Happy Birthday Sasha!

 Our Sasha is 21 years old today!  

This is about as much enthusiasm as Sasha manages these days, except when it comes to food.  (Photo taken yesterday in the sunroom - while the sun was playing peek-a-boo with the clouds.)

Sasha is a reliable alarm cat, waking mom up between 5:30 and 6:30 a.m. every day.  He does this by getting as close as he can to her face and then yelling in her ear.  Sometimes she can get him to let her sleep more by petting him, but if she dozes off and stops he starts yelling again.

Despite all signs that he is losing his hearing, mom figures it's mostly selective hearing.  He  always hears the can of stinky goodness being opened, and mom needs only to lift the treat bag and he's up and waiting for his share.

He usually doesn't eat all of his meal at one time, preferring to have it served to him over the course of the day.  Mom has learned that breakfast is around 6:30 a.m., finished up mid-morning around 10, dinner is at 4:30 p.m. with the last tidbits finished around 8.  You can be sure if he cleans up his dish in one sitting he hollers for more at the other times.  Kibble is available throughout the day and he does eat it but it frequently comes up shortly thereafter.  

He loves the water fountain, especially if mom puts an ice cube in it.  Sasha likes to talk before and after he's had a drink, perhaps to ensure mom is aware he's getting his necessary intake.  She certainly knows the output is good!  Though he's having some difficulty climbing in and out of the big boxes, Sasha prefers those to the smaller and lower sided box she bought for him.  She's thinking she may need to cut an opening on one end of the big box so he can get in an out easily.  

Sasha's favorite person continues to be his bean brofur C.  If he isn't napping in the sunroom or on the couch, he's downstairs on the extra chair that sits beside C's computer desk.  The other day, he even let C get rid of some mats on his hind end.  Mom is the only one who can clip his nails, but that must be done only on paw at a time.  Sasha is still quite capable of showing his displeasure with a swat or a nip.  

Sasha has always been a tolerant cat, thought occasionally Saku tests his patience by leaping on him as he walks by.  Sasha no longer plays, spending most of his days and nights sleeping.  He has some interesting positions, often with his paw over his face, or this one where he's almost standing on his head!  

Today will be a day like so many others, mom catering to his needs and wants, lots of naps though there won't be any sunshine, and scritches and pets from mom and C.  We're all just grateful that Sasha is with us to celebrate this day.

A old photo, taken about 2007, of Sasha with his sisfur Silver.  The two of them adored each other. 

Happy Birthday Sasha!

Sometime about this date, is Sasha's 20th birthday!  Mom bean says he came to live with her and our fur-sibs in mid-July 2000.  He was adopted from the local Humane Society and his age was approximately 7 weeks.  The mom bean did some math and working backwards she decided that May 25, 2000 would be the date...mostly because that was the day they had moved into their house.

To celebrate this milestone, Sasha will likely sleep much of the day away.  Since that would be mostly boring, mom bean went into her stash of photos to find some more lively to share.

Well, this isn't very lively but is the first photo she could find of Sasha.  It was taken in 2007...about the time she got a digital camera.

This is the first photo of the original 3 S's, Silver on the left, Sasha, and Sami to the right.  

Sasha's favorite bean was (and still is) our bean brofur.  Here he is wearing C's toque - no one else could have put it on his head.

Sasha has always been the tolerant cat. He put up with the continual addition of other cats, Silver, then Sami, next up were the twins Shady and Silas, and then the biggest pest of all, Saku. 

This photo is proof that at one time the two of them actually shared a cat tree!  (Mom bean can't remember this at all and if there wasn't photographic proof she wouldn't have believed it.)

More proof, here's Silas squished into a cat bed with Sasha! For those who haven't met Silas before, he weighed in at 22 lbs. at his heaviest.  Sasha, on the other hand has never weighed more than 10 lbs.

This kitty pile made mom bean smile.  She never could make her bed back then.  Clockwise from the top left are Sasha, Shady, Sami, and Saku.

Okay, this still hasn't been furry lively has it?  

Is this better?  It's Sasha playing with a kicking toy...we think Saku was waiting his turn.

When we moved to this house in 2010, there were four kitties, Sasha, Sami, Silas, and Saku.  The sunny room became Sasha's favorite place to hang out.  He loves the sun on his furs and if mom bean gives him a bit of nip, he's even happier! (This photo is from 2013 which is the year we started this blog.)

Another photo from December 2013.  Sasha is the only kitty who didn't mind the Santa hat, and he never efur tried to take an ornament off the tree.

Sasha also loves to be able to get outside in the summer time, and he especially likes to eat grass.  One year the mom bean even grew grass in the house.

In 2017, Sheldon came to live with us for a little while with his sticky bean and his mom.  Poor Sasha, the kitten loved him too!

These days Sasha spends a fair amount of time sleeping. He's gotten skinny though he hollers like crazy when he wants to be fed.  He's become a fan of the new water fountain - before he would only drink out of bowl in the sink.  Mom bean thinks he's deaf, but his eyesight seems to be good. His favorite person is still the bean brofur with mom bean coming in second.  Sasha doesn't much care for the sticky bean, but like the kittens before him, the sticky bean loves Sasha.

We hope you've enjoyed the trip down memory lane with Sasha.  There won't be any big pawty, Sasha would probably sleep right through it!  But we appawciate our furriends who we know will drop by to wish our special boy a happy day.

Mom bean says every day with Sasha is a blessing.  He's simply a sweet boy, and while she would prefer if he didn't wake her before 6 a.m. (and he does frequently), she's grateful he's been part of our lives for nearly 20 years.  Happy Birthday Sasha!