For some reason some human people think that blind cats are quiet, sad animals that can’t live a full and happy cat life just coz we can’t see. That for some reason being blind stops us from being a cat, well most of you that follow and read my blog know that this just isn’t true but for those people who don’t know what we can do I’m here to show just what we’re capable of.

As much as I say that I use my super blindie senses to get around, I don’t think I’m in any way an extra special cat, mummy and daddy say that I just don’t know I’m different. If you don’t know you’re different then you don’t know that you shouldn’t be able to do things. Mummy and daddy say that since I’ve arrived I’ve done and taught myself things they think are very clever, things that they thought I’d struggle to do I’ve just got on and done them. Sometimes I’ve needed a little help to teach me the way up or down something but some things I just decided to get on and do. I know that if I climb up something that I should be able to get down again even if it is a bit harder, sometimes if I can’t quite figure it out and mummy won’t lend me her helping arm then I just jump down.

Be and adventure cat – well anyone who reads my blog knows that of course blind cats can be adventure cats. Whether thats exploring indoors and climbing cat furniture, windows or the human furniture blind cats can do it all and I might add, just as well as ‘normal’ cats – if not better sometimes. In fact I think I’m the only one of us that climbs the windows to listen to the outside world 😺. I’ve been everywhere in our home from under the sofa to the top of the scratching post to reach the ceiling and even the top rail of the balcony too (this is the best pigeon watching spot).

Then there’s the outdoors, of course blind cats can wear a harness and lead and go out exploring and having adventures. It might take me a bit longer to get used to the people noises outside such as their moving metal monsters and strange footsteps but once I know what they are and that they won’t hurt me then there’s no stopping me. Out here I can, as you all know, run around, climb trees and chase birds and other creatures. I’ve been going outside for so long now I know my way around and where all the best climbing trees are and where I can get the best ‘view’ of all the birdies. I know my way home once I’ve exercised mummy enough and it’s time to head in for dinner.

Hunting – just coz I don’t have my eyes doesn’t mean I have lost that hunting instinct. In fact when we go outside it’s one of my favourite things to do, stalk and chase the birds and animals. Sometimes mummy says I can hear the birds before even she can and so she uses the direction my head is pointing to try to see what I’m looking at. I think she trust my instincts and senses more than her own sometimes, she always says my instincts are hardly ever wrong.

Climbing trees – I use my mapping skills to know where all the trees are, it’s easy going up but coming down can be tricky but I use my tail to feel when I’m near the bottom. I love sitting in the trees and listening to all the sounds around me, I feel safe up there so if I ever get scared by any noises I head straight for the nearest one and up I go.

All cats love eating grass, it’s good for us and tastes yummy, when I’m outside I love to have a little nibble as a snack whilst I’m exploring. Mummy is always amazed that in amongst all of the green plants and bushes that I walk past and explore I always manage to find the long blades of grass in amongst everything else. Well, the grass leaves smell very particular and even in amongst all of the other scents that I can smell outside I can always pinpoint their slender, lovely, sweet, juicy leaves.

I might be blind but I do still close my eyes to sleep and I blink and frown too. I might not have eyes but I still have all my muscles. When I go to sleep those muscles relax and when I’m listening to something, naturally the muscles that would normally move my eyes to see the source of the noise move too. Mummy and daddy say they don’t see me blinking as often as a sighted cat but maybe that’s just because the movements are so small and my fur covers them up. You can see my bigger eye movements though. Check out my slow blink.

As you know I love snuggling in a warm furry towel but mummy and daddy both thought that when they found the towels on the floor in the morning that I just reached up from the floor and pulled the towels down from the holder. Well, that’s only because I had only shown them that was how I could do it but where’s the fun I that? Why do things the easy way when you can do them the challenging way. You probably know by now that the easy way just isn’t my style so one day I thought I’d show mummy the real way I get the towels down. Afterwards mummy said that there aren’t many things these days that really surprise her and daddy about what I do or how I do it but every so often I do something extra clever that they never imagined I’d be able to do and this was definitely one of those times.

So as you can see us blind cats are far from shy and sad, in fact I hope I’ve shown you that we are inquisitive, adventurous, adaptable, mischievous but above all happy.

What makes a good walkies?

Not too hot, not too cold; not too wet, not too dry; not to windy, not too still; not too sunny, not too dark; not too early, not too late. That’s the purrfect time to go walkies.

It doesn’t happen very often that it’s just right to go out and I really don’t mind if it’s not as I always enjoy being outside with mummy no matter what it’s like. Sometime though, every once in a while we get an extra good day for going out. The other day was that good day, it was just right and I was in a really good mood having slept all day to have loads of energy to go outside with and burn off.

