Anna and Zuzu's (and Goma's) Family Tree!

Anna and Zuzu are the first cats I've ever owned who have a pedigree as all my other kitties were strays and rescues. While I'm all for adopting shelter kitties, I've really enjoyed the unique experience of being able to see not only the mom and dad, but also grandparents of my cats.

So today, I bring you Annabelle and Zuzu's Family Tree! Goma fans, please note this Family Tree is Goma's also -- he shares the same mom and dad as my girls, but is from a later litter.

First, meet their daddy Ch Kasiakatz Read Set Go of Cozycreek, aka "Tonka:"

Photos courtesy of Suzette Garey
Please visit Suzette's Cozycreek links found to right of this page.

I love this last one -- look at his back feet!!!

Tonka is a flame-point Himalayan. He has the "extreme" or show-quality flat face. His breeder Suzette described him as having an exceptionally sweet personality. I had the honor of meeting Tonka when we picked up the girls back in December of 2006. My husband, daughter and I were playing with Anna and Zu, and all of a sudden there's Suzette with this gigantic pile of FLUFF in her arms! Tonka was absolutely beautiful, adorable and BIG -- I wanted to pick him up and lug him around all day. He is now retired from breeding and in his forever home.

Quick note on our visit to Suzette's home: at the time we bought the girls, I think she had about 7 or 8 adult Himmies and Persians at her house. I was in heaven -- this was the first time I had seen such beautiful, fluffy, flatfaced kitties other than in pictures! The cats were all loose in her home, not in cages, but hanging out happily with the family. After two minutes in Suzette's home, I knew we were getting our girls from a loving, responsible breeder.

Now meet Tonka's mommy and daddy, or Anna and Zuzu's grandpa and grandma:

Here's Grandpa, Ch Phylcats Walkin Bluline or "Lovey:"

And Grandma, Kimpaw's Maya of Kasiakatz or "Maya:"

Photos courtesy of Cathy Best

Both Grandpa and Grandma were owned by Cathy Best at Kasiakatz Persians and Himalayans. (I warn you, DO NOT click on that link UNLESS you are sitting down! Cathy's site is PACKED with adorable, breath-taking Himmies and Persians! Be prepared to swoon!) Lovey is still producing beautiful kittens at Kasiakatz while Maya is now retired and in her forever home.

Lovey drives me crazy! He is soooooooooooo cute!
And I am delighted to learn the girls have some TORTIE in their background -- that must be where Anna gets her "talky gene" as every Tortie I ever knew always had a lot to say!

Now meet Anna and Zuzu's mommy, Cozycreek Wish Upon a Star, or "Star:"

At 16 weeks

Photos courtesy of Suzette Garey

Star is seal-point Himmie (I think! I get confused with all the different "points!") with a more "traditional" or "doll faced" nose. Just look at how blue her eyes are! Now we know where Goma got his eyes! Star is also now retired from breeding and in her forever home.

Now meet Star's mommy and daddy, and the second set of grandparents:

Here's Grandpa, Ch Sue-Ral's Utakmyspeechaway or "Josh:"

And Grandma, Indian Summer of Cozycreek or "Piper:"

Photos courtesy of Suzette Garey

LOOK at that Josh!
LOOK at that smooshy, squishy little face!
He looks like a little grumpy bear!

Zuzu: "He NOT grumpy! Just his flat face!"

Um, right -- sorry, Zuzu.

And look how beautiful Piper is -- her face looks so sweet!

It is so interesting to me to see how this "family tree" or breeding manifests in Anna and Zu. While the blue-cream point coloring is the result of a mix of both Tonka and Star's combined coloring, Anna definitely has Star's face and more delicate body:



While Zu has Tonka's face and chunkier or "cobbier" body:

They both have Tonka's lighter blue eye color.

Also interesting is how their personalities were pretty much determined at an early age: at nine weeks old, Anna was curious, fearless, loved to be held and kinda "silly." At the same age, Zuzu was friendly but more cautious and while she follows me everywhere, she does not like to be held. Today, at two years old, their personalities are exactly the same.

Finally, here's a riddle for you:

Q: What happens when you mix a Josh with a Piper and a Star and a Lovey and a Maya and a Tonka?
A:
Special thanks to Suzette Garey and Cathy Best for photos.

Zuzu: "Weeeeeeeeee want fancy names too! I can has Ch Zuzu Eighth Thunky Wonder of the World of Cozycreek an sheeeee can has Ch Annabelle Banana See Mah Belly of Cozycreek!"

Kim: "Um, Zuzu, you guys can't be 'Ch,' because neither of you are champions."

