Photography
Squeaky
Unfortunately, Squeaky left us on 6 November 2022. We will miss you my baby.
Introduction
Squeaky moved in with us after my old cats died. She was a throw-away cat who I started feeding after I found her eating the food for the birds in the bird-feeder (I used a mixture of cat pellets and rusks, and she was probably attracted by the cat pellets.)
You can see from the picture she was in very good condition for a stray, and very happy at being noticed. From here on I fed her every day with pellets that Dimple no longer fancied (Iams believe it or not). In the pic, she is watching Dimple, who is sitting inside the house watching her. Notice how she is protecting her food, and is totally uninterested in me taking her picture. When Dimple died after a stroke in June 2011, Squeaky moved in with us. She named herself with her high pitched meow which she uses when she wants attention.
Squeaky was definitely not a feral cat as her manners were way too good. It was very early on that I learnt how photogenic she was. After having black cats (Missy was solid black and Dimple black and white), having a gray cat was a pleasure to photograph.
We did go out of our way to find Squeaky's previous/current owners, but she had definitely been thrown away. I have a feeling that she had belonged to the neighbors directly behind us, as they had moved on around about the same time that she started looking for food. The local vet also didn't know her, but did say that whoever had spayed her was really good at his job.
She just loved having a home, and loved being the centre of attention.
Playtime
She also demanded quite a bit of attention after she had gotten used to us, so we had to buy her toys. Missy and Dimple no longer had toys as they were already beyond that really playful age (Missy was 17 when she died and Dimple 18).
She soon got bored with the Tigger toy, but still loves her soft balls which she can carry around in her mouth. She loves a game which we call feather, where we wiggle a Hadeda feather through the back of a dining room chair for her to try and catch.
The whole reason behind the feather game is that you want to try and keep your hands out of her reach. When she gets excited those claws come out really quickly. I have tried using a welding glove to minimise the scratches, but she not interested in playing with you then!
She also loves chewing people! I have told her that I'm not interested in this game, but Pat is more lenient towards her in this "game".
She is also very keen on anything that dangles, bits of string, jacket tie cords, camera remotes, whatever!
The Hunter
She is also a pretty good hunter. Her favourites are geckos and baby doves. She seems to fetch the doves out of their nests, but fortunately, that seems to have stopped. The geckos however, remain a favourite. She catches them, brings them in to you, then lets them go. It's up to you to catch them to turf them out. The turfing out starts another game, where she tries to find and catch the one you've just gotten rid of.
She is also good at catching mice/ratlets.
Resting
Of course, she is a cat, and more often than not at her cutest when resting.
The Office Assistant
When I am in the study, she loves being around, often looking for attention!
The Jump
Somewhere along the way, she must have gotten hurt, as she does battle to jump, especially vertically. However, when she is brave enough, she sometimes does do some acrobatic jumping!
Unfortunately, everything, except the subject, is wrong with the last picture: she doesn't have enough space to jump into; her bum has the focus, not her head; and the background is very busy.
Being Squeaky
More often than not, she just is Squeaky!