“Kotyk” Means “Kitty” in Ukrainian

 Meet Kotyk! His name means “Kitty” in Ukrainian. Kotyk is a cat of Tania D’Avignon. Tania is very known American photographer of Ukrainian background. Her photographs have been published in National Geographic Magazine, USA Today, Boston Globe, Harvard Press etc. As Tania’s Facebook fan page said, “for the past 18 years the photographer has been sharing her time between Newton, Massachusetts, USA and Kyiv, Ukraine. A graduate of Maryland Institute, College of Art Tania has traveled the world with her camera. Her work has been shown internationally in more than 80 personal exhibits and published in hundreds of books, magazines and newspapers. She is the author of an album of photographs "Simply Ukraine" and a Fulbright Scholar.”

To all these titles I can add, I am so happy that I know Tania personally – she is a wonderful woman and amazing person, a mother and a grandmother, and I was very glad to find out that Tania is a cat person, like me! And she got a cat with very Ukrainian name!

I asked Tania to tell more about her Kotyk, and this is a story she told me – with a sad beginning and with happy-end.

So, Kotyk is 5 years old, he is from Bronx, New York. Tania’s daughter Larissa is a teacher in New York. One kid from school where Larissa works found this cute black-and-white kitty on a street and wanted to bring to school. School security took the cat from a kid on an entrance and explained, that there no pets allowed in a school. Larissa just happened to enter a school door, she heard a conversation and she convinced the school security to keep this kitty until classes are finished – she said, she will take a little fellow home. So she did.

The kitty was very weak and not healthy, but Larissa, her husband Volodia and husband’s friend took a good care about the cat and they brought him back to a great cat’s shape.

Larissa and Volodia were visiting Tania every weekend and Kotyk (that’s how they named the cat) was traveling with them. In few months everyone has noticed that Kotyk is behaving very interesting – when it was time for Larissa and Volodia to leave, Kotyk simple was disappearing and showing up at Tania’s place when they gone. So, it was only decision in this case – that cat will stay with Tania, period.

So he stays happily with Tania and, as I can see, he is catching a lot from her artistic personality. Take a look at the picture below – Kotyk is reviewing an art:

Kotyk also likes watching cartoons about mice on TV:

Kotyk is nice and polite – on the picture below he is wishing a Happy Valentine Day to Tania’s granddaughter Alanna:

And finally, Kotyk is peacefully resting in Tania’s arms, after working hard online all day. As you can see, he is advanced cat and he knows what technologies are! And he is just happy to be with Tania :)

Kitty-cat is Showing to a Bear Who is a Boss in the Household

That’s a good kitty! Not scared of anyone, even of bear! Priceless video!

Something New for Easter: Beaded Easter Egg With A Kitty On It

Bunny Rabbit is a symbol of Easter – it’s a worldwide known fact. But as a cat person, I wanted something cat-related to my Easter. And I got it! I got this cute Easter Egg with a kitty on it - bought it in 2011 in Ukraine, during my family trip to this amazing country. Well, take a look what I got:

It is unusual in three ways.

1. Traditionally Ukrainian Easter Eggs are painted. This one is a modern one – a beaded Easter Egg.
2. It is not simply beaded, like, patterned and that’s it – this one got a cute little black-grey kitty on it – what else cat person like me can wish for Easter?
3. Also, my beaded Easter Egg with cute black-grey kitty-cat got can be hanged on a wall, on a ceiling, even on a Christmas tree as a Christmas ornament – I am not sure if it’s proper from a traditional point of view, but it is handy and multifunctional. And I love multifunctionality! And I LOVE cats and cat-related stuff! 

Murchyk’s Winter Hunting

“Wait!! What is this?!” – Our Murchyk cat is all attention: he is on his winter hunting.

“Well, I was hunting almost to the dark and didn’t catch anything today, but I still you beloved kitty… Will you let me in please?”

“There! Good to be at home and relax after a tough hunting day!”

Our Murchyk Cat and Boxes – Inspired by Maru

Watching a one of my favorite cat videos - Maru is playing with boxes (Maru is a Scottish Fold cat from Japan; he is a one of the most famous cats on YouTube) – I was thinking: wait, it’s seem to me that I have a picture of my Murchyk cat, doing the same thing, when he was a kitten! So, I looked through my archives and I found it! Yes! My beloved Murchyk is playing with a Zrii box, here is the picture:

Well, Murchyk is a big cat now, he is one and half years old and he is very furry (most likely, he is a Main Coon), but I still curios if he is going to fit in one of those boxes. So, Murchyk, let’s try!

And he did, and he still fit! Yay! I couldn’t believe it! So, here is a picture I took just recently – Murchyk is playing with a soda box:

And here is a video. Hope you enjoy it and… thanks to Maru for the inspiration!

Meet Maru – One of the Most Famous Cats on YouTube

I have to share with you this video of Maru, which is one of my favorite cat videos on YouTube:

Maru is a cat from Japan and he made to the Top 10 of the most famous cats on YouTube, according to the MotherNature Network. This particular video of Maru which I put in my YouTube favorites about three years ago, already got more then 12 millions views. I love Maru – he is such a darling cat!

No, nay, never! No, nay, never, no more!

