Meeka is One!

Meeka turns one!

She was born April 3rd '13.

She's a great cat. Smart and pretty! I've trained her not to play rough, bite or scratch. She's great with kids. Even though she isn't around them all the time when young children do visit and play rough she simply walks away when she's had enough. Take my nephew for example. When he starts to get excited she finds a place where he cant reach her until he calms down. Then she's ready to play again.

 

Momo quietly playing with Meeka's toys until shes ready to play.

 

 They are both so adorable. My nephew wants to copy everything that Meeka does.
Here he is trying to fit inside a box like Meeka is. Haha. He doesnt fit! 

 

His favorite game is to put a flower on her head and sing happy birthday.
I need to get a video of that! It's the most cutest thing! :D

One of Meeka's favorite things to do is go for a walk. I would snap a leash on her and take her out. Unfortunately I had to stop because the last time I took her out she snapped her leash and ran off! I was able to distract her by crumbling up a leaf. Thank goodness for that short attention span.

After that the only times I took her outside was when it snowed. She has trouble running in that because she sinks in. At the end of winter though she was starting to get the hang of it and bounced through like a winter hare rabbit. 

 She loves the snow. She digs to the bottom searching for grass, bugs and leaves.
Her paw prints through the snow are absolutely adorable. So tiny and cute!

 Here she is strolling around through the snow. 

The weather has been clearing up and it's been beautiful skies and warm breezy days. Finally! As much as I love the snow, spring is long overdue!

Meeka has been shedding her winter layer of fur off. I should have taken a picture of the amount of fur I brushed and found in all corners of the basement. I could have made a little kitten out of all that fur. You can see the difference between the winter and spring pictures. The latter is so much easier to manage!

Spring showers bring May flowers!
It had rained earlier that morning so it was a bit damp.

This picture reminds me of the movie Lion King. In the beginning there's a baby giraffe stepping out into the sunlight with his mom. It probably makes no sense to you, watch the scene lol. But Meeka looks like shes absorbing the fresh air and beautiful weather.

Her fur is silky soft and smooth to the touch. 
Brushing frequently helps to keep it mat-free.

We had some neighbor visitors while I was out walking her. Two girls, two boys and their mom. All of them had dogs. Meeka is pretty good with strangers. She watched them as they slowly approached and they knew how to greet a cat, by sticking their palm out and letting her sniff to get their scent. After that Meeka was all over them rolling in the grass begging to be pet. Ragdolls are puppy cats!

She's grown a lot in the time I've had her. She grows more and more stunning each day. I'm glad I got her. I hope she lives a long healthy life! My lil Meekoo!

:)

Meeka's Spay

So as you know, Meeka is a Ragdoll. A kitten which I bought from Rasta Ragdolls located in California. According to my contract which I signed with my breeder, I must have Meeka spayed before she turns 7 months or I forfeit the documentation for her.

 

As of today she is exactly 6 months old to date. I can barely remember her kitten days and she's already a teenager. She's lost her little baby face, her tail has gotten thicker and her fur is all around fluffier and softer than ever. And she's still growing! They say Ragdolls fully mature once they are 3 years old. Imagine that. :)

 

It's hard finding a good vet. Apparently I've been ripped-off twice now. From two different vets. I've taken her to Countryside, where they charged me $160 to treat a kitten cold which she developed on the plane.  I found out the spay procedure they do costs well over $500!!! So I took Meeka to Dunloggin per advice from a client. I forgot this client is rich and owns their own business. Needless to say they charged me $300 for her spay procedure when it could have been done under $150. Ya live and ya learn I suppose.

 
I read an article that they now offer pet insurance which I feel is just a pull for more money to straddle out of you. If you think about it, the monthly costs add up to what you would be paying anyways. The pet insurance does not even cover the more hefty costs such as surgery! That's what you need it for!!

 

Not for the faint of heart:

Those are her stitches day two. Brutal isn't it?

 

I was feeling so horrible I went out and bought her this tower scratching post that conveniently came on sale the same day as her spay procedure.

 

 

I've been wanting this particular one for a long time and it was $40 cheaper so why not! Although the spay procedure price knocked the wind out of me the next day.. It's quite sturdy. Withstands her random climbing and jumping off crazyness. The carpet is nice and soft and the rope is great for scratching. 

