Bernice, A Smart Cat

Our MA member Chris shares the story of her beloved cat, Bernice:

"This is Bernice. That's ber-NEES, not BER-niss. She *hates* BER-niss. Actually, she prefers B. Or, Little B. "B-B-B," said in high-pitched tone, really gets her moving.

Bernice was adopted from a shelter. Her mother lived on a Massachusetts farm.

Little B was one of seven sisters, all orange and white. I've heard it's unusual to find a female cat that color, let alone seven of them.

B is a very smart cat and has taught her humans lots of tricks, such as feeding on demand, belly scritches on demand and letting out on the porch on demand. No flies on B.

B's fiber is also quite useful, as it makes wonderful B-balls (not what you are thinking) when combed from her coat and rolled between your palms. It is fun for Bernice to chase B-balls all over her house. Her humans keep a jar of B-balls on display; they look like some wonderful, exotic art-fiber thingies and always elicit comments and questions from visitors.

Although B is very much a cat, she does exhibit some unusual behaviors. For instance, when bedtime is announced, she gets up from where she might be reclining and goes straight to the bedroom. She also loves to sleep on her human's bellies."

B's human slave Chris commented further, "There is so much more to tell about Little B, but she does prefer to keep some mystery about her. "

Cyndie Visits Betty

We read in the current issue of Matts and Fluff, NCAG newsletter, that Cyndie has finally recovered from her infection last year. It's nice to see her being able to feel good and move around without pain on her legs.

Cyndie and her son David and newly adopted daughter Daniela came to the south Bay Area to visit their family. They stopped by to visit Betty before they headed back to No. CA.

In the top picture, Cyndie is in the middle with Daniela at the left and David at the right with Betty's bunny barn as the background. In the second picture, they change position but still in front of Betty's bunny barn.

It was a fun visit. It is hoped that Cyndie will be returning to shows soon.

Randy and Allen's Another Best In Show

Randy and Allen's winning streak continues. They are winning Best In Show from San Diego all the way to Oregon.

Their Netherland Dwarf doe "Green With Envy BM4" took her fifth all breed Best In Show at Corvallis, Oregon last Saturday. She also won the Best Of Breed in the specialty shows on Saturday and on Sunday.

Congratulations, Randy and Allen.

Two Brothers and Two Pretty Girls

Holly was taking pictures of her two boys in the front porch one morning. A pair of pretty young ladies showed up; they were the Jehovah Witness trying to convert Holly.

Holly was not converted by them, but they were converted into Angora lovers by Holly.

The top photo shows the two handsome boys from the same litter. The second photo is the two pretty young ladies, Ally on the left and Bri on the right, with the two handsome boys.

The third photo is white buck HHR's Nanuk and the fourth photo is choc tort buck HHR's Simba. Nanuk and Simba are littermate brothers from Chu's Vance and Chu's Eqadora.

Morning Anarchy at Casey's

Casey is the most welcome sight for her animals in the morning. Mama goats, baby goats, Llama, chicken, ... all rush to greet her and the food in her hands.

This morning, Casey comes in with sweet feed, the favorite of the animals. All the animals are pushing each other to get to the goodies. Morning anarchy breaks out at Casey's barn!

More Nest Building Behavior

A few days ago, Carol W. reported that her doe Lacey gave birth to two bunnies. The bunnies are doing very well. Carol sent in some pictures of the Lacey, who she describe as "quirkiest of rabbits". Here is what Carol said,

"What I found funny was the mom. She is an almost compulsive cage cleaner. She has the cleanest cage and body of any of our rabbits ever. After she kindled, the nest box was so well cleaned that there was nothing dirty left for me to remove. She also has a knack for making a terrific nest. Before she kindled, she pulled so much wool that I had to remove some - the box was almost over-flowing. And she didn't have that much to start with. Then, every morning when I took the nestbox out to her to nurse, she would add more wool and more hay. She also pulled wool at night even though the nestbox was in the house. When I came out in the mornings, I would find clumps of wool tucked in the cage corners. And if I took the box away too soon, she would run around her cage with mouthful of hay looking for a place to put it. And she did this for almost a week. She is the quirkiest of rabbits, and I just love it!"

In photos one and two, Lacey has her mouth full of hay.

In the third picture, Carol said, "Be sure to look at Lacey's mouth in the pic "Quit watching!" - she's sticking her tongue out at me!"

In the fourth picture, Lacey is pulling more wool for her bunnies though the nestbox is already full of wool and hay.

Carera Building a Nest

In November and December, Yumiko reported that her white doe Chu's Carera won all breed Best In Show three times out of three shows in Japan. It was the first time ever for an English Angora, or for any breed of Angora, to have won the all breed Best In Show. For more about the shows in Japan, go to November 2006 and December 2006 archives on the right.

Yumiko reports good news today. Carera had a date with Chu's Bambino who went to Japan in 2003 and she is now carrying hay for nest building.

We are looking forward to her baby news.