Feline Friday - Dolly

Today it's Dolly's birthday. Ten years ago Dolly was born together with her 4 sisters, Jolly, Molly, Polly and Holly and her brother called Ollie. Unfortunately after a few days poor Ollie died from a lung infection. So we were left with a litter of 5 cute little Maine Coon girls. Maine Coon cats are known for their gentle disposition but our Dolly stood out from the rest because of her extreme sweetness of character. She is such a gentle soul.
When the kittens were 12 weeks old they all went to live in their new homes. Dolly went to live with a dear friend of mine. My friend already had another cat and thought that Dolly and her Muisje would become great friends but it was not to be. Muis did not accept sweet little Dolly and refused to eat for days on end. So, with great sorrow in their hearts my friend and her hubby returned Dolly to us after one week.

Dolly was very welcome of course and after her return we quickly decided to keep her on as she was so very sweet and we felt we couldn't live without her anymore. It's a decision we have never regretted, Dolly is such a great companion and lots of fun too because, although she is very sweet and gentle, she can be very naughty from time to time and she amuses us with her funny antics.
Dolly has several nicknames among which is Giant Squirrel for obvious reasons.
Have you ever seen a cat with such a long and fluffy tail? And Dolly lives up to her nickname in more ways than one, see for yourself.
Of all our cats Dolly is the one who likes the outdoors the most. She loves playing in the garden, running around in it chasing butterflies and leaves and overseeing the head gardener and under-gardener.
Dolly is great friends with all the other cats at Bliss and they like to have lunch together in the conservatory.
Anti clock-wise: Dolly, Merlijn, Surprise, Dolly's mother Vita and Kadootje. Surprise and Kadootje are also mother and daughter. It's very difficult to take a pic of all the 8 cats together as some finish their lunch quite quickly.
The conservatory is one of Dolly's favorite places to be, especially when the sun is shining! Here she is with her mum Vita on the left and Ruskie friend Bebop on the right.
My Russian Blue boy Merlijn is totally in love with Dolly, he always wants to snuggle up close to her but his love and devotion is not returned, Dolly merely tolerates him. She always boxes his ears first before he is allowed to snuggle up close. Well, we always knew that redheads were temperamental. ;-)
As a kitten Dolly loved to climb trees and she still does now that she's 10 years old. Here she is climbing down the walnut tree and jumping on the tree bench. The first time she climbed the walnut tree I had to get a ladder to get her out. She was so high up I almost couldn't reach her. She has this great trust in me because when I grabbed her with one arm (with the other I hung on for dear life to the ladder, I'm afraid of depths, remember?) Dolly put both her front paws on my shoulder and allowed me to lift her from the tree. And with Dolly clinging on to me while I held her with one arm, we safely reached terra firma. Never a dull moment with Dolly around!

Happy birthday my darling Dolly Daisy long may you live to enrich my life with your presence!
copyright 2007 : Y.E.W. Heuzen

When I play with my cat, who knows whether she is not amusing herself with me more than I with her?
Michel de Montaigne 1533-1592