When we first went out the birds were still awake so I played with them for a bit trying to find where they were in the bushes and running after them when the flew away. There were some good smells around, the other animals had been out and about so I check those scents out and found out who had been around in my gardens since yesterday. Then off further up the gardens to explore some more and give mummy some exercise.

We explored right up to the far end, where it was a bit too windy but I’m getting used to that now so I don’t get too scared and even if I do mummy is there to reassure me that I’m not going to blow away. I ran around a bit and explored the bushes, then we headed back the other way which got gradually less windy, then we found the purrfect spot.

The birds were hiding in the bushes and getting ready to go to sleep so there wasn’t anything to chase until the wind came along to play with me. It was blowing just enough to move things around for me to chase and pounce on, ok it’s only a leaf or a bit of grass but it’s mine and I caught it! This chasing was just the start of my wind assisted zoomies, the wind was just the right amount of blowy to get me going. I just let myself go, running this way and that way, zig zagging across the grass, round and round, it was so exciting I even got big fuzzy tail, I just couldn’t help myself.

Then with zoomies in full swing, of course I’ve gotta climb a couple of trees, just because I can, I don’t always have to climb high, just climbing is fun and sometimes it’s just a tester climb for a bigger climb later on but I always want mummy to watch me and see how well I’m doing. Then once she’s told me what a clever girl I’ve been it’s back down and off again for the next run around and maybe another tree. It’s not often I let myself go completely but outside I feel so free that I can just be myself and do what comes naturally to me.

The big winds used to scare me as they jumble up all the sounds but not anymore, I’m now a seasoned adventure cat so I’m pretty much used to everything Mother Nature can throw at me, even snow as you’ve seen recently. I don’t always like all of the more extreme weather but that’s ok, I go out, give it a try and then can always head back indoors again. Mummy never makes me go outside and it’s always up to me if I want to go back in again, that is unless it rains really heavily and I shelter under a bush whilst mummy gets wet coz she doesn’t fit under the bush with me. Then she just bundles me up in her arms and we run back indoors together.

The other purrfect time for walkies is when it’s the time when all the insects and bugs come out to play, when the flowers are out and spreading their lovely smells around, then there’s loads of things to chase and run after. I don’t need the wind to help me, there’s so much no on. I might be blind but I just can’t resist chasing those little buzzy wings whizzing past me, like they’re deliberately trying to make me chase them.

Then of course after all this running around and climbing it’s time for dinner and a good nap to rest and recover.

Well, I wished for more snow and I got my wish, this time it’s a bit more than a sprinkling and enough for me to really get a feel for what it’s like.

When it started again mummy and went out for our normal walkies, it was cold and windy too. I’m used to the wind and rain but this snow is different, it sounds different to rain when it’s falling from the sky and when it lands, it feels different on my fur and seems to magically vanish when I touch it.

This snow makes everything different, I know my way around outside, I’ve got it all mapped out and normally I can tell where I’ve been from the scents left behind by my paws. I can smell out all the other animals that have been walking around as well but this snow makes everything different, I can’t smell the familiar smells anymore, its like I’m walking around somewhere I should know well but it’s just not familiar anymore. When rain falls it livens all the smells up as the drops of water hit the ground and the scents move about, it can be really invigorating. This snow stuff acts differently, it seems to cover the smells up, it makes them much harder to find. I stand still and sniff really hard I can just make them out but that’s hard work so to get around I’ll just use the map in my mind that I created ages ago.

Mummy’s feet make a strange noise when she walks around, I’m used to the noises she makes but when she sounds different it makes me nervous. Her feet make a strange crunchy, creaky noise which I’ve not heard before it’s odd and takes some getting used to. Mummy knows when I’m nervous so she talks to me a lot so I’ve got something familiar to listen to and she reassures me a lot by explaining everything to me.

As I start to explore the snow is cold on my feet so I stop for a very short while and lift one paw up to keep it from getting colder. Then my nerves start to calm down and my inner adventure cat starts to take over and off I go running around, a quick sprint across the garden and hey this isn’t so bad.

Eventually the snow began to disappear but it was still very cold and the ground changed again. Some of the grass came back, I could feel it soft springiness under my paws but some of it turned cold and hard and as I walked on it it went crack! Mummy said this cold, hard stuff was called ice and there were little patches of it all over the gardens where the snow had melted, turned to water which got so cold it froze. Well, it wasn’t the cold that was bothering me, it was the noise it made when I walked on it, it meant I couldn’t creep up on the birds to stalk them as the could hear me coming, crack, crack, crack! Then of course there’s mummy’s big clomping footsteps, CRACK, CRACK, CRACK so there’s no chance of any hunting today with all that noise around. When it was snowing that was quiet when I trod on it and so I could practice my hunting skills without anything hearing me and mummy wasn’t as noisy either.

