Zuzu!

ZUZU!

This blog is about Annabelle and Zuzu, two blue-cream point Himalayan sisters from the same litter. While they are sisters, these two are actually quite different. So today, I thought I'd post just about Zu, and the next post about Anna.

Zuzu's nicknames: Zu, Zuzuzuzu!, ZuBOOM!, ZuRUCKUS!, ZuBANG!, Jackie-O (the name breeder Suzette originally named her), ZuMonster, ZuPhant (as in 'elephant').

Zuzu's personality is very different from Annabelle's. Of the two, Zu is definitely the more careful and cautious. While I wouldn't say she is aloof or unfriendly, she does tend to regard strangers with some trepidation at first, usually preferring to watch them from a distance, rarely approaching them right away. In general, she does not like to be picked up and held. If I pick her up, she gets stiff in my arms, and tries to lean over and jump to the floor. Whenever I do pick her up -- which is actually often, I just can't resist! -- I put her down very, very gently, making sure all four of her feet are firmly on the ground before letting her go. She spreads her little front toes out very wide when I place her down -- like a little grabby tree frog feet!

Zu is more of a "one person" type of cat than Anna. Anna, she loves everybody, where as Zu definitely seems to have a preference for me. Whenever I come home from work, she'll usually rouse herself from wherever she's been sleeping and find me to say hello. Oh, and she has the softest, tiniest little meow I've ever heard! It's more like a squeak than a meow. Once, when she was about 5 months old, she got trapped in the closet. Her meow was so soft I would have never heard her crying to get out. She could have been in there all day! Fortunately, just when I was getting ready to leave for work I notice Anna sitting by the closet door, staring very intently at the crack under the door.

"Anna?" I said. "Is your SISSY in there?!"

I opened the door and out ran Zu, poor thing.

When visitors come to the house, they often have a hard time telling Anna and Zuzu apart, even from the front. I find this very amusing as they look so different to me! Aside from the obvious different faces, Zuzu is more "cobby" than Anna: she has a bigger, chunkier looking body which makes her legs look shorter and more "thunky." Zuzu also has a slightly larger, rounder head than her sister and a different texture to her fur. Where as Anna's fur is long and rather silky, Zu's fur is long and more fluffy -- and also tangles easier than Anna's. Zu has a longer, fluffier tail also -- and her tail has one little white "raccoon stripe" in it. Very, very cute!

Her "points" (ears, feet, tail and little face mask) are mostly light grey, with bits of white mixed in. Her right front foot has a big splotch of white on it -- that WHITE TOE that I think is so cute!

"See my white toe?!"

Both of the girls sleep much of the day, becoming most active in the evening and mornings. Over the past year, Zu has developed a habit of hanging out in the bathroom with me while I get ready for work. While I'm putting on my makeup, she'll sit on the toilet -- sometimes jumping into the sink or onto my makeup table:

She loves playing with Q-Tips. Often when jumps on the toilet, I'll carefully put a Q-Tip on the toilet tank. Within seconds, Zu will bat it off the tank and play with it on the floor:


The past few weeks, she's taken to hiding her head under the shower curtain. I think she thinks I can't see her:

Zuzu can be unpredictable. Sometimes, I'll pick her up and put her on the couch or bed next to me, hoping she'll stay but instead of cuddling, she'll jump down and run off. Other days, she'll jump up right next to me herself and staring purring away.

She does, thankfully, love to be groomed. I started combing both Anna and Zu when they were kittens and both of them love it. As Himalayan fur tangles and mats up quickly, ideally, they should be groomed everyday. I usually groom them in the bathroom, as that's where I keep all my grooming supplies: two combs, blunt-tipped scissors for mats that I can't comb out (and for DOODIE in the "pants;" or fur around the back legs), cotton balls, cosmetic squares and water, of course. If I want to groom them, I just sit on the floor in the bathroom and make a little noise with the combs. Within seconds both of them come running in.

A note about all this "doodie" I keep bringing up: I make it sound like the girls are perpetually covered in poopy. No, no, no, not true, not true. They do, however, sometimes get little, ah, "cling ons" in the long hair around their butt.

Zuzu: Can't HELP it! Fur too LONG!

To make keeping them clean easier, I do keep the hair around their little butts trimmed. It just makes life a little easier for all three of us.

Zuzu in particular, LOVES having her armpits combed. I have no idea why. She lets me roll her over onto her back like she's a stuffed animal and sticks her little paws straight back over her head:

As I'm an early riser, each morning both Anna and Zuzu hang out with me in the study/computer room and follow me around when I get up to get coffee, etc. Both of them like to sit on the desk when I'm on the computer, often blocking my view of the screen:

While Zuzu is the more reserved and careful of the two, she alone has developed a habit of climbing up the beams we have in the bedroom, much to my horror! The beams were here when we moved into the house and as they are purely aesthetic and just get in the way, hopefully this year we will have them taken out. I hate the way they look and have walked into the one that runs from floor to ceiling at night. Zuzu, she makes ME SO NERVOUS when she get up there!

The top beam is about 15 feet in the air!

She gets up there by running up that beam to the left.

Every time Zuzu does this, I freak out and run to get the stepladder to get her down. Sometimes, she lets me get her, other times she'll walk away from me, back and forth, down the length of the beam. Recently, I went into the bedroom and found her up there. Per usual, I panicked and went down to the basement to get the ladder. When I got back, she was already down! I don't how she did it, but it makes me feel better knowing she can get down from there safely. Still, I'll be glad when these stupid beams are gone.

"I be's fine! I HAPPY here! You too much worries!"

I don't know what it is with me and Himalayans. Even after owning these cats for a number of years they still drive me crazy. I remember the first time I saw this breed many years ago. A friend of my mother's had two of them. My sister and I were swimming in her pool and the cats came right over to edge of the pool and watched us.

"Ohhhhhh! What kind of cats are those?" I asked my mom's friend.
"Those are seal-point Himalayans," she replied.

She then went on to say something about how much money they cost. I couldn't believe how cute and beautiful the cats were. They were very curious and friendly, indeed seemed ready to get right in the pool with us.

"Maybe they are called 'seal points' because they like to swim -- like SEALS!" we joked.

Even since then, I went crazy with squealing "Ooooooh so cute!" happy-silly whenever I saw a picture of a Himalayan. Still, the woman's comment about how expensive her cats were stuck in my mind and I therefore never dreamed I'd actually own such a fancy kitty!

Note: a Himalayan from a reputable breeder isn't cheap -- but, especially compared to the cost of purebred dog -- or a horse, my other passion -- they are certainly affordable. And while, yes, there are so many kitties in shelters needing homes, it feels wonderful to own these cats, having admired them so long. I am grateful and awed by them nearly everyday.

It's true: I do still feel the same awe when I look at Anna and Zuzu as I did all those years back when I first saw this breed. It sounds stupid, maybe, but somehow, I can't help but feel like these cats were somehow magically tailor-made for me. I just find them so incredibly cute -- when I look at a Himalayan, it's like everything cute I could ever imagine rolled up in one, squishy kitty!

Sometimes, I think they aren't even cats, but SPACE KITTIES! With their blue eyes, roundy little heads, squishy faces, chubby little bodies and long, fluffy fur they seem almost like they are from another planet!

They are MOON BABIES!

Zuzu: "YAY! I BE MOON BABY!"

So know you know a little more about Zuzu.
Stay tuned for a following post all about Annabelle!