Friday Cat Blogging, starring Ebi aka "Le Gros"

Ebi has been living with us for five months now and I think he's pretty settled in. Our other cat, Chibi, knows he's STILL there when she opens her eyes in the morning so she's given up on trying to scream him away. They take regular swipes at each other, but they generally just stay out of each other's way. Much better than it was.

My sister and I bought Ebi for my mom in 1999; although we had cats when we were kids and my mom loves cats - and all animals for that matter - she insisted she didn't want or "need" one. So, dutiful daughters we were, we totally disregarded her wishes and brought tiny little Ebi home. He was so named because he was such a small ("hey, little shrimp!") kitten. Of course my mom fell in love with him, but not before giving us both "the look." Here, I think he's around 4 months old.
My mom was hospitalized in March 2006 with a severe stroke, and the first thing she asked about when she was able to mouth the words was, "How's Ebi?" We promised her we would look after him well, and when she passed away three months later, my two nieces wanted to be his caretakers since they were so close to their grandmother. The girls are competitive rhythmic gymnasts, and are at the gym 30 hours a week after school and on week-ends, so poor Ebi was often left alone and howling.

Fast-forward a year and a bit and Ebi was getting cranky and irritable at being alone all the time - he had lost what little social grace he had. JF and I agreed to try him out with Chibi last fall and although it was tough at first for poor Chibi (he even peed/sprayed in her food bowl), it's worked out well and we cannot imagine not having him around.

He's definitely not a "little shrimp" anymore. He is a big boy. He actually thinks he fits in his beloved bed.

JF calls Ebi "le gros" which means "big guy" but can also mean "fatso" so we've made sure he understands we mean "big guy" (English is his first language after all). He is so sturdy that you can really hug and squeeze him without worrying you'll hurt him.

He's a pretty happy and contented cat, hence the inspiration for my "Happy Cat" stamp which I carved a couple years ago.

One of his favourite treats that my mom would give him was dried seaweed, or nori. As soon as he hears it tearing, he comes charging into the kitchen. Here I was rolling a maki and he tried to pull the sheet of nori off the rolling mat.

Even if he begs at the table at mealtime we've made it a point NOT to give table scraps, but a little bit of nori now and again as a treat isn't a bad thing... right?

JF told my brothers who were in town last week-end that I am turnng into my mother. There are worse things I could do.