Happy 6th Birthday Marley!!

Photos Courtesy of Christina Gandolfo Photography

Marley is the sweetest, most affectionate, and very loving kitty boy! Happy 6th Birthday to "The Marley"!

We can't remember life before him! A Sphynx cat changes you!

Affectionate Marley...

A few weeks ago after Marley's dental cleaning he was super duper affectionate and was rolling on the ground and rubbing up against us for a few hours.  I tried to capture some of it on video.

Nostalgia...

I was feeling nostalgic this afternoon so I decided to post this picture of Marley from back in December 2007 when he was approximately 6 months old.  

Marley Bird Watching (video)

Marley makes some funny "chirping" sounds when he sees a bird.  I think you'll enjoy this as much as I did.

Marley - the kneading machine...

There are times when Marley gives a distinctive "meow" and I know what it means.  It means I have to lay down on the bed (sounds romantic, huh?) and allow him to knead on my arm as seen in the video.

VIDEO: Sleeping, Cuddling, and Grooming!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MARLEY!!

Today is the day our Marley was born, along with one sister (who found a great home too), 4 hours away from where we live.  We were lucky enough to find a great breeder and voila! - Marley was ours!

He is as active a 3 year old should be!  He loves his "treatsies" and LOOOOVES having his face scratched and will meow at you until you do so! 

We love you Marley and here's to many, many, more Purrthdays!

Laundry is so warm!

The boys all of a sudden have discovered when the white basket comes in from outside, there is a pile of "warmth" waiting for them. I can't fold laundry anymore without them burrowing in the basket, or burrowing under boxers, underwear, and shirts on the bed when I dump out the clothes to fold. Such characters!

Guess where I ventured to yesterday?...

Not my idea, trust me! I meowed with vigor and purpose the entire way here!!!

Once the doctor comes in, I immediately curl up on my blanket so she can't examine me. I am glad my mom brings the blanket because that table is cooooold! But, I got examined and I am one healthy boy! I weigh 9 lbs. and didn't have to get any shots this year since I am an indoor kitty and the American Association of Feline Practitioners says I only need my Panleukopenia Virus (FPV) /Feline Herpesvirus-1 and Feline Calicivirus (FHV-1/FCV) every three years!

A special thanks to Teri at Furrydance for letting us know this!

Bath Time!!!

Last night Marley got a much needed B-A-T-H. He is so smart though, he knows when I'm running the bath water and he looks at me with these big dilated eyes, and then proceeds to hide. After the water was finished running and I had it all nice and warm and soapy for him, I had to entice him out of hiding.

We then entered the bathroom and the door was shut. He let out a little whiny meow, but once I placed him in the warm bath water which reached almost completely up to his tummy, he just sat there. I think he really enjoyed it last night too because I had made the water warmer than usual and he kept crouching down so that most of his tummy was submerged under the water. All in all he was probably in the water for 5 minutes or so.

I scrubbed his body. I cleaned his ears. I trimmed his nails (by lifting out one paw at a time). I even did the least pleasant part and that was scrubbing his manly parts (what's left of them) and his you know what. Since he is hairless this often gets stained with you know what and can become quite stinky. (Sorry, but that's what happens to the sphynx!) I am gentle and it takes a good 20 seconds or so to complete this "task".

I then rinsed him using the water that was already in the tub. He freaks out just a little if I start to draw fresh water. Then he got wrapped up in a towel and was dry in probably 30 seconds! (Love this part).

As soon as I opened the door Reggie was waiting for him. I asked Reggie, "What, do you want one too?" As you may know Reggie is a nightmare when it comes to his baths, so I decided to put this off for another time. Plus, Reggie can go about a month in between baths, whereas Marley needs one every 2-3 weeks.

Here are some pictures of Marley after his bath. Hopefully you can see how squeaky clean and pretty he is. Although, he always finds it necessary to give himself another bath as soon as I finish. Go figure.

Warm and Toasty Thursday

When our dad plays his video games, we like to climb on top of, and next to the console, to get the heat protruding off of it! "We silly!"

"I can't wait for my mom to get out of bed in the mornings so that I can sleep in her covers just like she does!" (Note: Reggie did this himself, I did not put him here!)

"Yeah, I'm warm, so what? Stop taking pictures of me or else I will laser you with my eyes!"

Ode to Marley....

Let me just talk about Marley a little bit here...

He is the sweetest kitty boy ever. Not that Reggie isn't, but they just have different personalities. Marley has always been a little spoiled. Probably because he is our first "baby" and the first sphynx we've owned. (I always tell him, "You'll always be our first sphynx Marley!") Ever since we got him back in Nov. 2007 he's been spoiled by us wrapping him up in his "kitty burritos". He hardly ever has to work to get snuggled in a blanket because we always help him out.

He HOWLS and MEOWS at me in the mornings while I'm making coffee or in the evenings while I'm doing dishes. Why is he howling you ask? Duh! "I just want you to scratch my head and rub my cheeks and chin". He does this after he's jumped up on the high pub kitchen table and makes endless noise until I've finished starting the coffee or take off my dish washing gloves. Then he just stands there while I give him his scritches and rubs. If I stop too soon, he let's me know that too.

Recently I've been putting one of their cat beds in the bottom of the bedroom closet. Then at night I'll put one of their fleece blankets in the kitty bed. Well, Marley lets me know when he's ready for bed because he'll just walk over to the empty cat bed and wait until I put his blanket in there. Then in he goes for the night!

We love you Marley so much and you are such a good big brother. You constantly give Reggie baths, even if he never returns the favor. You don't bite me or meow at me while I am performing "sphynx maintenance" on you. You cover your presents in the litter box unlike some other hairless kitty I know. You don't make a fuss at the V-E-T. You aren't even two years old yet, yet you are the most regal kitty we know. Here's to Marley, the sphynx kitty that opened up our hearts to hairlessness and we'll never look back!

This is Marley on the kitchen table. He likes sitting on the grocery bags after I've unpacked the groceries. By the way, his coloring is "blue and cream".

Frootbat Friday with Marley

My dad likes to hold me like this - I'm not quite sure why, but it sure shows off my ears...and my belly. The faint white dot is where I was connected to my mom with my umbilical cord.

I love lounging on my blanket by the window. You can see I am stretching here and I am oh, so comfortable. These pictures were also taken 3 months before my little brother arrived in our family.

This is my "yoda" pose!

Reminiscing - Baby Marley

Marley will be two years old in July, but I thought it was time to reminisce a little today. He was so darn cute; the only thing I regret is that I was 4 hours away from his breeder so I never got to visit with Marley until the day we picked him up. He only had 1 sister in his litter, who wound up with a nice family in Los Angeles as well! She was a striped tabby and you can see her here in a couple pictures.

Mom (Catrina), Marley and sister

Marley hamming it up at a young age

Marley and sister playing

This is a bed pillow, so you can see how little he was!

Who knew bags could be so entertaining?

"Have a great weekend everyone! One more full work week until Thanksgiving week!"

Bad Cat Friday!!!

There are a few places that are off limits for the kitties - the kitchen counter, the stove, and the fridge, just to name a few. But for some reason, they still push their limits, and mine! Bad kitties!!!!

Wordless Wednesday

All Settled In....

Hi everybody! Well, we are all moved into our new home and so far, so good. Mom still has some boxes to unpack and has to organize the kitchen still, but we are doing just fine. We love the sunshine that comes in the window in the morning and we lounge here for hours in the morning, grooming and catching rays.

Our new home has hardwood floors and that was funny at first, but we are getting used to it. Mom says she still needs to buy a couple of rugs, which is a good thing because we make a lot of noise running around and chasing each other on these floors. It apparently sounds like a herd of elephants on the savanna when we do!

We hope everyone is doing well and since today is Columbus Day Mom will be home with us since she doesn't have work! Woo hoo!!! We have a feeling a nap session will be in order for all today.

Marley won a CONTEST!!!!

Ok, let me start from the beginning:

I use the Litter Locker for my kitties. If you have indoor only cats and don't have one yet, I HIGHLY recommend it. The only downside to this marvelous invention are the refills! At chain pet stores they routinely sell for $10+ each! Well, if you know anything about sphynx' you know that they have high metabolisms and therefore they eat...and drink....A LOT! And you can guess what happens when one eats and drinks a lot...yup...mucho cat box time!

So, I needed to find a solution to these refills...thus my "googling" skills came into play. That is when I found the website for REVIVAL ANIMAL HEALTH. They carry the refills and at a fair price. Even with shipping I still wind up on top when I order them in bulk, and believe me, Marley and Reggie go through them mighty quickly!

So one day, many, many months ago I entered their photo contest online. I honestly do not remember when I entered, but all I know is that the photo I submitted was of Marley at 6 months old, and obviously, Reggie wasn't even born yet!!

Well, today I got a package in the mail alerting me that we were one of the WINNERS!! I received a $25 gift certificate to use on Revival Animal Health, and you know what that will be going towards!

I guess you could say "we" barely made the calendar since it goes from Oct. 2008 through Dec. 2009, and we only made the inset picture, but hey.....Marley did it!! It was very exciting to get this news after a long day at work.

Reggie was sort of jealous but I told him not to worry as we would try and get him submitted for next year's calendar.


CLICK ON THE PHOTOS TO VIEW LARGER.

Here is the letter that accompanied the package (typo in the first sentence; should be 2009, not 2005, oops!)

The front of the calendar.

Isn't he precious!??

View of the entire month, with Marley on the bottom right.

Thank you Marley for being so CUTE!

Spoiled? What gave you that idea?

Our Mom is going to be very busy this week as she is getting ready to move. We aren't quite sure what that means, but we know we are having fun with all the boxes around!

So if she doesn't post as often, don't fret - we'll be back soon enough! In the meantime, here are some photos of me being spoiled, I mean, loved.....

Talk to you soon,

Marley
PS: Reggie is quickly gaining on me as he continues to grow! I better let him know who is boss around here!