Meet the Critters

Just in case you were wondering, here is some information about my various critters.

My horse:

Shadowfax (registered name Mi Romeo)is a 16.3 hand dapple gray Andalusian gelding born July 7, 2001. After over a year and a half of searching for just the right horse, I found him and bought him in December 2009. He's not perfect, no horse is, but I love him and consider myself very fortunate to have such a wonderful horse.

The donkeys:

Marie is a jenny ass born in 2001. She is about 11 hands high and is black and white spotted. She was completely untrained when I got her about a year and a half ago. She wouldn’t even let you get within 10 feet of her. But she is now halter trained and pretty friendly.

Tessla was Marie’s 4 month old foal(born July 2007) when I bought them. He was also completely untrained, but very curious about people. It only took three days for him to decide that humans were great fun. He is also halter trained now, and I’m thinking about training him to drive. He is also black and white spotted. And yes, he has been gelded to avoid inbreeding.

Kanemura (Kanny) was a bit of a surprise. It turns out that Marie was three months pregnant when I bought her. She gave birth August 21, 2008. I named the foal after Mark Kanemura, a dancer who had been very inspirational to me. Kanemura is light brown and white spotted with a dark brown dorsal cross and dark brown tips on his ears. He has also been gelded.

The indoor cats:

Misaou is the oldest. She is a lynxpoint siamese given to me by my friend DA. She always wants to be in your lap whether it is convenient for you or not. She can be very sneaky about it, and I will sometimes realize that she is in my lap without having any idea of how she got there.

Intrepid is the most modern looking siamese of the bunch. She is a very elegant sealpoint siamese. She is somewhat hyper and can jump amazingly high. When you pet her, she tends to do somersaults for some unknown reason.

Casanova (Caz for short) is a big lovable lug. He is an old-fashioned applehead sealpoint siamese. He’s somewhat clumsy, but very affectionate.

Tatiana is another lynxpoint siamese. She is the resident psycho-kitty. She was very sick as a kitten and wouldn’t nurse. I had to force feed her for several weeks. I didn’t think that she would survive, but she did. However, it apparently messed her up psychologically. She wants affection, but any time you pet her she flinches away, then comes back and asks to be petted again. She’s gotten a little better over the years. So now, if you let her jump up next to you and lay down, you can pet her and she doesn’t flinch away. But if she is standing up or sitting, she still flinches. Poor kitty. UPDATE: Tatia is still a bit psycho, but she is much better about letting you pet her. She frequently curls up next to me on the couch and has even started climbing into my lap to be petted.

NiNi is a tiny little sealpoint siamese. She LOVES to play fetch and will play it for hours. She is a very smart kitty. Not only will she bring you the little wadded up balls of paper that we use to play fetch with her, but if she can’t find one of the paper balls, she will bring you a flat piece of paper so that you can wad it up into a ball for her. She is also very persistent and will keep dropping the ball (or piece of paper) on your feet or in your lap until you throw it for her.

Buddha is fat lazy sealpoint siamese. He has a very round face, which prompted his name, and a slight kink in the tip of his tail. He has a tendency to flop down in front of where you are walking and roll on his back asking you to rub his belly.

Eleanora is a big muscular sealpoint. Yet she has a tiny little soft mew. It’s really strange to hear this tiny cute little sound coming out of this big muscular cat. She is also very affectionate, and even if another cat is already laying next to you, she will lay down on top of them and squish them out of the way so she can be next to you.

The outdoor cats:

Xiao Maou is the oldest of the outdoor cats. She is small sealpoint siamese. Though she is the smallest of the outdoor cats, she is probably the most aggressive. She is the one who chases other stray cats away.

Shadow is a solid black cat with semi-long fur. She is very hard to see at night.

Freya was originally my husband’s cat and was indoors. But she much prefers being an outdoor cat. She is our supervisor kitty, and whenever you are doing anything in the backyard, she follows you around to make sure that you are doing it right. She has figured out how to “knock” on the french doors by jumping up and clinging to the wooden window dividers. It makes a fairly audible thump. She is a solid black short-haired cat, and when she hangs on the dividers and looks in at night, all you can see are her glowing green eyes.

Bastet is another solid black cat. (There used to be a black tom that I’m pretty sure was the father of all these black kitties.) She hangs out by the front door, and always wants to be petted a few times before she’ll start eating. Bastet will occasionally leave us “gifts”(dead snakes, mice, birds) on the doormat. (I once stepped on a dead vole barefoot, EEEuuuwww!)

Thomas is a recent stray. He’s gray and white and sort of reminds me of Tom from Tom & Jerry. He’s been hanging around for a few months now, but he still won’t let me pet him. He obviously hasn’t been fixed yet, so as soon as he starts letting me handle him, he’s getting snipped. (Maybe he keeps his distance because he suspects my intentions.)

The goats:

The goats are Tina, Calico, Desdemona, Luna, Roan, Othello and Racer X.

My husband's horse:

Zwanzig (aka Ziggy) is a 20 year old thoroughbred that we rescued from a very bad situation on July 4, 2008. He was suffering from rain rot, malnutrition and stomach ulcers when we got him, but he's quite healthy now. We bought him for $20, then spent many thousands of dollars on vet bills, medications, special feeds, 24 hour boarding care, etc... rehabilitating him. Not really a sound financial decision, but he's a very good horse and I'm glad we rescued him. You can read more about him on my husband's blog, 101 Things to do with a $20 horse.

Those no longer with us:

K.C. was a handsome brown tabby cat with the most beautiful gooseberry green eyes. He was a semi-feral stray that I took in and “civilized”. He was the only pet that I brought with me from Louisiana when I moved to Texas and remained my only pet for several years. Up until I met my husband, he was my closest companion. He would curl up beside me when I was reading or watching tv, and he would sleep with me every night. He helped me survive through some of the worst periods of my depression, and I still miss him greatly.

Arafel was a cute black and white tuxedo cat. She had a strange habit of sitting on the back of the couch and staring directly into the reading light. My husband and I would joke that she was seeking enlightenment.

Vlad was a black and white splotched tabby. He was the best hunter of the outdoor cats. I saw him kill several snakes including one that was almost three feet long. He would sometimes leave us “gifts” by the back door.

Cleo was a salt and pepper agouti pygmy goat. She was the first goat born when I started my herd. She was very affectionate and I taught her to walk on a leash like a dog. I would sometimes take her for walks around my neighborhood.

The Big Bad Beta passed on after spending over two and a half years watching me read and watch tv from his bowl beside the couch. He would do his display “dance” whenever I'd wiggle my fingers outside of his bowl. He shall be missed.