Welcome Cat Number Three
Meet Siyah. She is our new cat. We couldn’t live without a cat for very long – there was too big a hole in the household. Siyah is about 9 months old and reminds us of all the joys of living with teenagers. Her energy is impossible to contain which is a major change from a quiet ailing old lady cat. But we are getting used to it, and finding a lot of joy in the rambunctious careening that punctuates the days. Yesterday I was having a nap until she started hunting a fly in the bedroom, crashing behind the blinds and onto the floor and across the bed and around and around.
This photo shows her first trip out of doors. She is not ready to be outside unaccompanied, so only gets to go out for short times during the day. We know when she wants to go out because she flings herself at the door handle, so far without success. Her method is to leap two or three feet higher than the handle (which is quite astonishing) and grab at it on the way down. She has the right idea because it is the kind of handle that levers down to open the door.
Her favourite thing is stalking the neighbour’s chickens when they wander into our yard. They just give her the beady eye and send her packing when she finally reaches their space. A close second favourite are crane flies, which seem like so much fun, until they turn into a nice light snack.
The only problem, from my perspective, is that she is really hard to photograph, being a light sink.
burnt embers 
Lovely – we have two Siamese and we would be lost without them, so I know what you mean; although sometimes hummmm – they do rule the roost 🙂
They are house cats but do go for walks on a lead which seems to surprise people when they meet us walking with them. Note the ‘we walk with them’ not they walk with us & as for door knobs, all ours are round.
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Thank you David. She has thoroughly wormed her way into our lives.
I like it that your cats take you for walks – considerate of them.
As it happens, the only door knob in the house that is not round is on the back door. Figures. She has not successfully swung the handle the whole way down yet, I think she kind of slides off when it gets to about 45 degrees. Our coats hang next to the door as well and I think she suspects there is something about putting coats that will open the door. The other day after I went out leaving the door closed I cam home to a pile of coats, from different hooks, on the floor. I find her intelligence a bit scary; smart cats can dominate a household.
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Oh, how lovely she is! She has that sleek I-am-a-teenager-with-boundless-energy look to her. And as we have one entirely black cat and one mostly black cat, I sympathize with the photography woes. You’ll have to do what we do, and keep a golden retriever as background for silhouettes.
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Thank you Skadhu – she is very sleek and teenager is a term we use to describe her appearance, and behaviour. She has a very lithe and dense body reminiscent of some of the Siamese and related breeds like Burmese so perhaps that is part of her genetics.
Good thing there are no coal bins around here to photograph her in, though perhaps that would be an interesting problem to figure out.
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Welcome Siyah! She sounds like a lot of fun. You seem to be managing to photograph her very well so far! We just started catsitting for a colleague of mine and getting used to the foibles of a cat is quite interesting….!
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Thanks Rachel – she is a lot of fun. We are well on the way to being trained – she seems expert at it, like most cats. Sounds like you are being trained as well!
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I am very pleased to see the new addition. My feeling is that all homes NEED a companion animal! Or for some of us several companion animals! Siyah is
a beauty. One of ours is an all black dog so I feel your pain in trying to photograph her! I look forward to seeing your efforts. I like the one you have done of the birthday gift and the recipient!
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Thanks Sherry – it was necessary to get a cat. I never thought a black cat would join us (I really like tabbies) but somehow it happened, and we are glad of it. Photography though …
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That was quick! Congrats on the household’s new Director. I bet she’s great fun to watch, but I hear you about taking pictures of a black cat – a good challenge for you, I’m sure you’ll figure out how to overcome it.
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Hi Lynn – it was fast, but the house seemed empty – no kids and no cat. Besides which our first cat was a birthday present for me and my partner’s birthday conveniently came by, so I took advantage and gave her Siyah.
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When Emo was a newcomer in our household he was very active and difficult to photograph. I had to catch him at rest but he always seemed to enjoy the attention. As he got older he enjoyed sleeping 23 hours a day and playing the rest of the time. I hope you enjoy Siyah as much as we did Emo
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Hi Ken. Your use of the past tense for Emo made me search your blog. I missed that he had passed away. I am sorry to hear that – he was with you for a very long time. It leaves a big hole.
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