Life and adventures of Miina and Vinski. 

Miina came home the same day we returned from our honeymoon. After 26 hours of airplanes and airfields, the thought of our new family member was the only thing keeping me awake.  

Miina was a bit shy when her breeder, Mari Kokkonen, let her out of the carrier box. 

After Mari had left and we were on our own, Miina thought is safest to hide under the bed. Curious as cats are, Miina didn't stay hiding for long before she started to make little trips around the house and getting to know her new home. 

By the next morning she had desided that Mufi and I are harmless and the house is safe. She immediately conquered one of our two sofas and that is still her favourite place to nap. 

It is not easy being a cat. To look this relaxed and lazy Miina has to practise several hours every day...

Quiet please, couch potato at work!

Miina and the "sausage"

Killing the sausage

Miina's toys

I got a bit carried away when I was shopping toys for the newcomer. So we had various micetoys, balls, feathertoys and so on months before she came to us. 

During the first week with us Miina was very suspicious about the new toys and only wanted to play  with the rope toy her breeder gave her. Nowadays her favourite toy is a pink feather toy we call sausage. 

The best toys are always those you make yourself. None of the expensive shop toys can compete with a stolen hairloop or a piece of tissue paper. 

Miina's official died includes dry food (Hill's, Nutro) which is always available and three meals per day either canned food (Animonda, Nutro), fish, cooked or fried chicken or raw minced meat. For treats she has dried fish and shrimps.

Miina still eats kitten food. Sometimes I try to offer her some sliced beef, but so far she has not been eating that. 

Unofficially she is eating everything she can steal.

Even though Miina is small and delicate in figure, she is an eating machine and a bottomless pit. If I don't watch out she'll vacume  cheese out of my sandwich and chicken from my plate, porridge, fruits... you name it, she'll eat it. Or try to anyway. 

Water is good for drinking as long as she finds it some place other  than her own water bowl. She drinks from flower watering can, from sinks, from my glass...

I am growing wheat sprouts to offer her something green to eat other than my plants.  That plan has been almost succesful. Now she eats the wheat and not the plants, but the plants are still among her favourite toys list. Slapping palm tree leaves with theatrical gestures is also a guaranteed way to get mom's full attention...

Baby-Miina and her favourite hobby - eating

Wheat sprouts are good...

...but unfortunately so is mom's lovingly grown palm tree!

Still too sleepy to do anything 
about the stupid dress

A couple of days after the surgery hair is already growing back on the tummy.

Spaying

Somali cats mature fast and also Miina started to have first signs of coming to heat when she was a just over four months old. A month later she was calling for a mate from the top of her lungs and loosing her interest in food. So I new I couldn't wait any longer and also her waight started to be enough for spaying, and so I made an appointment to the vet.  

After she was back to normal, I took her to Felina cat care clinic. As kind and sweet as she usually is, the doctor sticking a tranquilizer needle in her hind leg was too much for her and she gave the good doctor a furious hiss. She was put to a cage to wait for the operation and I had to say good bye to her for a while.  

Two hours later I returned to the clinic and found my favourite girl surrounded by the staff of the clinic admiring the charming cat. 

 We returned home and I let her take her first uncertain steps on the floor. Miina was still very sleepy and I was afraid to let her jump so I let down on the floor next to her and we had a nap. 

In the night she had woken up so much that she decided she donät want to wear the protective dress over the wound anymore. After a couple of hours of ripping and tearing I decided it is best to take the thing off, so she could relax. 

Next morning Miina was as if nothing had happened and the only reminder of the operation was the cute shaved pink belly.  

As soon as Miina came home, I started planning having a second cat. Cats enjoy the company of their own kind. Choosing the breed was easy as I had already seen Cornish rexes in cat shows and fallen in love with their lively character and strange yet beautiful appearance. 

Finding  a suitable breeder and finally waiting for the new kitten took almost one and a half years, partly because I wanted a cat with a mainly white fur with some coloring on it. The small esthetic in me... And Vinski's looks were a surprise to everyone, he has odd-coloured eyes, one blue and one yellow, which makes him the first cornish rex of his coloring in Finland. 

Our Cornish rex boy was finally born in Tampere, Finland on 15th April 2004 in Nerikomin cattery. We visited the cattery on June and met the breeder and the cat family and of course, our baby boy, Vincent. In July our long wait was over and Vinski (short for Vincent) came home. 

Little Vincent and a big toy

Toe needs cleaning 

Together at balcony...

...though not for long, Miina takes off 

Gentle grooming

Miina meets Vinski 

The two hour car trip from Tampere went smoothly and after taking a nap in the car, Vinski was all up and ready to see his new home. 

Miina was waiting for us at the door and was shocked to see the small stranger looking at her from the carrier box. She watched varily from under the bed  while the newcomer started to look around. Curiosity won over and Miina was soon sneaking behind Vinski around the house. She kept hissing and growling, but Vinski, being the brave little fellow that he is, didn't pay any attention to that. 

Next morning I found them eating from the same food bowl and after a couple of days they were sleeping in the same nest for the first time. 

Nowadays they do everything pretty much together; they play, eat and sleep together, though sometimes Miina needs some distance from Vinski and some time to be alone. 

Neutering

Vinski was neutered when he was about six months old. By that time he had started to have some tomcat ideas and his interest towards Miina was starting to be way more than just brotherly. And Miina didn't like that one bit and the continuous harassing from Vinski's part was driving her crazy. 

Luckily our vet's office is close to our home as it happened to be a huge winter storm on the day I had to take Vinski for his operation. I picked up the drowsy cat after a couple of hours and took him home. With wobbly legs he crawled to sleep on top of me and so we napped together for the most of the day. Vinski likes to be close, always. 

In the evening he started to wake up some and by next morning he was his own charming self again. 

Vinski is sleepy

Cats have their own water glass 
on the night table

Food and feeding

In the beginning Vinski had to eat in the bedroom behind closed door to keep Miina from eating all that nice and fatty baby food. 

Nowadays they both eat in the kitchen and they have their own bowls. That doesn't stop them from stealing food from eachother, but now it doesn't matter as they eat the same food. 

They eat pure meat canned Animonda or fresh meat in the morning and in the afternoon and dry food (mainly Hill's m/d) in the evening. 

They drink water, but only if it is served from a real glass and preferably on the night table by our bed. Fancypants...

Both cats have thin fur so they only go out in the summer time. If it is warm that is, Finnish summers aren't always that...

During summer they can come and go to the balcony as they please because we have built a safety net that covers the whole length of the balcony. Not so pretty but keeps the cats safe.  

Miina also has quite a lot of experience on using a harness and visiting our backyard and the parks of Helsinki. Vinski still hasn't had a chance to try that so much as last summer was very cold and rainy. 

Naturally we don't let the cats go out on their own. We care too much about them to neglet them in such a way and play such a dangerous game with their lives.  

Cats like to offer a helping paw 
with the balcony flowers

Miina in a park

Flying after a toy

Lazy cats

Sauna is sooo relaxing

Sleep and play

Miina and Vinski have a daily rythm of their own. These early birds wake up at four in the morning and they start to play chasing eachother and using us poor humans as a wrestling mat. That is usually when they get banned from the bedroom. 

They sprint around the house like they are on fire and they stalk eachother behind corners and furniture.  

Coming home from work I usually meet a sleepy looking greeting committee that comes out from the sauna to see me. They love sleeping there. They "help" me in everything I do around the house and they come to sleep the same time with me. Miina sleeps by my feet and Vinski sleeps on top of them. Until four o'clock that is, when they wake up again...

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Copyright 2005 Heli Fihir