My Cat Is Weird Episode 1: Imaginary Friend

It's a known fact that cats are weird. What I want to know is why are they so weird and why do they do the things they do? KitKat here often does this thing where he kicks himself in the face and tries to catch his tail as if it weren't attached to his body. It looks like he's a Schizophrenic and is hallucinating, as his pupils dilate and he has this look or paranoia - he would attack me if i were to approach him while he is in this trance. I googled this phenomenon, "why do cats kick themselves in the face" and it turns out it's a pretty common cat thing... But WHY? I still don't know the scientific explanation but it seems like it's a reflex. It's probable there's a nerve in the foot and once triggered, it causes the foot to twitch (uncontrollably into the cat's face)... and the only way to stop the twitching is to then bite the foot to suppress it. Whatever the reason, it's quite funny to watch!

Stay tuned for episode 2 of "My Cat Is Weird": where we discuss if cats are actually aliens sent to spy on the human race in order to collect useful information for their plan for world domination (lol just kidding...)

FALLing For Doc Martens

Fall is officially here and although it makes me quite sad that summer is over, it also means we can all soon wear cute boots. I recently bought these Dr. Martens 1460's in the Victorian Flowers design. I found out they were being discontinued so I had to find a pair in my size before they were all gone! Unfortunately for my size 5.5 / 6 feet, Union Jack Boots had them on sale for $130CAD but only had size 5 (3UK) left. I went to the Dr. Martens store at my nearest mall but they only had size 5 left as well. I tried them on anyway, hoping that they would fit so I could buy them from Union Jack. As I expected, they were too small so of course I was determined to find them in my size and was willing to pay full price to have them. I stumbled upon this Canadian site called Zelen Shoes that had size 6 (4UK) in stock - and into my shopping cart it went!

What I love about these Doc Martens is the unique vintage-looking floral pattern. Although some may consider it tacky, I think it's tastefully tacky. They would compliment a pair of plain black leggings and would bring some colour into a drab fall day. They're my first pair of docs and I'm loving them so far! The material is a thick canvas rather than leather but I'm not too fussy about it as I was more focused on the design. I'm more drawn to doc martens with cool graphics over the plain ones since they stand out more (although you can't go wrong with a pair of good old black docs...)

More pictures after the jump, featuring KitKat hanging out in the backyard

KitKat Opening the Door (Planet of the Cats Pt 1)

Cats are going to take over the world one day, I'm telling you! There's quite a bit of videos circulating Youtube of other cats opening doors which is impressive - it's like they all instinctively know how to do it or they are just really observant and figure it out from watching us (and reporting their findings back to their mothership). It seems that cats don't like closed doors very much - their curiosity tells them they should be able to know what's behind the door and they want to explore every room.

The first time I discovered KitKat knew how to open doors was maybe a year ago when I was sleeping and it was almost morning. I was still half asleep and I heard him meowing at the door and being noisy. I tried ignoring it to sleep some more but then I felt his presence next to my face and opened my eyes to find that he has learned how to open my door and has come to wake me up to feed him! He's been opening doors ever since then and from that day on, I made it my personal goal to film it on camera. I filmed the first part of the video a year ago and just yesterday I was finally able to film the second perspective from outside of the door. It was tricky because he never opens the door if he knows we are watching him so when I had a feeling he was going for it, I quickly got out my GoPro and tripod and then quickly went back into my room to wait. It took a couple tries but I finally got it!

Games to play with your cat: Peek-a-boo on the couch

KitKat loves to play this peek-a-boo game where I hide behind my couch's arm rest and he'll pounce up to try and scare me - it's such fun! I put together a little video to show this in action. The other day he added to this and smacked me on the head (without claws) as he jumped up! He also loves playing hide-and-seek where we run around and hide from each other and then when we're found, we run to another location to hide - although I don't have that on camera as the footage would be too shaky... Cats never fail to amuse me with their wit!

KitKat Has His Own Couch!

When I first adopted KitKat, I bought a cat bed from the pet store but he never used it - I only saw him lie in it maybe two times max. So a little while ago, I decided to look for a cat-sized couch, thinking this would get more use out of him. Luxury pet furniture was too expensive though so I decided to buy a children's flip-out couch instead! He now loves this thing and I always see him using it to relax, play and sleep... it's a cat-approved purchase!


day 1: "wat is dis peculiar thing?"




