Bonya, Tigritsa, and Vovo

 Snowbrush did a lovely tribute to his cat Harvey found HERE. Since, as my three-year-old daughter once remarked after dialing 911, "Nothing exciting ever happens around here", because of Covid 19 in my case keeping me from straying too far from home, I decided I too would blog about cats.

All critters, whether they have fur, fins, or feathers, have their own personalities once you get to know them. Pets, because they live in close proximity, certainly display very individual characteristics. We have three cats, all siblings, which will be 8 years old in late March, and like kids, are each their own persons. 

Bonya, named after a cartoon character, Is a long haired black and white male. Tigritsa which means little female tiger, is a long hair calico. Vovo (pronounced Wova) is a short haired black male. Vovo is the diminutive of Vladimir and is named after Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin (don't ask). Their father, a short hair orange Tom, was named Kuchma after the then president of Ukraine and their mother a long haired black, was named Krasotka which means Babe.

Bonya

Tigritsa

Vovo. Black cats do not photograph well

Bonya is pretty much Tanya's cat. His choice. If she is watching TV, he will cuddle up beside her or lie on top of her. Pet him and he purrs loudly. He is the only one we can pick up and cuddle. When we let him in from outside, he jumps on a table and insists on being petted. If he is not satisfied with the length of time he is petted he will grab you with one front clawed foot and make you come back. 

Bonya loves to be brushed. Tigritsa on the other hand, hates it. Tanya had forcibly brushed her and when she got away, she was sitting on the carpet, fuming mad at the whole world. Just then Bonya walked by, innocent as a lamb. She crossed checked him into the boards.

Tigritsa is more or less my cat. Again, her choice. She will jump up on my keyboard tray to be petted and then sleep on my arm. All I can do is play solitaire until she decides to move off. If I am sitting at the table she will jump on the chair next to me and insist on being petted. She has a quiet purr but it very talkative, lets me know when she wants up on the keyboard or outside or into the attic store room or whatever. 

These two hang together a great deal

Vovo got a treat. We are not pleased

Vovo is his own cat. He will curl up by Tanya on the couch, then if she gets up, will stretch out and take the entire middle, leaving Tanya to sit on the loveseat. He will come to me to be petted too. He won't jump onto my keyboard but if I lift him up he is happy and will even go to sleep if I pet him long enough. 

Tigritsa on my keyboard tray

Vovo sleeping on my keyboard tray

They have dry Whiskas cat food free choice and get a couple cooked sardines each in the morning and again at night that Tanya buys by the kg or maybe pieces of chicken. Boneless skinless chicken breast. They have a dish of tap water but prefer the bottled stuff we buy for tea and coffee, so we keep a small glass dish (at least it is not crystal) on the counter. We keep a couple of water jugs on the counter and have to cover them with a tea towel or they will drink out of the jugs rather than bend down to drink from their dish. Tanya caught Vovo one day carefully lifting the towel with his head so he could drink from the jug. 

They are indoor outdoor cats. In summer they come in only to eat. The river and marsh is quite close and they like to go there to hunt. There is also a great deal of vacant garden space grown to grass and weeds that is great for mice. Tigritsa is the hunter and will on occasion bring her catch home, not always dead.  In winter they go out mainly for the call of nature. 

The cats used to climb our big grape vine to the balcony and go in and out through the balcony door. The vine got trimmed back so I built a drawbridge for them. Two summers ago swallows built a nest in our balcony so we pull the drawbridge for a few months until the babies have flown away. The cats have learned to bang on the balcony door to get let in. 

Stairway to heaven

Bonya has a soft heart. When our German Shepherd showed up last October as a wee starving sick puppy, Bonya worried about him and would check on him every hour or two. Once Lucky got well and went into the dog yard with Volk, Bonya would still worry. He goes with Tanya (only outside the fence) when she takes the dogs their food to make sure Lucky is OK. Lucky looks for him too. They touch noses through the fence and Lucky even brought his toys to show Bonya. 

He is also the supervisor of all things in the kitchen. If we bring home groceries, Bonya will sit on the counter to see what everything is. When Tanya is cooking, he will sit on the counter or windowsill to make sure she is doing it right. He has to know things.

Cats spend most of the time sleeping, so we have too many pictures of that.  But they sleep everywhere. They will each have a special place and after a while they will find a new special place. They all sleep on the register if they are cold but other than that it varies from month to month or even day to day. 

Vovo is normal.  Either beds or the couch, though for a while it was Tanya's office chair. Bonya is also mostly normal. Beds or couch but also the clothes basket in the downstairs bathroom and these days the ironing board in the downstairs bedroom. It is close to the register so it is warm but sometimes he forgets where he is, rolls over and falls off. Tigritsa sleeps in the strangest places and rarely for any set number of days. 

Vovo warming up after being outside

She learned to open it herself

A tiny basket for a medium size cat

Tigritsa loves boxes, much more so than the others

The bowl was a wedding gift. It usually has fruit in it but several summers ago, it held cats.

One last thought. A door is something a cat is always on the wrong side of.