 

She lays around the funniest ways. I know I shouldn't be making fun of her. With all the pain she's going through. Granted my sister started it first. Though that's no excuse. Shame on me. But take a look at these funny pics!

She does not give a hoot about the way she's sitting.

Imagine a proper lady sitting that way! Haha!

Meeka's Walk

Topic of the Day: Taking your cat for a walk on a leash.

I know this is probably totally odd for some of you to read. BUT! Before you judge and label me as a crazy cat lady. Take note! I've seen people do this before (on YouTube) and I'm just trying to give my pet a little more freedom. I was waiting till she got a little older so that I could buy her a harness which is a lot sturdier and safer but I couldn't deny my little cutie patootie meowing at the door wanting to go outside to enjoy the beautiful weather and warm breeze.

Here she is enjoying the sunshine in front of the door.

 Taking a graceful walk around the perimeter of the house.

 Lying in the grass, oh sweet fall bliss! :)

She definitely enjoyed the occasion. A little too much actually! She got rambunctious and started to run across the lawn where I could barely keep up with her. Thank goodness for her leash!! It was a little scary I thought she would break free and escape.

Ragdolls are supposed to be strictly indoor cats with 100% supervision when let outside. They don't defend themselves and will probably walk up to a hungry wolf out of curiosity. They aren't shy of strangers either and tend to get stolen pretty often. I'll be getting her a harness as soon as I can. I'm sure if she was determined enough she would be able to wiggle out of her collar or snap her leash off by tugging on it. I would be beyond devastated to lose her. So lets not ever let that happen!

Peek-a-Boo!

Sometimes I find cat's to be creepy. 
They just sit in a corner and stare at you.
 

Sitting inside her tower of boxes and watching me.

I was sweeping the floor. Then I look up to see her spying on me.
 

Hanging out when I see her peeking from behind her carrier, lol.

I was waiting for my laundry to dry.

Brushing my teeth when I see this.

I spy with my little eye...

BOO!

  

Peek-a-boo! I see you!

She has this peculiar look on her face too, haha.

In all the pictures it reminds me of a certain rage face!
 

Picture Courtesy of Google

Hahahaha. Ohmygoodness. This is the perfect picture description.

Poor Meeka

Does this make me a mean person? :P

Meeka Meeka

Topic of the Day: Updated Pics of Meeka!!

     I haven't updated my blog with recent pictures of Meeka even though it's been almost a month that I've had her and I have hundreds of pictures and numerous videos of her. So I thought it's about time I share pictures and stories of her personality!

This is the most recent picture I have of her taken yesterday night.

True to her name she is a cat and she grooms herself. That's about the only thing that she does that's considered normal - for a cat. Although from the pictures it looks like she's more picking her nose with her tongue.. Well that's cleaning too I guess!

Now for her unusual habits. She hates treats. I've given her four different kinds to give her a variety and she hates them all. When I say hate, literally she doesn't eat, lick, sniff or touch them. The following below is what I've tried so far.

     

Secondly she hates catnip. The kitten that I had in high school would go absolutely nuts for catnip. Even with friend's cats and kittens they would do anything for catnip whether it be infused in a toy or their scratching post rubbed with it - ANYTHING. Meeka however doesn't like it at all. She'll run away if she smells catnip. Which creates a bit of a problem as there's no way that I can get her to use her scratching post, she doesn't like treats and doesn't like catnip. Her scratching post remains untouched.

     The orange toy that I'm giving her is a teething toy that's supposed to help sooth her gums so she doesn't bite.

It has catnip and this is her reaction. I made a video and then snapped some screen shots of her.

In the last picture she's pushing it away with her feet and then runs away high speed.

     Next unusual trait? She loves water. I know there are specific cat breeds out there that do love water like Turkish Vans, Bengals, Maine Coons and Siberians. There are probably others but those are the ones that I know of. Ragdolls are not one of them. Granted every cat is different but she's just so bizarre! I bought her a spray bottle to teach her not to jump on furniture and just certain areas. First time I sprayed her she ran towards me, grabbed the bottle with her paws and wanted more. Whenever I turn the sink on and she's on the counter she will put her whole head under the faucet getting herself all wet.

I bought her a little kiddie pool so that she can enjoy herself more.