A little while later and my paws are getting very cold and so I meowed to mummy and headed back towards the door back to the warm inside. I had however left lots of my pretty paw prints behind in the snow just so all the little animals know that these are my gardens and that I’d been out making sure everything was in order.

Every time I go out in the cold, daddy is waiting when I get back in to take off my harness and give me a rub down with the towel to dry off and warm up, he even dries off my cold, cold paws. Sometimes I pull the warm towels off the hot towel holder and snuggle up on them with my sisfurs all cosy and warm.

Oh, and happy Valentine’s Day everyone, I’m such a lucky girl, I got not one but two presents, a pretty pink heart 💞 bow tie and a lovely red heart ♥️ bandana.

Well, I guess some of you reading this have families too so I guess you know what it’s like to have little sisfurs, maybe little brofurs are the same as well, I’m not sure. I love my little sisfurs very much most of the time but sometimes they can be a real pain. Of course being the Queen of the household when I want to play that’s ok, even if they don’t, I’m the Queen so they must obey me! It doesn’t work the same the other way round though and when I want some peace and quiet or time for myself they should leave me alone. Sadly no matter how many times I say this it doesn’t seem to work.

One day after a hard morning of bird watching, playing with mummy, supervising her doing household chores and my intruder checks it was time for a nap. So I thought I’d find a quiet spot where I wouldn’t be disturbed and up I went into the high top bunk right at the top of the big tall post. There’s only one bed up there, it’s high up and out of the way and normally no-one except me goes up here so I can sleep undisturbed in peace. I curled up and settled down in the comfy hammock ahh comfy and cosy curled up like a croissant as mummy and daddy say. As I lay there I could hear the familiar noises of mummy in the kitchen and drifted off into a well earned sleep 💤.

Crash, crash, crash Argh I was rudely and suddenly woken up from my sweet dreams! What’s going on! It was that Millie climbing up the big post that my hammocks attached to the top of. She knows I’m up here, what’s she playing at? Well, I think she wanted my bed, either that or she just wanted to wake me up and annoy me (both options are equally possible). She was so noisy that mummy came out of the kitchen to see what was going on. She saw Millie stood with her three paws on the top of the post. She pretended to mummy that she was just up there having fun but I knew the truth, she was trying to steal my bed! Well I wasn’t having any of it and stayed put, she’s not getting my nicely warmed hammock, I’ve just got it all cosy and just how I like it. When I wouldn’t move she tried to be all cute for mummy so she wouldn’t know what she was really up to. She played around on the top of the door trying to show off and wow mummy with her tripaws balance skills, well it worked plus because she was showing off she couldn’t steal my bed so she dismounted from the door and went to get praise from mummy. “Clever girl Millie, that was amazing, you’re such a clever girl” well if only mummy knew the truth but at least she had left me alone, time to go back to my nap 😴.

Crash, crash, crash again! What’s going on now? I’ve only been back napping for five minutes, can’t a Queen get some beauty sleep around here. This time Angelin had climbed up trying to steal my bed, I’m pretty sure they’ve both teamed up to annoy me as much as possible today. They rarely come up here and NEVER both on the same day so they must be up to something. Again I stayed firmly in my bed, completely ignoring her and again mummy came out of the kitchen to see what was going on. She sat up there pretending to be as good as gold and trying her best to look as cute as possible and that she was only really up there to have a little play and not evict me from my bed or annoy me at all. I thought I was going to have the last laugh though as Angelin isn’t the master tree climber that I am, nor is she the wild gymnast that Millie is, so how’s she gonna get down again? If ever she is up here she normally uses the hammock to cling onto to climb back down again but I’m in here -Ha! I get the last laugh 😹 but sadly she managed to figure it out and down she climbed, hopefully leaving me to finally get some peace and quiet and carry on with my nap.

No matter how much my sisfurs annoy me or how much we all (Peppar included) fight like cat and cat we are family and I love them. I will always love them no matter what, I will care for them and protect them and always will as long as I’m able to, that’s what being family is all about isn’t it? Plus I found a secret snuggle bed that I can snuggle so far down into that there’s no way they’re going to find me…at least not yet.

So spring seems to have sprung, the days and evenings are warmer, the sun is getting stronger, the birds are staying up later and I can smell the fresh summer scent of flowers. So mummy and I have been having great fun whilst outside, I’m climbing all the trees and chasing all the birds. They seem to like playing with me too but they’re quick little things and as soon as I get anywhere near enough to say hello and introduce myself off they fly.

