal of approval that got us the ‘job’! We were invited to look after them again for 10 days in January, so we got to enjoy them twice.

Sachi was a Japanese Bobtail princess (although she had a whole tail), a sweet natured girl with a miaow as soft as her fur and pair of seriously striking heterochromatic eyes.

She loved to snooze by the window during the day, and watch the traffic below. In the evenings, she favoured the back of the sofa or the top of a cushion in the living room, and ask for some attention as she kept us company.

She loved boxes of all sizes and was very taken with some of the baubles on the Christmas tree, which we had to fish out from under the sofa, under the bed, or behind doors on a daily basis.

They were shiny, they were bouncy, and they made a fun rattling noise as they hit the tiled floors – what was not to like?!

Thomas was great fun to be around. As a typical Siamese cat, he was curious, vocal, and demanding when he wanted something!

Affectionate and confident around us, he was absolutely terrified of the house keeper, and would hide in the wardrobe on top of a pile of clothes whenever she was in the house. The moment she left, he would reappear and ask for some attention.

Whilst he mostly preferred to watch Sachi play and chase the feather toy, when he decided it was his turn, there was no stopping him! He enjoyed it so much that he protested loudly and repeatedly when we put it away at bedtime.

He was fun and very sweet natured and a joy to be around.