Zuzu: "WHAT YOU MEAN WE NOT CHAMPIONS?!!!"

Kim: "Uh oh ..."

Annabelle!

Finally, the promised ALL ABOUT ANNABELLE post!

Anna, December 2006

Anna is a "doll-faced" Himalayan, meaning she doesn't have the extreme or "flat face" that show quality Himmies have. This makes her eyes easier to clean. While she does get "goo," it cleans up quickly and easily as she doesn't have the folds around her nose like Zuzu.

Though Annabelle is her real name, we usually call her Anna or "B."

This happened as gradually her named shortened from Annabelle to AnnaB to finally just "B."

Anna's personality is quite different from Zuzu's. Anna is WAY more curious than Zu and has been from the day we brought her home. She is either very brave, very trusting -- or very stupid, as it seems she is afraid of nothing! Unlike Zuzu, Anna LOVES to be held -- in fact, she will stand on her hind legs and very gently knit her claws on my leg, begging to be picked up:

Visitors don't bother her -- she'll come right up to new people and is fine if they hold her. When she was younger, she was completely fascinated whenever my 8-year old daughter Mia took a a a bath. Anna would sit right on the edge of the tub and stick her paws in the water.
Eventually, she did fall in -- three times!
But, the next time Mia took a tub, Anna would be right back on the side of the tub, ready for more water fun.

Unlike Zuzu, she isn't much bothered by Carter, our 9 month old German Shepherd puppy. When he was smaller,Anna would lie, belly up, right in front of him. These days as Carter nears 80 pounds and is still learning -- slowly! -- not to chase her and to play GENTLY, she avoids him more than she used to. But as long his licking stays gentle, she'll still roll over and purr as he does this.

Anna and Carter, about 6 months old. He's much bigger now!

And boy oh boy does Anna roll -- and rolls and rolls and rolls! I think her motto is "Look at my belly!"

Ever since she was a baby, Anna's always had a very inquisitive/"Who?ME?" look on her face.

Picture by breeder Suzette.

Today, at over a year and a half old, she still has a similar look:

"OH! What you has there?!"

Anna is also GREAT BIG TROUBLE! Zuzu, trouble too, but Anna, oooh, she big trouble!

See?

"I do this."

"Will TOO get lamps!"

"I WHACKS you!"

"WILL eat this!"

"Too, eat THIS!"

Another one of her nicknames it The Anna Bear, so-named for her penchant of standing on her hind legs:

Picture by breeder Suzette. The very scary ANNA BEAR!

Again, The SCARY ANNA BEAR, one year old.

Anna is also much more vocal than her sister. She has much louder "meow" and ain't afraid to use it!

"Meow!" = Pick me up!
"MEEow!" = Did you stop petting me? Pet me more!
"Meeeow!" = I wanna go in the basement!
"MeeeeOW!" = I wanna go outside!

She big noisy baby!

She does want to go outside. Up until now, I haven't let her as I was afraid if she got scared, she'd wiggle out of a harness and I'd lose her!

Anna: Do TOO wanna go outside!
Kim: But it's too rough out there for you!
Anna: Do SO wanna go outside! WILL go outside!
Kim: But if you got lost, you're just a big, white, fluffy BABY and you'd stand out like a sore thumb 'cuz you're so white -- and predators would EAT you, Anna!
Anna: WOULDN'T!
Kim: They would, Anna!
Anna: WOULDN'T ! Go outside!

See? But now, after seeing Goma Brother and Sachie's harness, I'm thinking I'll get one of those for Anna. I feel mean keeping her in. She cries at the door when I'm outside on the porch, begging and begging to come out.

Too, oooh, she FAT! Even though Zuzu is a bigger cat frame-wise, I bet Anna out weights Zu by at least 4 pounds. I'll have to watch this. She may have to go on a diet.

Anna: HATE diet! WILL eat! Wanna eat what YOU eat, too!

So that's a little about Annabelle. I think my favorite thing about her is how I think she would literally let me hold her all day! Whenever I need to hold a kitty -- and sometimes you really do just need to hold a kitty! -- I pick up Anna and walk all around the house with her. She loves it -- will start grooming herself and purring as I hold her.

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!

BABIES and A Bit of History

This morning, I thought I'd post some pictures of the girls when they were kittens. They were CHRISTMAS KITTIES, as we picked them up from (breeder) Suzette on December 23, 2006, one day before Christmas Eve.