I love making friends with the animals I meet outside, it means I get to have more friends to play with whilst I’m outside. One little bird in particular always sits on the tree or fence and chirps at me so I can hear where it is and go over and say hello. Lately though this little birdie who mummy calls Robin has been playing games with me. As soon as I get close the little birdie goes very quiet and so I stop and listen very carefully. Normally if the birds I’m stalking fly away I can hear their wings fluttering and can follow the noise so I know where they’ve gone but this little bird is very clever.

As soon as I got close the little bird went very quiet, I listened very hard and crept closer to where I had last heard it, I listened as hard as my giant bunny ears could listen but it had gone so very quiet, then suddenly from behind me I heard a familiar chirp. How did it get over there? How did it evade my super blindie hearing? How did it move without making any noise? Off I went to investigate, over to the tree this time, the little chirp was up above me, I listened out for it and pinpointed it wth my ears, hello little birdie, do you wanna be my friend? There was no answer but I didn’t hear it flutter away but then again, chirp from behind me! What! How is this happening? Is there something wrong with my ears? Off to the bush I went in search of the bird (again), I was getting a bit confsed but always enjoying a chase I followed the birdies noises, I was determined to find out what was going on plus catch the birdie.

Then mummy giggled and said “Oh, Jenny, the Robins are teasing you, there’s two of them and they’re making you play piggy in the middle” Well, that is a relief, I thought as it means that my hearing is fine and I’m not going crazy thinking that the little birdie was magically transporting himself from one place to another. It must also mean the birdies like me, I know my sisters like me because they play games with me and chase me so if the birdies are doing that too then surely it must mean they like me and want to be my friend. Now I know they’re playing with me it all makes sense, as I got close to one robin, it went very, very quiet and then the other one sitting somewhere else would chirp so I would go over there and then that one would go quite and the first one would chirp again and off I would go again. so on, making me do all the running around and chasing.

Next time we went out I listened out for the robins and started the game again when I heard their little tweets, this time though I kept an ear out for the other one that might be somewhere around and just so I knew where it was. That way I could get the upper paw in the game and run off and stalk it before it even started tweeting. It didn’t quite work though as once I’ve locked in on one sound everything else goes kind of quiet, I’m fully focussed on what I’m concentrating on, everything else disappears, gets blocked out. It’s like a sound tunnel and I’m fully focussed on one sound, moving my ears with the tiniest of movements to pinpoint the exact location of my prey…I mean friend. From the sounds it makes I can gauge how far away it is, where it is, how big it is and even when it’s sitting still. Then off it goes, flying away and out of reach and the sound tunnel opens back up again and I can hear everything going on around me including mummy’s feet squelching around after me.

Climbing trees to see the birdies is very different to climbing the trees for fun and exercise and to explore. As you’ve seen before when I’m just having fun and running around or having zoomies I run up the tree full speed and in a flash I’m at the top. It’s all about the fun of climbing but. When stalking to play with the birdies on the ground you need to be invisible, so quiet you’re as close to silent as can be and stalking birds up a tree is no different. You can’t just rush up the tree as this will scare the birds away, so you have to approach in the same way as you would on the ground, just doing it upwards instead, you need the same silence, invisibility and focus. So, slowly and quietly one paw at a time and up I go…I’m coming to see you birdies

With the flowers coming out I know that soon the little buzzy insects will be out and about flying around so I’m getting some practice in and mapping where all the flowers are so I don’t run into them when I chase the insects. I don’t always like to push my way through things as I never know how deep they are but with meowmy’s help I know that if there’s a gently tug on the lead it’s ok to push through to find my way out. Soon I’ll be jumping about in them.

As you all know I love climbing trees and running around outside but how do blind cats and other perfectly imperfect cats keep fit and healthy indoors? What do we get up to during the day to keep ourselves busy, entertained and in tip top shape? Well, when I arrived in my furrever home mummy and daddy realised just how much I loved to explore they so made sure that we had lots of places to climb and explore. I was such an active adventure cat, exploring everything and getting everywhere that mummy and daddy decided to make sure I had lots of places to explore.

With me being blind though they had to think about me not only getting up but getting back down again as well. I’m happy to climb down from somewhere but I don’t really like to jump unless I really have to. Mummy and daddy didn’t want me to have any spaces that I might get cornered and panic if I was being chased so they bought lots of furniture just for us kitties. This furniture were allowed to climb and scratch and muck about on.Well this means we’ve got our own indoor gym and adventure playground.