It was a hot summer day and the water was nice and cool.

Within a few minutes she plopped herself in and wadded around.

She didn't like her wind-up frog so much though, lol.

Here's a picture of her going outside when it was drizzling.

You can see the patio is dark - it was soaking wet.

She was rolling around in the wet grass.

She has the most beautiful eyes. They seem to change color in every shade of lighting. In the dark her eyes look an eery glowing green (that'll be a separate blog post - she's freaky at night!) inside the house her eyes look a turquoise blue and outside they seem to look sky blue. Regardless she's a cutie in whatever shade of color her eyes are! :)

     She loves sitting by the screen door waiting to be let outside. Even if I don't, she'll sit in front of it and let the breeze ruffle her fur and guard the door from bugs! She's quite the bug killer! I've never seen her torture and murder so many bugs! I didn't even know we had that many in the house. So far I've seen dead beetles, mosquitoes, pill bugs, flies and stink bugs.

There was one time I noticed that she had a black smudge on her nose, I guess she got sprayed by a defensive bug! It was a hassle getting it off too, you can still see a bit of black smudginess in the picture. Way less than it was!

Here she is hanging in one of her favorite spots, the windowsill!

I open the window (it has a screen) and she plays there most of the time!

Her fur is so soft and fluffy! For a long haired cat she doesn't shed all that much either. Of course I'll see some white hair here and there, but it's not a lot, granted I do brush her everyday! She goes limp like a Ragdoll too when you pick her up. She'll sit in your lap and purr. She loves people and will run up to every stranger she sees, whether they like it or not!



Meet Meeka

Topic of the day: My new kitten!!

     So after going through a horrific experience with the last breeder I restarted my search for a new kitten. I came across Rasta Ragdolls and saw a similar colored kitten as the last one but this one was a female! A blue mink bicolor ragdoll. What luck! Mink's are a rare color in the Ragdoll Breed. They have aqua colored eyes and a plusher fluffier coat and are simply beautiful!

http://www.rastaragdolls.com/

     I highly recommend Heidi from Rasta Ragdolls. She's super sweet and so helpful with everything it just made me feel like it was destiny meeting her. I think that there was a reason I had a horrible time with the last lady, Elina, so that I can meet Heidi. :)

     There wasn't a picture of her Papa but this is Meeka's Mama:

(Her Mama is a Blue Bicolor Mink)

I think Meeka will grow up to look just like her Mama!

She had a beautiful litter of five kittens!

Here are their pictures. So cute!

The top left is a Seal Sepia Bicolor Female, On the top right is a Seal Bicolor Male,

The bottom left a Blue Sepia Bicolor Female. And the bottom right is a Blue Bicolor Male.

I'm happy to say everything went smoothly in terms of working out an arrangement and payment methods for the kitten. Thank goodness! After the last breeder, this was a breath of fresh air! The problem arose with the airline. Never use United Airlines. My breeder would always use Continental but apparently they merged with United so this was her first time using them after they joined. She booked the flight for the 16th and dropped off the kitty at 5am that morning. I requested for a straight flight with no layovers. The told her the flight would land in 5 hours and I would receive my kitten at 2:55pm in the afternoon. I woke up early that and ran around to Target, Petsmart and Petco to gather last minute things for the kitten.

A few hours later I receive a call from Heidi saying that she received a call from the Airline and that there was a two hour delay because the plane was being worked on. The new departure time changed to 9am and she would arrive to me at 4:55pm. I thought okay, two hours is not so bad. She told me the attendants had given the kitten some food and water.

At 3 I'm over in Baltimore getting ready to leave for the airport (Dallas Virginia) when I receive yet ANOTHER call saying it has been delayed again, the flight was changed and the kitten was put on a new plane that should arrive at 9pm that night. Argh. This was frustrating. Not only are the flight delays messing up my plans (it was Father's Day) but I felt so bad for the kitten. 10 weeks old and in a cage for practically the whole day.

