Charlie the cat

Adopted on January 12th, 2007
Charlie's photo gallery

Yves and I adopted Charlie the cat on January 12th, 2007, from Les Amis des Chats in Miremont de Quercy, France (www.les-amis-des-chats.com/) about an hour and a half away from Toulouse. See a photo of Charlie, before we adopted him.

When we adopted him, Charlie was somewhere between a year and 18 months old, treated against fleas, neutered and toilet trained. He also has a microchip in his neck (now mandatory in France) in case he gets lost, so that he can be returned to us. He's very well behaved, friendly, extremely sociable and very clean.

Cat on a ledge with a 6 storey drop below him
March 31st, 2007: Sneaky cat on a very thin ledge. There's a 6-storey drop from where he's sitting.
Cat face down in a blanket, taking a nap
March 31st, 2007: Nap time -- Charlie either sleeps face down or flat on his back with his little paws in the air. It's so cute to watch!
Cat looking like a gargoyle, peering down over the street from the balcony
March 31st, 2007: Charlie the gargoyle.
Cat getting up from a sunbaking session on a balcony in the sunshine with conifers and violas in pots behind him
February 20th, 2007: Finished sunbaking.
Cat sitting on a balcony in the sunshine with conifers and violas in pots behind him
February 20th, 2007: Sunbaking on the main balcony.
Cat on top of a tall cat tree
February 10th, 2007: Charlie atop his cat tree. The only way we can get him to go on his tree at all is if we put him on it. He doesn't stay on it for long after that though, so this pic is a bit fuzzy -- trying to catch him on it! Cat head poking out of torn hole in a box
Feb 9th, 2007: There was an easier way out of the box to his left, but mid-play, he does the strangest things! Cat sitting in a box watching a piece of string with afternoon sunshine reflecting on him
January 30th, 2007: Cat in a box, playing in the afternoon. Cat sitting on a balcony watching snow on the brown leaves and trees
January 29th, 2007: Cool cat. Charlie watches the snow from the main balcony. Cat playing in a cardboard box
Another of Charlie's hunting grounds, 28th January, 2007 (Note the picture on the box. He likes the box of the cat tree better than the actual cat tree! Oh no...) Cat jumping out of cat house upside down
Charlie gets a bit enthusiastic, 28th January, 2007 Cat house
Charlie's hunting grounds, 28th January, 2007 Cats eyes
Beautiful Charlie, 2008 Seafood
Charlie investigates a seafood platter, January 2008 Cat condo, cat grass, cat house, food and water bowls
Charlie's playground, 25th January, 2007
Charlie at New Years Eve December 31, 2007 Charlie sips a Pina Colada
Charlie sips a Pina Colada at the bar. December 2007.

Update: May 2008

Charlie has adapted well to his new home and is doing very well. He's now at a stage where we can take him for a walk and let him off the lead and he'll come back to us when we call him. He loves running up trees after birds, snuggling up to us on the couch and going for a ride in the car to Saint Orens — where we often go on Sundays for a BBQ. He also plays the Bacardi cat whenever we have parties, strolling confidently among our guests like he owns the joint and playing with corks from the bottles of wine and champagne that find their way to the floor. Charlie sleeps in the wardrobe
Charlie sleeps in the wardrobe. January 2008.

February 18th, 2007

Charlie has finally started sleeping at night, instead of meowing for hours on end! He likes to snuggle up on our bed at night and at around 6am he playfully bites my heels to make me get up and feed him, play with him or change his litter box. The other night he sat in the middle of the bed and rubbed his head under my hand (which woke me up) and continued snuggling my hand for about 10 minutes! Very cute, and a much preferable way of waking me up than the caterwauling he used to do when we first got him. Charlie the cat in black and white taking a nap
Charlie takes a nap

January 16th, 2007

After our morning play session today, Charlie the cat and I went for a walk around the building! He did very well on his new harness, which we bought last night, and the only problems we had were with nosey and inconsiderate neighbours. After two hours of walking down five flights of stairs, sniffing every door and step, then exploring the courtyard outside the building, we took the lift back up to the flat and he enjoyed a piece of chicken as a reward before taking a nice long nap.

January 15th, 2007

Lots of play again today and lots of practice on the lead. Tonight we spent lots of money on him, and got some new toys, a new scratch board, a cat carrier and a soft little house that he can hide in when he wants to be alone. We also bought a harness to make our walks easier, and wire to cover the bars on the kitchen balcony so that he can go out anytime and not run the risk of slipping through the bars.

January 14th, 2007

We played a lot today and practised walking on the lead. Tonight he was absolutely over the moon when we gave him half a fresh chicken breast from the butcher for his dinner! Nothing but the best for this little cat. :) In the evening we played a bit more to tire him out so that he'd sleep through the night (the first two nights we got woken up a few times during the night -- can't have that.). We introduced him to a mechanical rabbit that hops and wriggles his ears and nose. He didn't know what to make of it! He loves playing with his lead. We make it move like a snake and he creeps up on it and grabs it.

January 13th, 2007

This morning we let the cat explore the kitchen balcony and he stuck his head through the bars to see what was out there, but he didn't make any attempt to jump or try to go through the bars — good boy!

His favourite spot at the moment is on the floor between the bar and the front door and look at the loungeroom. Sometimes he sits on the couch and sometimes he sits on a bar stool either at the window in our room or the window in the lounge. He used the litter box for the first time this afternoon and seems to have the hang of it, which is a relief!

January 12th, 2007

In the car, he only took 10 minutes to claw his way out of the cardboard cat carrier that he came in and suddenly a little head poked through. A second later, he was on my lap and so we pulled over for a few minutes to let him explore the car and find a comfy spot. He eventually climbed into the plastic tray we'd bought for his litter box, which we lined with his own blanket. He stayed in that on the back seat for the hour-long trip home, watching the shadows play across the seat and I sat in the back with him to make sure he didn't jump on Yves while he was driving.

When we got him back to our flat, he made himself at home right away and didn't even bother with his safe room, preferring to sit on the couch and get to know us. Later on he explored the flat quite happily, ate some cat biscuits, drank a bit of water and meowed from time to time. During the night he meowed quite loudly once every 3 hours, so I got up and walked around the flat with him to help him feel better. He seemed to appreciate this and then came back to our room to sleep at the foot of the bed.

Grey and white cat looking at purple flowers, kalanchoe and ivy trailing down balcony.
On the kitchen balcony Grey and white cat snuggled into beige and light brown fleece blanket
Nap time, 16th January, 2007 Grey and white cat nose to nose with an electronic white rabbit
Playmate, 15th January, 2007 Grey and white cat sitting on a blanket
January 12th, 2007. Charlie has been with us almost 24 hours here.

Narelle and Yves' Photojournal