As I’m climbing about and exploring I can imagine that I’m anywhere I want to be, I can pretend that I’m outdoors with mummy, climbing trees, listening to the birds or climbing up to catch the birds. I can pretend that I’ve gone on adventures further than our gardens, to climb and conquer the biggest, tallest trees in the world, chase the fastest critters in and out of the different levels and of course defend my tree top from predators and those who want to take what I’ve got (normally this is my little sisfur Angelin)

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There’s nothing more fun than a good rough and tumble, wrestling around on the floor, bed or even table. Peppar is the master of wrestling, he’s the undisputed champion of our world. Mummy says we’re pretty evenly matched as most of the time he closes his eyes when he fights! He might be much older than us but he still packs a punch with his paws but it’s all good natured and we’re never mean to each other. Most of the time he’s just trying to teach us how to wrestle and be able to take care of ourselves but he also puts us in our place when we need it. Recently Angelin’s been trying it on with him and trying to beat him but no matter what move she tries he’s always one step ahead of her and generally gets the last paw. She gets so excited that daddy says her tail goes all big and fuzzy and her ridge goes up to try to make herself look bigger and scarier but this doesn’t bother Peppar and one swift tap of his paw and victory is his.

Running (well chasing really), Millie is really good at this as she’s got the advantage of sight and she’ll sit and wait for me or Angelin to wander past and then out she pounces, normally with what daddy describes as a rugby tackle – a big Millie style bear hug which takes you completely off your feet, then the chase ensues, down the hallway, under the bed, up the scratching posts, round the living room! Phew, Millie might only have three legs but she’s quick, I have to use all my super senses to run as fast as I can and not bump into things, it’s just as well I have cat like reflexes! Although sometime even I have to admit to getting the odd angle wrong and having the odd bump here and there.

Football obviously, you all know I love chasing my little foam footballs around and playing football with mummy outside but there’s an indoor version that I can play on my own, it really helps to hone my senses and reactions as the ball never really stays still and whizzes round and round just asking to be pounced on. I can make it go fast or slow and then pounce and away it runs back round the other way. Angelin has also mastered this game and even manages to free the ball by grabbing it with her paws and out it pops from its trap and rolls away across the floor with Angelin chasing after it and the rest of us girls joining in, the little ball doesn’t stand a chance with all three of us after it, bang! it bounces off the chair, crash! it hits the wall, then all the fun is spoiled by mummy putting it back in its trap for us to have to start all over again.

As you can see we always find ways of keeping ourselves entertained and keep both our minds and bodies in tip top shape, all it takes is a bit of imagination.

I got snow ❄️ ⛄️

Well, something odd happened today, mummy and I were just chilling out this morning watching some tv when all of a sudden she jumped up, went over to the window and got very, very excited. She went over to the balcony door and flung it open and practically threw me out there. “Jenny, look, its snowing” she said. I sat on the balcony in the freezing cold – it’s OK I don’t mind the cold but it was a bit of a surprise. Angelin came out to join mummy and I on the balcony and we sat out there listening to what was a really odd noise, it sounded a bit like rain but different somehow, lighter, more delicate, kind of crinkly, then as I was looking up to get a better ‘look’ at what was falling from the sky something cold landed on my head, it tickled and immediately turned to very cold water. Mummy laughed and said “you’ve got a snowflake on your head Jenny”. It sat on my fur for a bit, it didn’t soak in quite like rain and just sat there until I shook my head and it dribbled away. The noise of the snow falling was quite mesmerising and I sat there for a while with Angelin and mummy listening to it gently falling.

Then I heard a tiny noise, something landed on the grass on the balcony and what was it? I pounced on it to catch it but just got a pawful of wet. Where had it gone? I’d have heard if it had run off but nothing, not anything at all. What is this mysterious stuff?

Then, once we had finished listening and catching nothing mummy hearded us both inside and started rushing around getting dressed, then I was really surprised, she put my harness on me! What’s going on? We never got for morning walkies, has she lost her mind? Anyway, never one to turn down a chance to be outside exploring I waited for her by the door with my winter Robins with snow bandana on whilst she put her boots on and then off we went.

As mummy opened the outside door I could hear the strange noise of the gently falling snow and as I ventured out it felt different to the rain that we sometims go out in, it was lighter when it touched me and just kind of sat there on my fur. I could feel it landing all over me but as a determined adventure cat I ventued further and further outside. It was strange, the gardens are familiar to me but it felt like a whole new world, the ground felt different, not soggy like rain but different. With each step the cold snow seemed to magically and instantly transform into wet coldness. Mummy and I explored further and further, she said that it was just a little sprinkling of snow and it wasn’t any harder running around than when it rains, just a little colder.