I receive yet another call from Heidi saying she just checked the status on the website of the flight and it seems the kitten is being delivered to a different airport!! I call the airline and speak with a very obnoxious stupid indian lady who has no information to give me, can't tell me anything about the flight because I'm not authorized to receive that information. I tell her I'm picking up the kitten from the airport I NEED to know where I'm picking her up otherwise she'll be stuck there forever! She's like sorry I cant help. So I call Heidi and let her know the situation she calls the lady and calls me back to tell me that the kitten is being delivered to Washington Regan Airport. Great. I reroute the GPS, as I'm driving down there Heidi gives me a call and lets me know she just spoke with someone that was on the Airline itself and that it is in fact landing at it's original location in Dallas Virginia. *sigh* This is never ending.

I arrive at the Airport and drive over to Cargo where Heidi tells me is the location I have to pick up the kitten. It's late it's dark I don't know where I'm going. I find some people chilling outside of cargo and ask them where I go to pick up my pet. They say go inside the Airport. I'm like no I was told to go to Cargo, they say I was given wrong information and I have to go inside the Airport. I'm confused so I drive a little further into Cargo and see another group of people and ask them the same question, they don't understand because they don't speak English but they just say Airport Parking Garage. So I'm like FINE. I park in the Parking Garage and realize I am so far from the Airport and there is a huge wall blocking our path. Like an idiot I climb over the wall (it was pretty difficult at least 12 ft high) walk through a thicket of trees and end up facing a huge highway that I have to cross to get to the Airport. I walk back, climb down the wall, park in the main parking area that's right in front of the Airport, walk inside and ask someone where I go to pick up my pet. I'm told to go to United Airlines for that information as that is the flight the kitten was on. United Airlines is clear across the whole Airport. I run to the other side only to find out I must pick up my kitty from CARGO.

Are you freaking kidding me? This is getting ridiculous.

After paying for parking TWICE I drive to Cargo past those ignorant fools who I wanted to hit with a water balloon for giving me misleading information and arrive at a half lit sign of United Airlines Cargo. As I walk in I see the receptionist has the kitten on the desk playing and being able to stretch. Aww, poor thing. Now she has to be shoved back in her cage for an hour and a half drive home. The receptionist said the kitten has been sneezing quite a lot and might have caught a cold. I know she got sick from the plane ride because she had just visited the vet the day before and was perfectly fine. Great now I have a sick kitty. Heidi was so sweet. It wasn't her fault the airline was getting screwed up but she kept apologizing. In the end the kitten was home safe with me at midnight although very under the weather. I took her to the vet two days later to treat her eye infection and cold.

According to my calculations this is the amount I've spent on her so far:

                                                                                                                                                    $750 - Kitten Price

                                                                                                                                                    $350 - Flight Ticket

                                                                                                                                        +          $181 - Petco Supplies

                                                                                                                                                    $160 - Vet Bill

                                                                                                                                                    $50 - Target

                                                                                                                                 _________________

                                                                                                                                                    $1500 

I guess that's expected when your buying a purebred animal. Whether it be a dog, cat, bird or exotic pet. Well hopefully now that I have the bulk of her necessities the future should hold less of a burden. I'm hoping that I can lower her needs down to $50 a month on cat litter and cat food. Maybe a new toy now and again. I'm sure you're waiting for updated pictures! :)

Supplies

I don't have any pictures of her coming home in her cage/carrier, it was depressing that she was shoved up in there for so long not to mention stinky. Her first "safe-haven" was the bathroom. I didn't have a lot of room to place the things that I bought her. I wanted her to get comfortable and used to her surroundings first. A little bit at a time so she doesn't get overwhelmed.



Now she's moved into a much larger space. What we call the "Japanese" room. We don't use the basement much aside from storage. So she has free run of one whole side of the basement. It's quite spacious and large. She loves running back and forth slipping and sliding on the hardwood floor. She has a few favorite spots she likes hanging around that she's claimed for herself.

The windowsill is where she loves hanging out, taking naps, watching birds on the lawn and enjoying the warm breeze that flows in. She came from California where they have amazing weather all year round. I'm sure she misses the beautiful weather because she gets so happy and excited whenever I open the window or open the door (that has a screen so she doesn't run out).

Whenever she wants to go outside she stands up on her little hind legs and looks wistfully to the great outdoors looking up at me and meowing. I've taken her onto this tiny patio we have and on the grass maybe two or three times. Now that she's used to her surroundings and comfortable she's starting to venture out. Of course I would never let her roam free, only under my watchful eye. When she's older I hope to get her used to a harness so I can take her for walks on our long driveway.