When I look at these two pictures above, one popular folk song is starting to spin in my head. Remember this? “I've been a wild rover for many's the year, and I spent all me money on whiskey and beer.” And finally a guy from the song decided to quit his previous wild life, and he is singing in the chorus, “No, nay, never! No, nay, never, no more!”
Well, the lyrics of this “The Wild Rover” song is not quite the reflections of these pictures. Everything is opposite: our Murchyk cat (he is on the picture with a shot glass) is not a drunkard at all – he doesn’t like even a smell of alcohol. He just likes to sit on a couch with us, just like a little human :), when my husband and I are watching TV –  or like Garfield the cat from the popular cartoon. To put a shot glass in Murchyk’s paw was my husband’s idea – just for fun, to get a cute picture. So, we got one – “A kitty-cat relaxing in front of TV with a drink after a long working day chasing mice.” On other picture, two my “wild rovers” – a husband and a cat – are relaxing in front of TV after a long working day.
So, as you can see, the real life in my picture has very little to do with actual lyrics of this “Wild Rover” song. But… why does this song keep spinning in my head, when I am looking at those two pics? Oh, I know, why! Because of the SPIRIT of the song! The spirit is so bright and merry and optimistic! And a beautiful tune! I like it!
P.S. Okay, one more picture of our party guy :)

And that’s it about drinking – no, nay, never, no more!
P.P.S. I like how Flickr user Nearthetime commented on the Murchyk's picture, the one with a shot glass - "Do they sell catnip in a liquid form?" Thanks Nearthetime! I would be glad to use your comment as a headline to the one of my uploads.

Beautiful Cat and a Beautiful Girl

Meet Ira. She is a beautiful girl from Ukraine and a daughter of my best friend Olya. Ira is such a big cat person, just like I am. Here, she is with one of the cats she like so much! The name of the cat is Buck and he is a cat of Ira’s friend:

Ira dreams about her own cat, but so far she cannot have it – she lives in a city condo, and it is not a very convenient to keep a cat in a condo. In a future, when Ira will get a house of her dream, she is for sure will have a cat or two, she said. Right now she has few cats in countryside, in her Grandma’s home. Every visit to the Grandma Ira is having fun playing with her cats and taking pictures of them. Oh! And Ira promised to share some pics and stories of her kitties here, at Murchyks blog. Thanks Ira!

Nanny Cat is Putting Baby to Sleep - Video

Wow! What a cat! He is helping to a family to put a new baby to sleep! What a sweetie this kitty! As one of YouTube users commented, Stewie (the name of the cat) is a healing cat!

Please enjoy this new YouTube hit:

P.S. Big thanks to my friend Ira from Ukraine for sending a link of this video!

Cat-Related Christmas Ornaments

Christmas would not be a Christmas for cat persons without having cat-related ornaments on a Christmas tree or another fir tree unit (like ours), right? So, I would like to share with you what we got on our kissing ball this Christmas – a “Hello Kitty” ornament:

Next one is not ours. This picture of a Tigger Kitty ornament our friend Galya from Texas sent to us. Galya is a cat person too, and that’s what she got for her family Christmas tree:

If you have some cat-related Christmas ornaments and would like to share, please feel free to post those at our Murchyks Facebook page (can be posted with a link to your website or blog).
Merry Christmas!

Hello Tiggers!

I couldn’t resist sharing with you pictures of Tigger – he is a cat of our friends from England. Tigger is three years old now; here are few photographs of him, when he was a kitten. I would say, when he was a kitten he could compete for the title of the cutest kitten ever! Look at these big eyes and a precious mouth outline:

Hello to all the cats in the world whose name is Tigger! Here is another sweetie I love very much – he is a cat of our friends from Northern Alberta. He is not a young fellow – he is more than 10 years old. I love him so much! He is one of the sweetest cats I ever seen in my life, here he is:

P.S. If you would like to share some pictures of your cat, you are always welcome to upload them to our Murchyks Facebook page - with link to your site or blog. 

Cats Can: Talk, Play Piano, Boxing etc

Three my favorite YouTube videos about cats I would like to share with you today – a boxing cat

and a cat practicing piano

and two talking cats.

Well, I was always dreaming that my Murchyk cat would do something unusual, I will take a video of it, and my cat will be a YouTube star. But… Time goes by; my furry sweetie grew up from a little kitten to a big cat and… still did not do anything that much funny that would worth taking video of. Well, expect, maybe, playing with a remote control. But I was not fast enough to take a video of it – well, at least I got a picture, here is our Murchyk picking up channels on TV:

Thanks for reading and watching, and I still hope my cat will do something very excited and will be on YouTube one day!

Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!

It is nice to start something new for Christmas! So, here we are, another two cat persons, which are joining a huge army of cat bloggers worldwide. I am Maria, an author of this blog, and my husband’s name is Ron. We are happy Ukrainian-Canadian family and we live in Canada. We got a cat, his name is Murchyk - please take a look above for the blog description, what does Murchyk mean. In this blog we will talk not about our cat only, but about everything what is connected to cats: pictures, videos, tips how to take a better care about your furry purring sweetie (sweeties) etc. So, as we started before the Christmas, we want to share with you something Christmassy about cat’s world. In this case – about our Murchyk’s world. Our cat is indoor-outdoor cat and he is absolutely okay with winter. He is very curious about snowy weather and about everything which is connected to a snow, like shoveling snow:

And our Murchyk is having quite a fun in a snowfall:

Well, it is not that much fun, when he is coming in with all those snowballs stuck to his furry belly and leaving wet marks all over the place. In this case I normally take him to the bathroom and let those snowballs to melt, because it is impossible to remove them from his fur right away, especially if it was a humid weather outside and snow got wet.

But, anyway, it is fun – as I am a cat person, everything what is connected to my beloved kitty is fun. And every time, looking at his winter pictures, I am getting into a Christmas spirit. I hope, you too!

Your comments and messages are welcome.
P.S. I completely forgot - I have a video of our Murchyk which I took on the same snowy day! Here it is, hope you enjoy it like our furry sweetie was enjoying a snow and snowflakes: