For the last week or so we have been hosting two cats while our friends Liyun and Lai are in China. Charlie and Ice are gentle and friendly, and so far they have been just great about using their litterbox and not scratching the furniture. They do love jumping on the counters and the table, so I guess you can’t have it all. In general they are cute and loveable little guys with very different favourite foods than me.
Ice is a little standoffish to start 
…but he usually warms up and is happy to get belly rubs with barely any bites 
Working on the food maze 
a view of the on-loan cat tree 
Charlie tries out the bike trainer 
The dining room, now plus scratching castle and minus toxic plants 
Ice is still a little bit cautious 
Whereas Charlie is always getting into things 
They both like hopping up onto banisters and railings 
They want to know if its dinner time 
They REALLY want to know!
These kitties aren’t biological siblings but have been together almost their whole lives.
Ice in particular has a reputation as an escape artist who is always trying to run outside. They usually go on walks at their house, so on the first day with us we brought them out on their little harness-leashes. We haven’t been out again yet because they seemed a little perturbed, and Ice actually seemed kind of frightened. They certainly haven’t been ‘asking’ to go out or bolting for the door. On reflection, that might have something to do with the most dominant cat resident in our neighbourhood. On the second day the cats were with us Sigge came to the window, probably expecting to be let in, and OH NO he found two replacement kitties instead. Instead of just taking the L, he stayed by the window and meowed and growled and pawed and the window. He paced around to the other windows, and Ice puffed up like a white Halloween cat and growled back. Charlie was pretty chill, but it was kind of noisy and disruptive so we closed all the lower blinds to avoid cat-fight alarm clocks at 3:00 AM.
The cats will still be here when Bridget comes to visit, so she can also give a report!