Ever since Sheila and I went to the beach the other week, my skin has been slowly peeling. It’s kind of hard to evade the baking sun here (it’s out all damn day), and I’ve probably had a whole Summer’s worth already and we’re only just dipping our toes into August.
Anyway, the really sick thing is that my skin sheds and the Kittens eat it. Gross, huh?
This is one of the best races I have ever driven, hands down. The only other races that I can remember coming close were when I raced in Eric Cote’s Sim Racing Mag events at the Nurburgring, using Grand Prix Legends. I remember I raced the Ferrari F2 cars, led every lap, made no errors, set fastest lap and won by a mile… The very next night I repeated the feat in the Honda Challenge event he organised.
I keep saying it, but I absolutely love this circuit. It does remind me of when I felt I knew the Nurburgring inside-out, it gives me the same thrill as I power through the blind crests, blind apex’s, well, blind everything - it’s a real challenge to do well on this track and that makes it all the more satisfying to have put the time in, and get the results out.
Anyway, earlier today I ran a qualifying session and managed to get my time down under three-minutes for the first time. I set a 2:59.895. I joined a Skip Barber Race Series event at 12:00 pm, but found myself running off the track because the Kittens decided they wanted to fight under my desk. With my race ruined I parked, sprayed them with water to stop them fighting, then rejoined so I could run some clean laps and keep my license looking healthy. The Kittens now decided they wanted to rub on my legs… So I had to quit the race and took a major hit to both license and confidence…
Joining the race at 2:00 pm, I was determined to have a good run, but knew I might find it a little difficult… I was the tenth iRated driver out of the thirteen starters and was almost certainly out of place on the grid, starting from second-place!
The green lights came on though and I made a good start, I could have probably taken the lead in the first turn if I had pushed, but decided I would stay in behind him and take second - but out of nowhere in my mirrors I saw a car braking very late - I had to stay to the outside of the turn and unfortunately lost two positions…
For the next few laps I was in a titanic struggle for second-place with two other drivers… We were so evenly matched, it was really close, but everyone raced clean and it was enormous fun…
As I continued to follow the two who had slipped by in the first turn, I knew that really it was going to be very difficult to get by, I felt that I was a little faster, but really found it hard to get close in the places it’s possible to pass!
On lap four of ten, the leader of the race spun his car coming out of the final turn and we all passed him, I was fairly close behind the guy who was now in second-place and was now more determined to make a move…
I managed to move into second-place on lap five when the man infront got a bit sideways and I took my opportunity, I didn’t slow down and pulled off a great little overtaking manouver into the next corner. As I pulled away, the former leader was now breathing down his neck and I was pretty pleased that I wasn’t the one in that position! He did eventually get past, but it took him until the beginning of lap nine.
Nothing else exciting really happened for the rest of the race, but I did make a rather large error on lap nine… I lost control of the car on the back end of the circuit while trying (and being successful at) closing down the leader, this dropped me to fourth-place and filled me with disappointment for a few moments until I realized that if I pushed hard I might be able to close the four-second gap to the man in third. I pushed really hard and was able to close him down, and got as close as eight-tenths from him, but finished one and a half seconds back when I realized it was a lost cause.
So, was I disappointed with a fourth-place? Not really… My license went up, my iRating went up, I proved to myself that I can do a clean race if I don’t push myself over the edge and really, that’s all I need to take away from it. I still seem to be getting faster and my iRating has been in an upward trend lately, it’s a big boost. 
I lost four incident points total and set my fastest lap on lap six. It was my first time lapping under three-minutes in a race and was a 2:59.933.
If you didn’t know, we have three cats. We had an adult cat that has a shyness problem, we got a kitten a few weeks back, and recently got another kitten (the brother of the first one).
The reason we took the third cat was because we either took it, or it was getting put to sleep. It has Cerebellar Hypoplasia and that means it’s motion skills are very bad. As it was the brother of our kitten, we took it because the adult cat spends most of her time hiding and we felt that the kittens could play with each other.