As I started to explore I was so excited by the whole experience that I showed mummy just how much fun I was having by doing her a few big vibra-tails. I gave the ground a good sniff, it didn’t smell like rain as that makes the ground smell all vibrant and alive but this stuff made the normal smells seem muted and like someone had put a blanket over them. I could smell mummy’s footsteps and I could smell where I’d been as well but not much else, none of the normal things. As I explored further I started to get used to the new feeling of the snow and realised that whilst it was odd it wasn’t anything to be scared of. As I don’t really mind being either cold or wet I started to enjoy myself and run around a bit like normal on my surprise morning walkies.

We didn’t stay out too long, whilst we were out there the snow started to feel different as it was falling, it was bigger, louder, colder and wetter – mummy said that it was turning to something different, something called sleet, the noise of it falling was slightly louder and it sounded more like rain but was much colder, so mummy and I decided to head back inside. Once back inside in the warm, I had a little wash to clean up and make sure my paws and coat are always in tip top condition, then a snack (exploring is hungry work) and then off for a little nap in my snuggly bed to warm up my paws and replenish my energy for my next adventure.

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I was so lucky that mummy took me out when she did coz when we went out for our normal evening walkies all the snow had gone and the ground was wet and soggy like normal.

This snow stuff is truly magical, it instantly disappears when you touch it and then can change into something else even whilst it’s still falling from the sky! I’m so glad I finally got the chance to experience such a unique event, I’ve been waiting for it to snow since I arrived here nearly three years ago!

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Well we enter the New Year but things don’t really seem to have changed that much, nothing really seems very new. Mummy and daddy are still working from home and so to keep their spirits up me and my sisters have been thinking of ways to keep them occupied and their minds sharp. Peppar is leaving it up to us youngsters to be the energetic ones, he says he’s an old boy now and needs his beauty sleep but when he’s in the mood he’s as kitten like as the rest if us, he can move quickly for an old boy! He can and does still put us all in our places when he wants to.

To keep mummy and daddy happy and healthy I keep trying to think of ways to keep them entertained and so we’ve been playing games and doing all sorts of things to pass the time together. Of course I’ve put myself in charge of the very impawtant task of finding new things to do. Us furry family members are good at making our humans feel better whether that’s making them laugh, listening to their troubles or getting them to exercise, it’s our job. So to fully embrace my job I’ve been putting my little kitty mind to work thinking up different and exciting things to do without them even knowing what I’m doing.

I’ve been playing hide and seek as a blind cat you might think I’m not very good at playing hide and seek but it’s a great game for blind cats to play and I don’t always tell mummy and daddy when I’ve started the game which makes it even more fun. Hide and seek can be a bit hit and miss and it doesn’t always work very well because sometimes I forget to hide properly and my bum sticks out but mostly I do a pretty good job. As for the seeking part well you all know what super senses I have which means that I can find anyone, anywhere, anytime and I’m much better at that bit than mummy and daddy as I always know where they are.

Everyone needs their spirits lifted from time to time and sometimes mummy and daddy get very stressed when they’re working so to cheer them up I try and be a bit silly and make them laugh. Angelin and I have been practicing being a bit silly to be able to lighten the mood and have a bit of fun so we have become circus elephants 🐘. Angelin learnt it first and then I heard mummy and daddy say that they’d never seen me do that so of course I learnt to do it too (I can’t be beaten by my little sis). We’ve both become pretty good at it and I can even do pirouettes on the ‘ball’ top of the scratching post. I think we make pretty good circus elephants, what do you think? When mummy or daddy see us they just laugh and say how silly we are and what cute elephants we’d make as we stand there staring at them like everything is completely normal.

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Of course I still take mummy out for her daily walk, a bit of fresh air is good at clearing the head but I just wish she’d be able to have mad zoomies like I do because it just makes you feel sooo good. You can let go and just be yourself, be free. You can run and leap and jump and twist and turn and do whatever you feel like doing, just because you want to. It’s a fantastic way of using up all your energy, getting rid of any frustration and extra energy and get some exercise of course. Still mummy doesn’t really do that but she seems to like watching me do it so I’m happy to run about outside like a crazy cat. It’s definitely good for the soul. Millie helps with this indoors as she has mental Millie zoomie sessions at which point everyone better take cover, grab anything breakable and just wait it out, she’s a ginger tornado whirling through our flat from one end to the other yeowling like a mentalist, once she gets going there’s just no stopping her so you just gotta let her run her course.

Going for walkies isn’t all about the walking, climbing trees and running around, it’s about mummy and me having some girl time together, mummy is my best friend so I really enjoy having some together time with just her and me. So whilst we have the chance of being alone together we play little games to make things a bit more fun. I’m a cat after all so it’s natural for me to be on the catwalk strutting my stuff but you just gotta have that little extra, a bit of flair and a bit of style so added twirls are essential. Mummy and I have a bit of light hearted fun and it makes her smile watching me perform and having fun, being the centre of attention as always.