A bit of background on deciding to purchase Anna and Zu: as previously mentioned, albeit not all that understandably by Anna and Zuzu here, I lost my Himalayan, Little Girl, in November of 2006. As I was keeping another blog at that time, I wrote rather a great deal on the whole experience of her illness and finally, death. Likely someday I'll post some of that here, along with the writings I did when Smoosh passed only four months later, as I still think about both of them nearly every day. But briefly, Little Girl died from a combination of diabetes and kidney failure, Smoosh from kidney failure. Both of their deaths were -- pretty horrible and I took it very hard.

Little Girl:

The pain of losing them and the whole grief process showed me, in a sense, how lucky I'd been. I'd never really experienced the death of an animal -- or person -- I loved before, save for some relatives who had been ill for sometime and I'd had time to prepare.

When Little Girl died in November, I had a very hard time accepting that she was gone. In my desperation to somehow hold on to her, I tried to find her breeder, thinking I could find out more about her; her parents; something. I had adopted her from a family in Vermont who was going through a divorce and needed to find a new home for her. I didn't know that much about her past, other than she had indeed been purchased from a Vermont breeder.

So I began doing Internet searches for Himalayan breeders in Vermont. I never did find Little Girl's breeder, but along the way I found Cozycreek Cattery and Suzette. I had sent Suzette a picture of Little Girl, asking her if she could tell me what kind of color point she was -- I thought maybe she was tortie point, as she had some orange in her; or blue point, but I wasn't sure. Suzette was very kind and patient, as in my grief, I probably sent her a million emails. She was also able to tell me Little Girl had been a blue-cream point and that she was a "dollfaced" Himmie, meaning she a longer nose then the "flatfaced" or "show quality" Himmies. She wrote that she understood I might not be ready for a new kitten so soon, but she did happen to have some blue-point female kittens available, one in particular named Anna Banana who was also dollfaced.

I didn't think I was ready for a new kitten at all -- but I kept going back to Suzette's site and looking at the pictures of the litter and at Anna. And going back. And going back. After about a week, I decided I wanted Anna, especially after Suzette described her personality, which was and remains utterly sweet and very curious.

Ah, then ... I started thinking about how Anna might be lonely. I knew at 15 years old Smoosh probably wouldn't be interested in playing with a kitten but I couldn't really afford two. When I emailed this concern to Suzette, she replied that she had a flatfaced female who she had been thinking about saving for a breeder friend, but that they had decided she was not breeding quality as her nose was turning out to be slightly off center. Even though Suzette assured me that Zu's nose would in all likelihood straighten out she offered to reduce Zu's price.

So we got two!

Zuzu's nose had indeed straightened out and I'm thrilled to have both a dollfaced Himmie like Little Girl and a flatfaced Himmie -- I never thought I have one of those FANCY FANCY SHOWKITTIES!

Zuzu: (proud) I be FANCY!

I cannot begin to tell you how much having Anna and Zu around helped ease my grief for Little Girl, and three months later, again after I lost Smoosh. They did not of course replace my lost kitties, but whenever I missed them, it was a huge comfort to hold a fat, baby Himalayan kitten.

To be honest, I felt a significant degree of guilt buying two kittens, with so cats and kittens in shelters needing homes -- both Smoosh and Little Girl had been rescues after all.
I no longer feel guilty about this.

Everyone's grief process is unique to them.
Me, I needed these babies very much.

Back to when Anna and Zuzu first arrived: Suzette had been emailing and posting pictures of Anna and Zuzu's litter for about a month before we picked them up. As I result, I knew sort of what they looked liked -- but I had no idea how LITTLE they'd be! When I finally met them at Suzette's house, I was almost afraid to hold them -- so tiny!

The drive back to CT was just under five hours. Anna cried for the first 15 minutes or so, then the both of them slept like rocks. When we got them home about 8PM, they burst out of their little kitty carrier and starting playing as if nothing had changed! I was afraid they'd miss their mommy or their home or be freaked out by the long drive and the new house, but they seemed to be right at home from day one.

The following pictures were all taken on their first night or the first week in their new home:

Anna: ooooh, so bad!

Zu with Christmas paper

Christmas morning

Anna: "I do stinky doodie again on my fluffy pants. I sorry!"

Zuzu

The next pictures were taken by Suzette when the girls were very young -- maybe 5 weeks old, I'm guessing:

Baby Zu:

And Baby Anna:

The last two pics are some of the very precious few I have of the girls with Smoosh. At first, Smoosh hissed at them if they came near her. That was her way with new cats: she'd hiss and growl if approached, but never attacked or initiated contact herself. After about a month, she'd fully accept the new cat.

Here's Smoosh during the first week or so with Little Girl: And a few months later:

With Anna and Zuzu:

Smoosh and Anna

Whew!
Didn't mean to make that so long!
Hope you enjoyed the kitten pictures -- coming soon, VIDEOS of baby Anna and Zu!