"Im a lyon"


"Zzz"


*yawn*


*lick lick lck*


"Sthap watchin me wen Im cleanin mah butth0le"

Cats Can Do Tricks Too!

Who said tricks were only for dogs?? Here's KitKat doing 3 tricks (the only tricks he knows haaa), sit, high five, and paw shake. I used clicker training to teach him to do this and it was surprisingly a lot faster than I thought it would be! He picked up pretty quickly and it only took a few sessions/days for him to master these tricks. Not bragging or anything but KitKat's pretty much an evil genius (he taught himself to open doors too just from observing me). If you have a cat (or any pet for that matter - I've seen bunnies respond well to clicker training too) and want to train them to do tricks, you should definitely try out clicker training!

Reasons why clicker training is so effective:
-animal associates the distinctive "click" sound with the behaviour & is prepared for the reward
-less confusion since the click sound isn't something the animal hears all the time, unlike your voice
-allows you to click right as the animal is doing the appropriate behaviour

Tips for clicker training:
-the shorter the sessions the better - animals have short attention spans yo
-cats are infamous for doing their own thing and not caring too much about pleasing their owners/peasants - make sure the reward is something your cat really likes and you'll be more likely to succeed
-if your pet loses interest during a training session, stop and try again another time/day

Here's an old video of him when he was first learning how to high five:


Useful Links
-CLICKER TRAINING (CAT) TUTORIAL
-Clicker training for cats
-Clicker Training for Cats by Karen Pryor
-Clicker Training for Clever Cats: Learning Can Be Fun! by Martina Braun

When Cats Try to be Invisible...

KitKat does this all the time, it's so funny!

Why Chromebooks Should be in Your Life

If you're tired of your old slow and laggy laptop and need an alternative laptop for just surfing the web, then a Chromebook might be the answer! Initially I wasn't that fond of them since I had the mindset that I NEEDED Windows but the more I thought about it, the more I realized I spend 90% of my computer usage on the Internet anyway. I tested out my mom's Chromebox and loved the simplicity and how fast it was so I started pining after a Chromebook for my everyday Internet browsing. I started searching but couldn't find any Chromebooks that had it all (looks, speed, HD display) - until Toshiba released the Chromebook 2 (CB35-B3340 model) which has an IPS 1080P HD display!! It also looked beautiful (reminiscent of a Macbook Air which I used to want solely for its looks) and although they downgraded on the processor to keep costs down, it's still pretty fast to me!

I've been using this for the past week and am 100% satisfied with my purchase! It's perfect for what it is and does what it does really well. This isn't meant to replace my main computer or anything but it makes a great backup for days when I don't need to use any Window applications. I've been streaming shows and movies, listening to music, online shopping, browsing the web, opening a bunch of tabs at once (I have a bad habit of opening literally everything in a new tab and never closing any of them), using Google Hangouts and everything else I needed to do without any problems. It also comes with 1TB of free Google Drive storage for 2yrs (the sticker on it says 100GB but I think there's a promo going on).... sweet!



My Chromebook is Kit Kat-aproved!*

*The struggle to type up this blog post when you have a cat who likes walking all over your laptop and lying on your keyboard

Reviews:
PC Mag
Laptop Mag
Engadget
Cnet

Meet KitKat!!!

Meet my cat, Kit Kat! I adopted this little weirdo at the Toronto Mega Adoption Event hosted by Pet Smart Charities in partnership with the Toronto Humane Society and Toronto Animal Services back in July. Kudos to these organizations for planning this successful event and finding homes for over 500 cats and dogs!

When I first brought him home, he was so scared that he hid under a table in my kitchen and didn't come out for hours. After a few weeks though, he came out of his shell and I realized that he's a bit of a weirdo! (Like me LoL perfect match)


He likes biting his own feet and kicking his face



Here he is "cuddling" with the toy kitty before he bit off its ear and ate it...


Look at this evil face



He's always making me laugh with his antics




I see you Kit Kat...


Look how cute he is when he's sleeping... i mean LOOK




I'll end this here before this photo spam gets too out of hand... BYEEEEEE