We do everything possible to keep them inside of our house, but Boris, the one above on the right, is like Houdini, he’s an escape artist, and can open up window screens and door handles in a flash. Boris can leap over the 6 feet fence in one jump! And, now having felt grass under his paws, Boris  wants nothing better than to be outside, looking in!  It’s hard keeping him in because when he stretches he’s over 3 feet long and very strong so he’s able to open up the screen on the sliding door to the patio.  We now have a piece of Plexiglas that we put in front of the open door to keep him from opening up the screen.  That generally works unless someone is careless and doesn’t put it in place and then he’s gone in a New York Minute.

Cats in general are fun to observe and our cats are too.  They’re talkative, demanding and loving.  They truly own us, not the other way around.  A comment I am sure many others can say as well.  We selected the Russian Blue breed because they are supposed to be affectionate, smart, and people oriented pets.  They are but, only on their terms.  Affection?  Only when ready.  Take Natasha.  She hates being petted until we’re in bed and then her routine is to circle the bed, jump up and slip under the covers between Alex and I.  She does this night in and night out and purrs loudly once settled under cover.   Boris?  When he wants affection, he’s nudging me, jumping up where I am, usually at the computer, and wanting me to hold him tight.  His purr is very low and hard to hear and it only appears when he’s cuddling with me.  Does he do this with Alex?  Nope, just me.

Natasha is demanding about play.  Crying a shrill meow, she leads us into the living room and demands we play with her.  Okay.  We pick up one of the many toys, move it around, and she sits watching us, her stupid people,  but doing zippo.  Yeah, she’s playing all right.  She’s playing with us not the other way around.  Wonder who she has trained?  Alex usually.  She also loves to jump up on top of our china hutch and media center, both over 7 feet high.  She parks herself up there looking at us and just daring us to do something.  What, I don’t know, but do something.  We rattle the treat container, and down she jumps ready for food.

I find it amazing at their hearing.  You can quietly pick up a bag of treats, and they both come running from upstairs.  We think we’re doing this silently but I guess not.  I’ve heard of x-ray vision, but they seem to have x-ray hearing. It’s amazing because it can happen even if they’re asleep.

Would I trade them for anything?  Of course not.  They’re fun to watch especially when playing with each other doing their dance, when one jumps up and over the other, because it really does look like they’re dancing with each other.  It sure keeps us laughing.  They are great pets to have as our fur babies.  Who knows they may consider it the other way around.  We’re their people babies and they’re really playing with us.

By the way, I named them Boris and Natasha because they are Russian.  Their lineage is really from Russia although many of this breed aren’t.  They are beautiful blue-gray cats with green eyes.  Their fur is silver in tone, and photos just don’t do it justice.  There is a dark green that comes out around the pupil making their eyes quit striking.  They have darker gray rings along the tail.  The way you can determine if a gray cat is a Russian Blue is by their eyes and the green ring.  No green ring, no Russian Blue.  These cats are beautiful.

If you have an inside cat, then this will not come as a surprise, but it’s always fun to watch them when they spot an critter outside.  They chatter, hiss, or just stare.  This breed of cat is interesting.  We picked it after our old cats, both normal everyday cats, died.  I was looking for a cat that was smart, loving, and a people cat — a lap cat.  Maybe someother Russian Blue do that, but our Boris and Natasha don’t sit on laps.  They sit on the back of the chair we might be sitting in.  They chase each other up and stairs, sounding like a herd of elephants.  They skid on the floors and push the carpets into weird shapes.  They are so special to us, we wouldn’t give them up for anything. And, how can you not love it when they groom Alex’s beard!

Now, Boris has a problem.  We don’t think he can smell.  His little nose is always stuffed up and his eyes run.  Not the first class kitty  we expected, with pedigree, and a high price tag, too.  But he’s ours and we won’t trade him for the world.

Natasha’s papers told us that she was show cat quality. Alex thought it would great fun to show her but  I thought better and squashed that idea.  We work weekends, with people, not cats.  She is beautiful and certainly seems to know it.

Fur babies are easy to deal with.  Real babies, not so.  Next to our grandson’s Jack and Owen, Natasha and Boris are what makes our lives seem real.  After all, they’re always running down the stairs as soon as they hear our key in the front door, greeting us with unconditional love.  What more can one ask?