Emily, Luca is soooo sweet!!! He's growing fast, too. I just think kittens need a lot more patience than I have at my age. I'd love to be able to take Raiden places -- but he's a little monster and even on our daily walks, he wants to go under bushes, in between tight spots that I can't get into and he's always, "No, Raiden." I know there are people who can take their cats anywhere. If I walked into the pet store with Raiden, he would tear the place apart!!! I love following the antics of bengal Tigress Strayvn who goes everywhere with the owner, even flew on a plane recently, looking out the window! Perhaps if I'd had Raiden all his life, but by the time I got him, he was already set in his ways and there's pretty much no turning back. I'm lucky that he enjoys going out for daily walks. But now with 100 degree plus heat index, they aren't very much fun for me!

hey guys! heres two new youtube links of videos i took of luca the other day. one is of him reacting to seeing a bug on the outside of the window and the other is one showcasing how much of a finger fetish he has

ps, he turned 6 months old yesterday!!! he ways about 6.9lbs now.
He is still not super stoked about going outside but is becoming a little more braver; he will sit higher up on my chest when i carry him now, almost on my shoulder but not quite and he doesn't shake anymore. In a couple weeks i will be taking him on his first trip. I'm going away for about 4 days to visit my hometown so will be taking him on a ferry to get there. I'm hoping everything goes well with that.

anyways, here are the youtube links:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9TmRyXQULqY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCVXre8f3zk

enjoy!

Emily, Luca is just super gorgeous!!!! I'm guessing you'll be able to brush his teeth for him!!!! I see the chair is still up against the closet doors. And it seems all cats are fascinated by bugs. They are the only things that make Raiden jump up in the air. He loves the ones that fly.

Awe Luca is beautiful! I love his eyes.

thanks guys
yes Sherry, the chair will remain for a while i think.of course that doesn't stop him from trying his hardest to gain entry into the closet

If I even leave a closet door cracked an inch, Raiden will try to open it, so I have to make sure all are closed completely. Nothing really that he can get into, but he wants to know what's there and he tries to jump up to the shelf, too. I can imagine that Luca is always into something.

My cats always want to gain entrance to the closet too. I am so paranoid because my last cat spent the day in there once when I closed the door and went to work. She used to love hiding in there. So I sneak in there and see them surrounding the door as I pick out my clothes. Then it turns into a circus when I try to get out. They storm the door and divide and conquer.

hhahahaha thats cats for ya. Luca will try to get in all the closets but has a particular affinity to the bedroom one. i think its because he has peed in there before and i wasn't able to get it completely out yet and he must smell it still (still waiting a little bit longer until i can fully trust him with his litter box issues before i get professional cleaning-in the meantime using nature's miracle and vinegar after).
In fact, just the other night i was looking for something in my closet and i was bending down and could smell some urine so i went hunting for the spot. i found that he must have peed in the bin that has my pants in it. It must have been a really long time ago because it was dry and i know he has not been in the closest in a long time. Only the top pair smelled so i just pulled the bin out to deal with after i finished what i came into the closet to do. Probably within two minutes of this, i found Luca in the power stance that he has when he is about to pee
So i dash over to him really fast and yell "no" in hopes to startle him and run off. Didn't work, and i can hear the jet stream of his urinating begin. So i pick him up (at arms length of course), hoping that will make him stop. It didn't. He continues to do his thing. So there i am, bent over this bin holding luca at arms length about 3 feet off the ground and he is still peeing all the while. The moment was like something out of a movie when someone has to change a baby's diaper but doesn't know how
I had to laugh a bit out of disbelief lol. So i just had to put him down and let this finish because he clearly was not going to stop peeing and i didn't want his urine to get everywhere.
I had to wash every single pair of pants that night(some pair twice) with a tonne of laundry soap and vinegar.
aaaaaaahhhhhhh! so this is my life now lol

he hasn't had any accidents in probably over a month so I'm going to give the benefit of the doubt to him and say he only peed there because he already smelled the urine on the pants when i pulled the out of the closet.

Emily, I really hope Luca does not have any more accidents! Do they not make diapers for cats? LOL. Seriously! With all the posts about peeing problems, there should be something for the cat. It's the one thing I worry about with Raiden and so far he's used his litter box just fine and does all of his marking outside (or in his enclosure). I have shut Raiden in my closet once but realized it within a few minutes that he was "missing."

http://youtu.be/qrDpcXGM19w

New video I took this morning

Aww listen to him! Diesel makes those sounds too although his are a little higher pitch. We always know when he has found a bug or lizard!

_________________
Dallas, TX USA
Diesel - snow Bengal born 09/01/2013 adopted Feb 2014
Tuck, Chloe, Buddy, Lewis & Tia - rescue kitties
Clyde, Bleu & Coal - Great Danes

They make so many different noises don't they!?
Luca does this starling spitting sounds when he is really into his play. The only way I can describe it is that it sounds like a zip lock bag full of air being popped.

This is another video I took for him today

http://youtu.be/HXrszNyWA1I

Oh Emily, what a little munchkin! He's growing so fast! The chirping was amazing! I've never heard Raiden do something like that. And the water bottle. Loved the cry! Luca is so amazing!!!