Look at her beautiful bushy fluffy tail.

I bought her a pretty pink collar with a bow.

She's eyeing some birds across the lawn.

With the natural sunlight her eyes look beautifully sky blue.

Not My Ragdoll

Topic of the day: Obstacles.

     We all come across problems in life. Obstacles blocking our path. As Rafiki once said in the movie The Lion King, "..the way I see it, you can either run from it or learn from it." And that is how I shall do it. Fight back. :) It's a good thing sometimes, yeah you may create an enemy but it means you stood up for something once in your life. You didn't let that person walk all over you.

Picture Courtesy of Google

     I've been researching and looking for Ragdoll Breeders for more than a year I should say. I contacted many breeders I found over the web all over the United States. From Maryland to California. I sent the same generic email with my information and what I'm looking for to each and every one. There were certain breeders that called me right away and provided me with all the information I desired. I highly recommend these breeders based off my experiences: 1. Rasta Ragdolls (where I got my kitten from), 2. Dollinska Ragdolls (where a friend got hers) and 3. Soulmate Ragdolls (where I almost adopted a kitten).

     Obviously it's only fair that I have opinions for people I do NOT recommend: AngelGirlRagdolls (I've been keeping tabs on them for years, they used to be good. Now it seems they are consumed by greed and from my evaluation visiting their home turned out to be very kitten mill like not to mention their prices were triple to that of other breeders) and ZelkovaRagdolls (which this blog post is about). This blog is lengthy but I had to get it all out there. This is MY review.

     Relating back to the topic. Most of the breeders I found did NOT have pretty looking websites. They looked like they were made by a 10 year old attempting web design. So naturally I was NOT drawn to any of these even though they had mucho grandees amount of information, not to mention they contacted me same day and spoke for over an hour at a time answering my questions. And yet I decided to ignore those breeders and the good feeling I had about them and instead go for the ONE and ONLY website that lacked all of that but had the one thing that the others did not. A professional website. It looked like this certain breeder invested time and money into it's design. Beautiful pictures of cats with shiny blue eyes, (clearly photo shopped now that I look at with open eyes). Yet, I still decided to go with this breeder.. because her website was pretty.

     I spoke with this breeder for over seven months. We never spoke on the phone. I gave my cell # up front in the same email I sent everybody else. She was the only one that strictly spoke with me through email and that's it. Granted I could have asked her for her number but I naively thought "maybe the reason she hasn't given it is because she's waiting to see if I'm a serious buyer". Five months whilst continuing to converse via email I placed a $200 deposit on a kitten. Still no number. Fast forward a few weeks after and I make a payment of $300. Still no number. I thought okay, maybe she's busy and doesn't have time to talk. I should have been more aggressive now that I look back. I'm paying a large amount of money on something that I can only see with pictures. She told me multiple times she would send a video - and did not. So I had nothing "live" to go by. I tried searching for testimonials on her, people who have previously bought kittens from her - found nothing. She has a waiting list on her website as well as a Facebook fan page. I tried to match up names from her waiting list on her Facebook friend list, I found only ONE person. A girl that bought one of her tabby kittens. But that was the only one. No others.

     The strangeness doesn't stop there. First off she only had one kitten in the litter. Odd. And second, she didn't get back to me as fast as I would expect. I would email her and get a reply a few days later sometimes up to a week. I know we're all busy in life but if you have ONE kitten to take care of when usually you have five or six and you promise to take professional photo shoots and videos of the kitten and then break that promise and take forever to get back to the person that is paying you $950 FOR YOUR KITTEN; well I would expect a little more professionalism and a lot more communication. Just saying.

     When the date drew nearer for the time I would be picking up the kitten she sends me an email and tells me that she moved from NY to NC. Okay. Not that it made a difference I guess, she never provided me with her NY address nor her NC nor a phone number for either. The distance was a six hour drive regardless of which state she chose. Then she tells me she'll meet me halfway in either Richmond VA or at Virginia Beach. Um why? Personally if I'm driving the distance I'd rather just drive straight to the breeder's house so I can see how she raises her cats. That wasn't an option however.

