Career cat - key cutter and shoe repair. By removing all kinds

of vermin the cats have been working for man since they joined our

society some 4000 years ago. The cats performed their duties

from farms to the post office wherever they were needed.

Now in modern times cats has many other duties as well,

mostly as a companion and relieving stress in our lives, but

there are some career cats too. They may hunt to feed

themselves but most of the time their services pay for their

food. There is such a career cat in Malmesbury, Western Cape,

South Africa. Working in the shop every day without fail.

She can come and go as she please, but she is at her post

on the counter every day that the shop is open.

This small neat workshop is situated down in the basement
at the car park of the shopping centre.

The owner Trevor busy cutting keys and repairing shoes while you wait.

Meet the very special career cat. Her formal name is O.P.

She will be on the counter ready to welcome clients, every day.

Always friendly, she is respected as one of the personnel.

O.P. is satisfied with the work done.

Thank you.. It was a pleasure.

I hope Garfield sees this blog.
He has only a teddy

Bed time ... Good night all.

Putting the cats to sleep needs some patience

I'm thirsty !

cheetah games in the trees

Magda wrote:-

"Japie bought the cheetah at an auction near
Bloemfontein and we plan to keep her as a pet.
Nature conservation had a lot of specifications for
the fence, size of the yard, and we had to present
a managing plan. A permit was issued, which has
to be renewed yearly. We have joined the SA
Cheetah Breeders/Owners Association."

"It was quite a handful to intoduce all of
them: the young German Shepherd (8 mnths),
the Cheetah (3 months), the Siamese kitten
(2 months) and the Pug (old).The kitten and
the pug were easy, but I kept the other two apart.
They were allowed to see each other through
the glass sliding doors and after two weeks it
was easy to bring them physically together.
The cheetah and the German Shepherd chases
each other on the lawn, so it saves me a lot of
energy to exersize them (I am 59 years old!)."

"The moment the little Siamese goes out of the
house to play in the garden (normally at sunset),
he has the full attention of both. The dog (playfully)
puts his whole mouth around his little body and
the cheetah tackles him.(It amazes me that the
Siamese tolerates it, and does not make use
of the trees to escape). After a while the dog
gets bored, and the two cats wander off to
play in the garden.

"Sometimes at night it is quite a challenge to
get the Siamese back into the house, but
most of the time he is eager to be back."

Last one down is a kitten.

Some exceptionally interesting cat-people

I would like you to meet. Japie Pienaar, his wife Magda
and their four legged children.

Magda will introduce the lovable four :-
"Initially the cheetah was called Nancy but it changed to Jolie
(the people who bottle fed her from birth called her Angelina Jolie !)

The German Shepherd is named Frankie (The first photo we
received of him showed a blue reflection in his eyes from the handlers
handlers clothes, which reminded my husband of Frank Sinatra,
Ol' blue eyes!).

The Siamese is called Anix (named after a friend, Anika,
who organised him for us), although mostly we call him
'The white one' (die witte).

The Pug is just called Boelie."

Their farm is situated in the central Free State 20km from
Wesselsbron, South Africa. A portion of the farm is a nature
reserve and is also a working argicultural farm as well as a
working Arabian horse stud farm

(click on the photos to enlarge)

There is a self catering camp next to the river in the game area
with a vehicle to do game drives. Game includes various antelope,
buffalo, rhino and hippo as well as lots of birds (200+ species)
and fish in the river.

Brakfontein private nature reserve.

Contact detail: Magda Tel. (+27) 057 899 2426

I can see what goes on in that buffalo's mind while he is chewing
on the straw. He is just itching for a scuffle with the cheetah.

Now that I introduced you, action photos will follow on the next blog.
However, before you get too excited to sleep keep the words
"action, cat and sleep" in mind. Like in the first
photo.... but not quite.

:No matter what I do that
bitch has eyes for Petro only.

Rough play or kisses the bull terrier enjoys it all.

We raised our kids with bull terriers and our grand children

are raised by bull terriers too. But any dog is the best

playmate a kid can get and the pooch will see to it that the

kid gets enough exercise to boot.

This is Petro enjoying Patch. Here they are where Patch

was still a puppy.

Small warning. These dogs are excellent hunters.
No other pets are safe unless raised together and
even there ...it is taking a chance. An over-weight
sluggish bull terrier can catch a pigeon.

Now the trampoline. What's keeping you ?!

If Petro should fall and break a leg, what will be the

difference be between Patch and Lassie?

Lassie will run and fetch a phone;

Patch will grab Petro and pull her to the phone.

Rough, tough and loving, that is the bullterrier

Nautical cat; give me the sea and the sky ..

Cubby the nautical cat is an American Curl short hair. His ears need a little more curl but his intelligence and personality is top of the scale.

Hurry up we do not have all day.

.

That's more like it. Full speed ahead.

Well done Skipper !

Cubby celebrated his first birthday enjoying a sushi meal with mom Wendy and dad
Glenn.

Rudi's cat brought this little chick for us as a xmas gift on the 24th December 2008 .. I would not like to think what this chick's thoughts were when she realised that she was caught by the cat, but it turned out completely different as what should/could have happened. My wish to you is that your problems would have the same happy results in the new year 2009.

some times you need a miracle ..

but most of the time .... no matter what stupid situation humans may get you into, make the most of it.

10 January 2009

Our little bantam chick is growing a mile a minute. She more than doubled her size in three weeks but she is still small and light, compared to other foul. She is now in the "ugly" half-feathered stage. We would love to keep her but with the cats, bullterrier and foxhound she will have to remain in a chicken pen and that is not available or fun for anybody. We already found a home with other bantams for her.

The bantams have been roaming free on the farm opposite our home for something like a century or more. Very few survive all the feral cats, house cats, dogs and humans looking for a meal.

The cocks are beautiful with long curving glossy feathers draped over the tail feathers ranging in color
from bright golden yellow - orange - dark red, as well as the glowing neck feathers. There are many more cocks than hens.
They seem to survive at least the cats better than the small hen.