Kitty update!
...I hope I don't miss anything because this is my second time typing everything out as I spontaneously got logged out somehow before I submitted anything

There's lots of new pictures of what Luca has been up to on the photo bucket page : http://s358.photobucket.com/user/eberry ... t=3&page=1

Luca is getting so much bigger but is still quite small!

I finally gave up on trying to take Luca outside for walks as he clearly hated it and it wasn't fair to him to keep putting him in a position where he was so fearful. Also, when I first started taking him out, he was so scared that he would just stay cuddle up on my chest but now when I try, he tries to escape and that's the last thing I need.
I recently took Luca on a two day trip to Victoria. It requires taking a two hour ferry, in which Luca was very scared and stayed zipped up in my sweater against my chest both ways. But once we were actually there he was quite content and his happy self again.
This is a video of our first morning in Victoria : https://youtu.be/teHvIAZ4UGs
We stayed at my moms house where there is a other cat and they got along no problem! There's a couple pictures on the photo bucket of them sniffing each other out lol (black and white cat).
As Luca grows and matures I have seen how much more assertive he can be! I took him up to my sisters place the other day while our carpets were being cleaned (finally!!!!) and she has two cats there. The first time Luca met the other cats he was much smaller and quite scared of them. They ganged up on him and he just stayed curled up in my lap not making any noise. This time when I took him, he was much more confident and I think he actually scared one of the cats off! He even made some growling noises I've never heard come out of him before. This was also the first time I've heard him hiss.
Video here: https://youtu.be/gtK1eq6jZpg

The past two nights we have allowed Luca to roam around the house all night rather than staying in the bedroom with the door closed with us. I still woke up with him at the foot of my bed though lol. Im glad that he is still my little baby. Sometimes he perches himself on top of my jewelry box on my night stand by my bed waiting for me to wake up. It's so cute but sometimes creepy when the first thing I see when I wake up is Luca staring down at me. I have been preparing myself to receive some attitude from him or for him to become reclusive as he enters sexual maturity now but there's really been no change so far. He still loves his "mom" time with me. I don't know the last time I went to the bathroom alone lol.
I try to play with just him for about 45 mins a day without the other cat. Of course I spend more time than that with him but that's the time I set aside for one on one play.
When I come home from being out he always greets me at the door so excited that I'm back; he tries to jump up on me and paces around in circles like a dog hahahaha.

I'm waiting for my order of kitty bloom to come in and then I'm going to start Luca on raw food a few times a week. I'll likely be getting a meat grinder soon also so that I get get the bones and everything in there for him. As a vegan, I never thought id one day be buying a meat grinder lol.

Luca has developed a few new "skills" as well.
He can now manage to jump up and get on top of my bedroom door. Scared the heck out of me the first time; I heard scratching against the door one day and went to go look to see what he was doing. When I went to look he was nowhere in sight. Then I looked up and there he was staring down at me lol. There's a couple pictures of him up there on the photo bucket.

He has also been receptive to learning to play fetch!its definitely a work in progress though. Video here: https://youtu.be/lAgyWSyZ03M

He has also seemed to develop a habit of attempting to climb me while I'm standing brushing my teeth or doing dishes. I have no idea why this one started but it always startles me when he does it.

It appears he has lost his affinity towards water. He won't play in the bathtub anymore when I partly fill it and seems quite indifferent to it now but used to love it. He is still a little interested when the sink is on though. And heaven forbid I have a drink in my hand; he must investigate it with his paws.....I've dumped out so much coconut milk hahahahahaha.

Oh!
There was an incident that happened about three weeks ago. It could have turned out bad but thank god it didn't.

Okay so as some of you may know from a previous pair, I live in an apartment building. Each floor has a garbage shoot. Luca absolutely loves coming out with me when I take out the garage to the shoot down the halls from our apartment. I let him come if the cost is clear and there's no one else around. I don't harness him or anything when we do it because it's a tiny hallway and he isn't going anywhere. There was a particular Saturday morning where I was up early for work and Luca came out with me like he always does. What I didn't noticed and Luca unfortunately did notice is that one of or neighbors apartment front door was opened half way. There was no one else around. Luca starts walking toward it in curiosity. I tell him "no" and start walking back down the hall to my apartment assuming he will not want to be left in the hallway alone and would follow me.
Well apparently I was wrong.
Luca reaches the apartment door and inches in about a foot into this persons apartment. I'm a little unnerved at this point but not too worried because if I need to grab him, he is still at arms length without me entering the neighbors apartment. I keep saying "no" and "Luca" sternly but he just stares. What he does next mortified me. He put his front paws up on the door and pushes it all the way opened and walks into the apartment. He is still on sight but there's no way I am walking into a strangers house uninvited. And I didn't want to trespass. I knock on the door and start calling out to however might be in the apartment. I was hoping they would come to the door and let me grab my dang cat that just entered their appartment. No one comes though and it's dead silent!i start to feel panick because I have no idea what I'm going to do. It's not like I could walk in and try to grab him. If I did then he would just run further into the apartment or if get caught.
I keep trying to get Luca to come to me but he wouldn't. So I quickly go over to my apartment and grab his food dish and walk back over to the neighbors place. I show Luca that I have his food dish and of course he comes running to me lol. Never underestimate this cats live for food. I finally get him back inside me apartment. I have no idea why the neighbors door was left opened like that so early in the morning though and it looked like there was no one there when I peaked my head in. Needless to say, Luca isn't allowed out with me when I go to the garbage shoot now lol.