I think people spend way too much money on toys for their adult Cat or new Kitten. Cats are a breed that spend their time either running around crazily attacking everything, eating, pooping or (this is the big one), sleeping. The main toy a Cat or Kitten seems to need, is either another Cat or Kitten, but there are a lot of really simple toys you can provide a Cat or Kitten to keep them occupied and happy. More about toys later, let’s talk about Kitten and Cat behavior first…
If the Kitten is taken away from it’s siblings before 13 weeks, it may be too early for it to have learned how not to hurt when it plays. Other Kittens it may play with will yelp and scream, teaching the aggressive Kitten when to let go.
It is very important that you realize that when you’re playing with a Kitten, you teach it how it’s supposed to play as an adult.
If you allow the Kitten to attack your hands or feet (because when it’s Kitten, it doesn’t hurt much), don’t be surprised if every time you have visitors you have to lock the adult Cat in another room. Your adult Cat will think it’s OK to sink it’s (now painful) claws or teeth into your visitors because you taught it so as a Kitten.
Also, no, it isn’t OK to do it with gloves on, to dangle clothes for your kitten to climb up, etc. Think what damage your Kitten will be able to do when fully grown or if the Kitten chooses to climb up that expensive dress in the wardrobe when you’re not looking!
Your Kitten will recognize very quickly what is a toy, what it can touch, what it’s OK to bite or claw on, but only if you remain consistent in your actions and teaching. There are various methods of training via rewards and punishment, but from personal experience I have found the following to be true…
Cats don’t really seem to bothered about treats or positive attention (totally the opposite of my experience with Dogs). They will come to you for a stroke or to sleep on your knee when they feel like it! You really will have difficulty forcing them to do anything that they don’t want to do.
In order to train a Kitten I’ve found a need to develop a few levels of disciplinary action and I’ve already (with an approximately 16-week old Kitten) seen very positive results. Remember, all the punishments must be done while the Kitten is doing the bad activity. If you miss it (while trying to find your water sprayer or something), let it go, get the Kitten next time. Those levels of punishment are…
1. Moving the Kitten away from the problem. If the Kitten is doing something you don’t want it to, pick it up and move it away. If the Kitten returns to the activity, pick it up and move it away again. If you do it enough times, the Kitten will learn. I would advise you do not pick up the Kitten and present it with another toy to ‘take it’s mind off the problem’ - this could confuse the Kitten as it may see the toy as a reward.
2. Hiss whenever the Kitten does the activity. The Hiss is a form of warning and initially your hiss may be followed by the Kitten hissing back at you - this is OK. You are not attacking the Kitten, you are ‘protecting’ whatever the Kitten was chewing/clawing on like you would if you were a Cat and the Kitten were attacking you. You don’t even need to move when you hiss at the Kitten - as long as you’re sure you’ll be heard.
3. Hiss and push the Kitten away from the activity. This helps the Kitten to associate the hiss with contact - showing it there might actually be something to be scared of. Additionally it incorporates the benefits of all those in punishment #1 above. Adding hissing from close range will have a good effect on the Kitten - expect to get hissed back at, when this happens, stand your ground and the Kitten should move off to do something else. Again, do not present the Kitten with something else to do, let it make it’s own mind up. Also, don’t be too afraid of hurting the Kitten if you’re shoving it away from something, a couple of Kittens playing and fighting really shows how much physical punishment they can take!
4. Spray the Kitten with water. Cats do not like water too much and your objective when spraying the Kitten is for it to have a bad memory. If it returns to the activity and you are consistent and spray it again, it will associate the bad memory of being wet with the activity it was doing. Do not chase the Kitten around with the spray bottle once it has moved away. Also when the Kitten has stopped doing bad things, wait five minutes then cuddle the kitten up in a towel to dry it off (or allow the other Kittens or Cats you might have to lick the wetness off the fur).