Of course there’s the obligatory play time whenever we want it, with four of us that’s pretty much all the time. Then there’s the entertainment of blindie fights, chases, stalking, pouncing and then cuddle time as who doesn’t love a furry cuddle, snuggle blanket just melting any troubles away.

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I’m starting this year off in a pawsitive way, I’m already trying new things and hopefully I’ll be able to carry on doing new things through the whole year. I haven’t yet been able to experience snow but maybe soon, it’s getting colder and colder so paws crossed. So far this year I’ve already found a new tree to climb, I’ve explored a new bit of our gardens and most impawtantly I’ve snuggled on daddy’s lap for the very first time.

I’m trying to start the new year off in a pawsitive way, by doing good things and also trying new things too. I’m hoping that if I get off to a good start then if I’m a bit naughty during the year it will balance out a bit. I hope Santa Paws has a good memory and will remember anything good that I do when it comes back round to Christmas as that’s a long way away.

Already this year I’ve started on new adventures and explorations, I’ve found a new tree to climb, I’ve only climbed up it a little way so far but it’s got lots of branches and leaves to explore and map. Once I climb it a few more times I’ll have mapped it all out and learnt the best routes along the branches and up to the top. Each new tree smells different, there are new and exciting smells for me to explore and from the top a whole new way to listen to the sounds around me. I look forward to sitting as high up in the tree as mummy will let me, listening to the world go by, listening to the foxes barking in the park at night and the people and dogs earlier in the day.

One day mummy said as we were getting ready for walkies “Jenny, there’s some parts of our gardens that we haven’t been to yet, I’ve been saving them until you were a more experienced and confident adventure cat but I think you’re ready now. Shall we explore one of them today?” “Oh yes purrlease mummy, I’m ready for a new adventure I promise I won’t get scared.” So off we went on a new and exciting expedition. As we were on our walkies mummy was chatting away to me as she does and it turns out she was worried that I was getting bored going along the same route every day and thought something different would be fun and a bit more exciting. Hang on a minute though, this is the same way we go for walkies every day, I’ve been tricked I thought but then we went through a door into the inside, walkies can’t be finished already can it? This isn’t our inside area, what’s going on? Then we went through another door and before I knew it I was outside again but where were we? The feel of the ground was hard and cold but seemed vaguely familiar. Then as we walked I remembered mummy and I used to walk this way before but haven’t for a long time, we were where the motor machines roar along and sleep. We went towards the very far end and then mummy went clomp, clomp, clomp down some steps. I remembered these as I didn’t want to go down there before but this time down I went, at the bottom was a fence like the one I sneak through when mummy lets me climb the big trees in the park, I could feel the cold bars on my whiskers. I followed mummy and found some grass and bushes to explore, there were lots of new smells, dogs, people, other animals and the usual critters. It was an exciting walkies and fun exploring a new place with mummy

One evening I was sleeping on one of my usual spots in the bed behind daddy’s sitting on the sofa, after a while I crept down the back of the sofa to find a warmer spot as I usually do but instead of heading across to mummy’s lap I just plopped down onto daddy’s lap and curled up there instead. As I settled down and got comfortable I could hear daddy whispering to mummy “look, she’s never got on my lap before!” mummy was saying that all I need is a little stroke from time to time and I’d be fine. It was nice to feel daddy stroking me gently as I drifted off to sleep on him. His lap was warm and cosy and it’s a bit more padded than mummy’s and with a bit more space to curl up on. I was so cosy on there that I even let daddy pick me up, put me on the sofa when he really needed to get up and then I let him put me back on his lap when he came back. Snuggling on daddy’s lap made him very happy and so that made me happy too, I’m not sure why I haven’t done it sooner but I might just do it a bit more often now.

Hopefully I can find lots more exciting new things to do during the year which will help keep my mind sharp, then I can carry on being an adventure cat which is just sooooo exciting. I hope you can find some new and exciting things to do too.

I was going to write about how I had been running around and playing in some snow but despite mummy saying everyday “maybe tomorrow Jenny” there hasn’t been any. I’m so disappointed as mummy says she loves snow and wants me to experience the sound, feel and smell of it but I guess I’ll have to wait a bit longer. As it’s a new year now I thought I’d let mummy write something for a change, so over to mummy…

Hi everyone, Jenny’s mummy here. Jenny came to us at a time in my life when I needed something to care for, something that needed looking after. We had lost our old lady Misty and I hadn’t realised just what a large hole she left behind, being 26 she had, over the years needed more and more care on a daily basis and once she had left us I began to realise just how much I had enjoyed looking after her in her latter years. So myself and my husband began to think about a special needs cat as we knew we had the time and experience to look after a cat who might need a little more help in life. So along came Jenny. Well, we were mistaken in thinking that because she was blind she would need more looking after, that she would need daddy and I to teach her and show her how to do things, really it’s the opposite, she has taught us so much! In fact it was because of her tenacity that we went on to adopt two more special needs or as we prefer to call them perfectly imperfect cats Millie and Angelin.

