Hello! it’s been a while… I know! Life’s been, how shall I put it… entertaining…yep, let’s call it that. Lately, I have been more active on Instangram @helena_nenena, you can follow me there as well.

Since I was last here, we have adopted two cats, Vlad and Mina. I will let you guess which one is which. They are adorable! They brought so much love and cuteness to our lives, but they are also soooooo much work. I would like to share with you the process of adopting pets in Germany, and 5 surprising facts about house cats. I would love to hear about your experience too.

Adopting in Germany:

• Shelters have many cats, normally very young cats/kittens. The facilities are very clean and you can immediately see that the cats are well looked after and well socialised.
• Before adopting, they do a sort of vetting process to see if your home is suited to the pet you want to adopt. This is very basic, they just looked a some photos of the flat, and asked about our experience with pets.
• The animals are all castrated, vaccinated and chipped before they are given up for adoption. The chip is then registered in your name.

I know this is not the process in all countries, so I was very pleased with the whole process here. Is it the same where you live?

Now, 5 surprising facts about having house cats (or just cats or just our cats):

• Green thumb – They love to “garden”. In other words, they will destroy your house plants! Most house plants are also poisonous to cats.
• Privacy – They are more dependent on you than free roaming cats, they will follow you everywhere, including the shower and the toilet. Vlad loves to stare at the shower-head for ages, and Mina loves to sit behind me when I am on the toilet….(charming!)
• Sleep – yep, this one is a biggy. No more sleep. These two little ones wake me up around 5.30 e-v-e-r-y d-a-y! But they do it in most adorable ways – lots of purring, headbutting, cute little paws on my face…they pull all the cute punches.
• Vocalisations – they say that cats only vocalise with humans, well, these two vocalise a lot. They call us and each other all the time.
• Personality – They have totally different personalities. Vlad is easy to train, he plays fetch and loves clicker training. He loves to cuddle, but he is also more demanding. He wants to be entertained, groomed, fed… he must always be in the middle of the action. Mina is reserved. She comes when called and loves to be petted, but is more economical with her interactions and does not enjoy being picked up. They cuddle and fight most days.

I would love to hear about your pets and pet adopting experiences.