5. Spray the Kitten with water - and hiss. This helps to associate the punishment with the bad activity better.
To give an example, our Kitten likes to sleep on my knee while I work during the day. When she first came she would literally dig her claws into my clothes (and skin) on my legs and climb up. I reacted by hissing at her and staring at her - nothing else - she would retract her claws and drop in stunned silence. She would then walk away for a moment, come back and as she stood on my foot (probably about to climb again) I picked her up and put her on my knee - over and over again. When I didn’t notice her down there and she climbed up, I hissed again. She now walks up to my leg and taps me on the leg with her paw when she wants up. If you’re going to do this though, make sure you get the timing right! You don’t want to be hissing at your Cat for actually being sat on your knee - so catch them at the right spot (dangling from your flesh!)
Cat Toys
Like I said earlier, people spend way too much money on toys for their pets. I work from home in the same room where the Kitten spends 99.9% of her time, I see everything she plays with, here’s a rough percentage breakdown of the time our kitten has spent with various toys…
80% of the time - fighting with adult Cat (the Kitten always starts it).
I think it’s very important that any Cat has another Cat around, because although they are not really sociable animals, they do seem to get lonely. The Kitten and Cat do an awful lot of fighting and if you’re introducing two cats who’re either not from the same litter, or greatly differ in age, you have to be really careful… A Kitten’s only defense is a hiss and if an adult Cat wanted to kill the Kitten, it could, easily. Seek help if you’re doing this, because we were lucky to have a very placid adult Cat that always lets go if the Kitten yelps.
15% of the time - running around in “stalk mode”, not playing with any toy.
Our Kitten loves it when the door is open so she can run down the hall. She sounds like a horse and she runs back and forth for a long time before getting tired and having a nap to get ready for the next time! When the door is closed she runs about climbing and jumping onto the off the Kitty Condo we have, jumping onto and off the bed and just generally stalking/hunting nothing in particular!
2% of the time - playing in empty boxes.
The holes in the side of Coca-Cola boxes and the noise they make when you tap on them seems to really excite a Kitten who happens to be sitting inside it, our Kitten just loves jumping ontop of the thing!
2% of the time - knocking various objects around the floor.
Usually our Kitten is busy running around like a nutcase and she’ll see something she wants to attack, so she does! We have a few objects on the floor for her, but none of them were bought as a Cat toy… We have a few metal Christmas Tree ornaments with bells in, we have some bottle caps, we have some plastic egg-shaped things (that did contain candy) and her most favorite - we have the little foam circles that came from a blank CD spool. Yes, you read that right, the favorite toy of both our Kitten - and adult Cat too! - is a little bit of foam that was part of the packaging of a spool of blank CD’s!
1% of the time - playing with her “Crazy Circle” toy.
While the Crazy Circle toy is excellent and our Kitten loves it, it plays a really small part in her daily play compared to other, cheaper items. Variation is important, but your Kitten doesn’t care how much money you spend…
Above you can see a video of our Kitten playing with the Crazy Circle. You can buy one from Amazon (USA) Small
As I write this, the kitten is asleep on my knees underneath the computer desk. Here’s a quick video of her playing with one of her toys last night. It’s a fantastic toy, if you’d like one for your cat, you can buy it below (our fully-grown adult cat loves it, too).
Tada! Alaska is far left, Chewwy is far right.
Tada! Alaska is far left, Chewwy is far right.
Sheila and I want a dog, but can’t afford one - and this place would probably get torn apart even with me being around to train. Our current cat is about 14 years old and is scared of everything except other cats, Sheila and sometimes me. It never goes outside (infact it shows signs of terror whenever the door gets opened) and sometimes seems to show signs it might be lonely. So, as cats cost next to nothing, we decided to go the cat route - as this doesn’t stop us getting a dog when the time/place is right and we have the money.
Probably our new cat, Alaska (the white one).
Our older Cat, Jewel.
This image was posted in a forum, I thought it was funny - especially because of the text. 