     I grew curious and decided to search around on the web for her. I came across the reason she moved from NC to NY back from NY to NC. Her husband. Of course her personal life is none of my business but for her to bring up MY personal life in a supposed counter attack against me in a later email (which I'll talk about as the story continues) well then of course I'm going to write about her in my blog. Yes it's a low level in which I'm stooping but this is my blog and I choose to talk about it.

    

 Then I found her husband on Facebook and saw some of his personal stuff made available to the public. So I guess her ex now back to hubby status went to NY and picked up his wifey. Even he can't handle her craziness. Why am I not surprised.

    A short time later I receive another email (this is probably the fifth time the date has changed) that she is NOT able to drive the distance to drop off the kitten but instead she's sending her "trusted family friend". She gives me his phone number and tells me to speak directly to him. Um no. YOU'RE the BREEDER. I think a professional person would have been the go between. He doesn't know me and I don't know him. What she SHOULD have done is spoken to the both of us separately, come to a conclusion on a date, time and location and then made all possible efforts to reassure me, the buyer, that this business transaction is strictly about the kitten and everything will be okay. But no. Instead she shares all information about me TO HIM. He finds me on Facebook sends multiple friend requests (after I reject the first - for a VALID REASON - I don't know this fool) and he begins to converse with me via Facebook. His grand idea is to meet up at a hotel to deliver the kitten. Would you trust a complete stranger who is a "trusted friend" of a breeder you have never spoken to on the phone where you are buying your supposed kitten from? I was naïve.

     The old man in the middle is the one that was messaging me. On top of that his other pictures were very odd as well. He wore a mask covering his face in most of them. Freaky. A friend of his commented on the picture above (which was his profile pic whilst he was talking to me) with the comment "nice legs....." Um yea. Not someone I wanna deal with who is setting up a meeting at a hotel to a deliver a kitten with a picture like that? NO THANKS. This had gone on far enough and enough was enough.

     Six months in she decides to give me her number, not to call, but to text me more pictures! Yay. She told me she tried to send a video but the file was too big. Not surprised, the amount of times she's let me down on that.

     This is the email I sent to her regarding my decision to back out of her deal. I had signed NO contract. There was nothing legally binding me to her and feeling as uncomfortable as I was, I chose to cancel but I did want a full refund. I had all files recorded. I thought it was fair due to the mysterious roller coaster ride she placed me on. Her website clearly stated she DOES refund deposits. Then on another page it says she doesn't. Her policy page was "coming soon". You can't have it both ways. This is where our argument began. I feel I was cordial in my email, compared to her. You be the judge.

     I sent that email while I was at work during some down time. Usually she replies to my normal emails within three four days. This time she obviously read my email in a heartbeat and decided to call me 30 seconds after I sent it. I could not reply I was at work and why should I anyways. NOW she chooses to give me a call when she had SEVEN months to do it?

That email lead to this accusatory email.

     She's accusing me of accusing HER. I asked her where in my email did I say such and such things she ignored my questions and chose to pinpoint me for something else. Her argument was invalid whichever way she tried to "fight" back. If you know your wrong, just admit it. There's no use beating around the bush or trying to point the finger at the other person.

     The emails went back and forth after that with her telling me I'm dishonest.. Yeah sure. After she refused to refund me my deposit I filed a complaint against her with the Better Business Bureau. I found her information of her address (thanks to her husband's name) from anywho.com. I was NOT going to let it go that easy. I don't like it when people walk all over me. If you're family, whatever. If you're a friend.. okay. If your a stranger, hell no.

     After a few days I think it was almost a week. The process to remove the complaint went through and I was refunded everything. Then a few weeks later she tries to send me a virus through email. One of those weird links that leads you to a shady website which gives you a virus. Haha. Nice try bitch. This is my way of payback. To warn others.

     If you're curious. Below is the kitten I was supposed to get. He was a blue mink bicolor boy. There's no doubt he was a cutie pie. The first pic shows him at a week old the second at three weeks and the third at eight weeks old. He pretty much looks the same as he gets older until his most recent picture began to appear on her website and Facebook page.

     This very last picture shows the breeder deceiving those around her. They weren't shown any of his baby pictures. Her website only holds his fake Caribbean blue eyed pictures being all cute. The pictures are adorable anybody would be mesmerized in wanting this kitten who was clearly photo shopped. But then all the pictures of her kittens are so what difference do they know? 

Here he is in all his glory.

The End.