Jenny is a very special cat, of course all of our cats are special and unique in their own ways but there is just something about Jenny that is extra special, her and I have a very special bond. She’s an inspiration, she’s a teacher, she’s inquisitive, she’s determined and she’s a challenge. She is a natural explorer, a very adventurous and intelligent cat and this was clear from the very beginning. Within a couple of days of arriving she was out and about exploring the flat and meeting her new family. She has a natural ability to work out how to do things and solve the ever present cat dilemma of ‘how do I get down from up here?’. Don’t get me wrong, there’s some things we taught her like how to get down from the top of the scratching post but once we’d show her just a couple of times she had it sussed and not only that but improved on our technique and made it her own.

The way she deals with her ‘disability’ and the way she lives life to the full never ceases to amaze us. I honestly never thought I would be ‘that mad cat lady’ taking my cat (let alone a blind cat) for a walk but with Jenny it just seemed the natural thing to do. Through doing this I have met so many people, adults, children (and other pets) and shown them that it’s ok to be different. A few weeks ago we had a lady from our development visit to pick something up and when she arrived she said “oh hello, I know you, you’re the lady who walks her cat” no-one round here knows me by name but they all know Jenny and the lady who walks her! That’s what Jenny does she brings people together, she lowers barriers, she changes perceptions, she makes people happy without even realising what she does…or maybe she knows exactly what she’s doing..

Every challenge she’s faced with she rises to – going for walkies no problem, climbing trees – she loves it, chasing prey just comes naturally. She’s lost her eyes but she hasn’t lost any of her zest for life or her instincts. In fact, I honestly think it has made her more resolute to prove she can do everything as well as, if not better than anyone else. I have never in my life met a cat so determined to challenge themselves, she actually puts her toys into places where it’s harder to find them, harder to retrieve them and harder to pick them up just so she can go and find them again. She climbs our cat scratching posts in different ways just to find a new route, make it that little bit harder. Who deliberately makes things harder for themselves especially when you’re already at what most people would thinks is a disadvantageous position already. Well our Jenny does just that. She’s not happy unless she’s being pushed to the very edge of her abilities, for her the only restriction in life is her imagination, she truly doesn’t see any limitations….which can be quite frightening for me when she’s in full adventure cat mode.

2020 has been a challenging year for many people for many different reasons and for some people everyday is a challenge regardless of a global pandemic. So this year I hope that by reading Jenny’s stories and adventures she can in some small way provide you with some light relief, a bit of a getaway from the every day but show in her own little way that it’s ok to think big and aim high. Who would ever have thought that a blind cat could climb a tree or hunt critters in the bushes? Maybe this year is the year to be a bit more Jenny, do something that you wouldn’t normally do, challenge yourself, teach someone something new, learn a new skill or maybe meet new people and spread a little bit of joy and happiness. Take a leaf out of Jenny’s book and embrace your differences if you have any because you can achieve whatever you set your mind to. You might think that she’s ‘just a cat’ but if she can achieve so much in her little life then so can you.

As Jenny sits here in the evenings snuggled on my lap fast asleep with her little paws and whiskers twitching away I hope that we have given her the ability to have happy, fun, imaginative and adventurous dreams. She is so comfortable here that she can sleep deeply and unlike when she was on the streets instead of dreaming of what might chase her (if she ever slept that deeply) now I hope she dreams of running as fast as she can through fields, playing and going on adventurers with her siblings, climbing the tallest of trees and stalking the birds and insects she loves to chase (maybe in her dreams she actually catches them too). To me her happy, smiling face whilst she’s sleeping says it all, she is happy.

This year is going to get better, I’m sure of it…we opened our 2021 page a day calendar and there on the front cover was a kitten who is the spitting image of our little blindie Angelin. That has to be a good omen, Angelin is such a sweet natured, kind and beautiful cat that she’s the prefect face of 2021. The only difference is that the kitten on the calendar has big blue eyes, we have always wondered what our blind cats would look like with their eyes and now we can at least see what Angelin would look like. Who knew Angelin had been off and done some modelling without us even knowing!

So from me and daddy, Jenny, Peppar, Millie and Angelin we wish you all an adventure cat style 2021. We will continue to think of new ways to embrace Jenny’s adventure cat spirit and keep challenging her (and the others) to be the best and happiest they can be and hope you continue to enjoy Jenny’s stories.