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Snufkin is a Domestic Short Hair, i.e., a mixed-breed cat. She was born around
9 April 1996, and adopted by Reina Hayaki on 17 June from the Princeton (N.J.)
Small Animal Rescue League. She is named for a character in Tove Jansson’s Finn Family Moomintroll (click here for a picture), as was her predecessor, Sniff. She is
currently an only cat. She likes windowsills, cupboards,
bubbles, snow, scratchable carpets, milk bottle tops,
small edible insects, running, and ambushing. She hates baths,
thunderstorms, the doorbell, and (to Reina’s continual disappointment)
being picked up, although she likes cuddling with seated or recumbent people.
She tolerates but is jealous of guests, the computer, the TV, the phone, books,
and anything else that takes Reina’s attention from her. She is particularly
peeved that Reina has to go out and make money to buy her Fancy Feast and
yearly inoculations. Little does she know that Reina is allergic to her. |
The Best of Snufkin
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Left: Adoption day (17 June 1996). Right: Two days later, after pigging out. Her belly lost these cute dinosaur markings during her first year, and became all white and very fluffy. At
adoption Snufkin weighed 2.4 lbs (1.1 kg) and could easily fit in Reina’s
two hands. |
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Posing
in the snow (March 1997).
This is probably the best picture I’ve ever taken of Snufkin.
Snufkin does not know how to lose gracefully (April 1997).
Enjoying
the sun (April 2001).
This was my favourite picture of Snufkin, pre-digital camera:
it shows her sweet nature, as well as her fetchingly crooked white bib.
After a particularly harrowing Incident while in the care of a cat-sitter in
June 2001,
during which she went AWOL for two days, Snufkin is no longer allowed on the
porch.
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Snufkin is 2 feet and 4 1/2 inches (72cm) tall in this pose. Stretched out like this, or draped over a coveted seating spot, or loping around the house like a jungle cat, she looks quite large. At other times she curls into a tiny circle the size of a dinner plate. The latter impression is closer to the objective truth: at 7.5 lbs (3.4kg), she is quite small for an adult female. (May 2001) |
Practising
yoga (April 2001).
It is a tribute to her bone structure that she looks good even upside down.
Snufkin
cuddles up in her new “Cat Cup” (March 2002).
Her wrists are very flexible, which helps with the piano.
Sunbathing, overlooking the now forbidden porch (September 2003)
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Snufkin puts on her cleverest expressions. Above: Intense & Intelligent Snufkin (February 2004). Right: Alert Snufkin (March 2007). |
Snufkin can still surprise me after twelve years (June 2008).
I had never seen quite this face before. What a stunning cat!
| Sniff, also a Domestic Short Hair, was born on 8 May 1995 to a feral mother, her only child. He was adopted by Reina Hayaki and Jonathan Roorda on 1 August 1995, and was named for a similarly shy creature in Tove Jansson’s Moomintroll books (click here for an image). Despite the shyness, he was most photogenic and loved to pose for the camera (unlike Snufkin, who regards all electrical appliances except the refrigerator with suspicion). His eyes were bright blue, though not quite as bright as in this picture, and he had a very shiny coat and splendid whiskers, even as a kitten. He had unusual paw pads: a mixture of both pink and black pads on each foot. His tuxedo markings were rakishly asymmetric, from his half-white nose down to the jagged white lightning bolt on his chest. He died tragically young of a mysterious illness that confounded his doctors, in the early hours of 18 April 1996. He is sorely missed. |
Sniff, aged four months (September 1995)
| Other pages in (or near) Snufkin’s website |
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