Wayyy back last fall we took the plunge and got Sammie a fountain. There was no reason necessarily, except for the fact I thought it was cool. Well, it’s been nothing but a big hit for Sammie, and I do think she keeps hydrated better since she can drink the running water that cats love so much.

We got her the Drinkwell fountain. It is a great little fountain, and is very quiet, which was one of my concerns originally. Sammie pretty much exclusively drinks from the waterfall part

Of course, the day I try to take some pictures, she decided to drink out of the pool part! Such a little brat Sammie can be! I did manage to catch some good tongue pictures, so I guess it was not hopeless

The water is filtered before the waterfall, which is great for keeping cat hair out of the water, along with whatever other nasty stuff that is in there.

On to other Sammie news… last week she went in for her shots. Of course she is just such an angry furball when it comes to the vet, and this time was do different except for the fact she SCREAMED in the car like she was getting tortured. Her vet, Dr. Campbell at the Feline Medical Center in Lincoft, NJ, just moved to a new location (beautiful new office by the way) and there was heavy road construction going on outside which made Sammie even more nervous.

Being the angry Bengal that Sammie is, she immediately had to start hissing and growling at everyone and everything. She was even growling at some kittens! I told Sammie to be nice since they were just babies, but I don’t think she got the message. Fortunately she managed to receive her two vaccinations, rabies and feline distemper (parvovirus), without any injuries to the doctor and staff. She weighed in at 12.06 pounds, which is up from her weight during her last exam in September. Dr. Campbell says Sammie is a very big, strong, muscular girl and is in great health! Always good to hear!

One of the office cats tried to make friends, and Sammie was very rude.  So I “cheated” on her with the office cats, lol.

http://www.mdstreetscene.com/forum/showthread.php?t=15536

Cliffs: kid tries passing off expensive Mercedes as his own on a forum, real owner shows up, and the innanet pwning begins!

And Sammie just couldn’t resist giving the fail “two paws up!”

First step:  Dust the tops of the cupboards!

“what are these doing up here?!  must knock them down!”

“this thing still working?”

“meow mommy, meow!”

“you want a cup of tea?”

“any dust bunnies?”

nap time

“ok, done up here”

“oh noes, i gotta do the dishes!”

“everything loaded right?”

That’s what my little monster was up to in the kitchen.  Luckily that is the last time I have seen her up on the cupboards.  I figure between me chasing her back and forth on a ladder and yelling at her she got the point that she is not allowed on the cupboards

Anyways, expect updates more often now, as I am a full time Sammie-mum now!

It is a pretty well known that Bengals are “fond” of water, or will at least tolerate it. There’s stories all over about people’s Bengals jumping in the shower with their owners, or playing in their water bowls.

And then there’s Sammie… not too fond of playing in her water bowl, and I don’t think she’s quite figured out what we humans are doing in the shower. But when it comes to bath time, she does NOT behave like a cat!

That’s right, Sammie tolerates taking a bath, just like a good Bengal would be expected to. No body armor needed, no scratching, or hissing, or fearing for my life. Once she’s in she just takes it for what it’s for. It’s after she gets out that she gets a little angry, mostly because she’ll have to spend the next 6 hours arranging her furs how she sees fit.

We use Hertz hairball shampoo on her, and scrunch her all up. I am sad I don’t have pictures of a soapy kitty I will have to get some in the future. Sammie gets a bath at least once a month, or perhaps a bit for often for entertainment purposes. Baths keep her nice and fluffy!

Tonight I had a huge breakthrough with Sammie and I am so proud of her! In the 5 months she’s been with us she’s never shown any interest in having a treat, or eating when she does not feel it’s her mealtime. Well, tonight I bought her some Feline Greenies to replace the treats I just bought but lost (dammit).

I sat on the kitchen floor, shook the pouch and asked Sammie to come over. When I ripped it open she came over and I asked “Sammie want a treat?” (Yes, I talk to her with the expectation she knows English, haha) and held out one piece. She sniffed it, gave it a few licks, and then ate it! I was beyond excited!

I decided to see if she would do it again, so I got out another one and left it in my palm to see if she would take it out of my palm (she ate the last one off of the floor). And she did!

Before this I just put a few treats in with her normal food to eat because she would not eat unless it was time for her to eat, and she only showed a liking to her dry food only. I know she couldn’t have been hungry tonight because there was food in her bowl and it wasn’t her normal dinner time, so I think she really just ate a treat from me!

So as a reward for finally showing a bit of “normal” in her, she got lots of playtime with Da Bird, which she got yesterday!

I just hope this is the beginning of a future of positive behavior improvement in Sammie. It saddens me a bit that I basically have to give her the proper socialization at age 2, that her original owners should’ve done as a kitten, but I am so happy that I am making some breakthroughs, especially when in the near future we are considering adding another furbaby to our family, but don’t want it until Sammie is a bit more socialized and less aggressive.

I think Da Bird shall arrive tomorrow… yay!

Or soon will be… I finally broke down. I had to. I couldn’t resist anymore! It is about time Sammie got spoiled with the best cat toy anyway!

http://cats.about.com/cs/playforcats/gr/dabird.htm

Got it with 4 attachments from Ebay. I sure hope it comes soon! I can’t wait to see the little hunter come out in Sammie, yipee!

Eeek, I am being a bit bad at updating this. Let’s see… I have been researching Sammie’s pedigree a bit, and hope to have that up here soon with information on some of her relatives. I figured out that she is an F6, and according to http://www.bengalpedigrees.com, is 12.5% ALC (”wild blood” for all of you non-bengal people), which is probably a low estimate since her extended pedigree is missing some kitties.

Sammie had a lazy Christmas, and just slept in her heated bed all day. Yes, she has a heated bed! She received a crinkle tunnel and some awesome (and cheap) plastic balls that she adores. Most of all she got to drink some bottled water… as Sammie is quite the Dasani addict and loves when she sees me take that blue bottle out of the fridge!

She will drink out of the bottle, but prefers if I fill the cap with the special treat, and then hold it for her while she enjoys. Now, if that doesn’t spell s-p-o-i-l-e-d I don’t know what does!

As for the heated bed I mentioned, Sammie took quite a liking to an old box from a grocery store. Gradual we added more and more to it for her comfort. It has a nice plushy cat bed on the bottom, and is topped off with a blanket that my mom handmade just for Sammie (even Grandma spoils Sammie). When the temperatures started getting colder, we got her a Pet Safe Universal Pet Bed Warmer, which is slipped under her blanket. Top it off with Sammie’s only treasured toy, which is her dirty bag of ‘nip, and you have a bed she can’t bear to leave!

Sammie says: “Shut up, it was a long night of Dasani drinking!”

Of course, that isn’t the end of the story. Sammie has discovered our 1000 thread count sheets, and now thinks that she has every right to lay in the human bed when the humans aren’t in it… including if one of them has just stepped out for a quick midnight bathroom stop! She has made making the bed quite impossible, too, with her desires to lay all over the feather bed, down comforter, and sheets when she has the chance.

Sammie say: “May I help you?”

Note in the picture a true spoiled cat heaven: heated cardboard box, Dasani water, and 1000 thread count sheets!

Anyways, this is all for now. I have so much to do to this site, and I hope to get the chance to make some progress soon!

-Sammie’s mommy, Heidi