Caymus and Murphy

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Caymus and Murphy – Seal Mitted Ragdoll Cats

Caymus and Murphy are seal mitted Ragdoll cats born on August 15th and 20th, 2004, respectively. Murphy has a blaze a little off center of his nose. 

Below there are a number of pictures herein of them as kittens and also as grown cats.

They are half brothers and were adopted from Bluegrass Rags in Kentucky. 

The picture above was taken when they were at the vet. Murphy gets scared at the vet because at the age of 18 months he got something lodged in his colon and had to have emergency surgery, again at Mission Med Vet…but it was first discovered at KC Cat Clinic (Rags’, Caymus’ and Murphy’s normal vet).

Caymus and Murphy came to live with my parents in November 2004 right before Thanksgiving.  My childhood Ragdoll cat, Rags, was 15 at the time, and I had talked my mom into getting a kitten because of Rags aging.  We wanted a seal mitted with a blaze because when my Aunt first got  a Ragdoll cat in the 1980s, that’s what she got and we fell in love with him.  He was gorgeous.

Caymus

When I started looking for seal mitted with a blaze Ragdoll kittens on the Internet, I found two and started to email with the breeders about them.  When Caymus and Murphy’s breeder, Cindy Carpenter of Bluegrass Rags, found out that we had a 15-year old, she suggested strongly that we get two kittens instead of one.  She said that they would play with each other and most likely leave the old guy alone.  It was probably the best advice we ever got.  Murphy has a blue mitted with a blaze full brother, but my mom prefers seal mitteds, so Cindy suggested a seal mitted from another litter she had.  And said that the kittens shared the same father.  And that’s how Caymus came into our lives.

My Dad, who was not a cat fan before Rags, was hard to convince that we should not only get a kitten – but two kittens!  As a result, we named Caymus after one of his favorite bottles of wine, Caymus.

I can tell you though – 15 years later, Caymus is such a Caymus.  He could have no other name – well, other than my pleathora of nicknames – Newy, NUSS!, Cay-cay-newin’, etc.

Caymus’ coat is the breed description for a Ragdoll cat – it is plush, doesn’t mat, feels divinely luxurious.  He is heavenly to touch – and he also fits the breed stereotype when you pick him up – he is limp like a Ragdoll (unless he is stressed about something) and DEFINITELY requires a two handed pick up, otherwise he will fall out of your one hand.

Caymus has always been the biggest cat in our family in height, length and weight.  As he has aged, he has lost some weight, but still remains the “biggest” in height and length.  At his prime he was 17 lbs, I think he is 15 lbs now.

Caymus has a small head, big ears and big body, and certainly would have never passed for a show Ragdoll cat, but good god, do I think he is gorgeous.  He respected the heck out of my Rags, and I will always love him for that.  He is the kindest and sweetest animal I have ever known (the only time I have seen him really retaliate is with dogs).  He has come to be comfortable around dogs, but when we first got my parents’ German Shepherd, Napa, he was really upset – peed in my shower from the stress, etc.  Over the course of Napa’s life, they became best buds.  Caymus is now on his 4th (?) German Shepherd, my parents’ 2-year old, Parker.

I can be in the worst mood – depressed about life – but Caymus, Caymus will cheer me  up.  Just the mention of his name makes me happy – he brings a joy to my soul that few can instantly bring.

I love his purr and his personality is so weird and awkward that I don’t really know how to describe it.  I had to describe his personality recently to a homeopathic vet we were consulting with, and I said that he walks into a room like Eeyore from Winnie the Pooh…but he’s not sad or depressed – but it’s that, “hey, guys…” type of approach.  I just love his presence.  He does get playful and alert – but not like other cats.  I would say that Trigg has a lot of Caymus-like characteristics – especially in their skiddish-ness.  Caymus lives in a household that is MUCH busier than my own, so he has learned to adapt and has grown much less skiddish than Trigg.

I often tell Caymus that if everyone in the world had him, the world would be a much happier and peaceful place.

So, technically, Caymus is my parents’ cat.  I ask my mom every year for my birthday and for Christmas to gift him to me.  She won’t do it.  And to be quite honest, I couldn’t take him from Murphy – they are a bonded pair.  I did live with Caymus and Murphy in my early 20s when I still lived with my parents, so I feel like they are my cats too.  I go to every one of their vet appointments with my mom and always check in on them.

Caymus’ Pedigree:

Caymus stretched out on the floor

Many cats hang out in sinks, like Caymus. The combination of feeling secure and the coolness that Caymus cannot achieve on bed sheets is probably why he loves sinks so. Check out http://www.catsinsinks.com/ to see cats a bunch of different cats in sinks:

Caymus in a sink

Caymus

Caymus on 10-16-09

Murphy

I call Murphy, “Beau.” I rarely ever call him by his name. I love my Beau. My sister calls him “Papa Smurf”. It’s funny, Beau is one cat that I don’t really call by anything else – Caymus, Charlie and Trigg all have multiple nicknames, but Beau just has the one from me – sometimes, it’s Beau Beau, doubled up. But he does understand that it’s his name, along with Murphy and “Papa Smurf” (my sister’s nickname for him).

Murphy is a confident, social and attention-seeking cat.

I remember when I brought Charlie and Trigg home. I wanted to get Caymus and Murphy used to them – but it was a difficult situation because Caymus and Murphy would not be living with us.

So I would bring Caymus and Murphy (they know my home) over individually to meet the kittens – and spend hours with them.  I was too scared to bring them both at once, fearing they would feed off of each other.

I didn’t know how they would react, but totally thought at the time that Caymus would be the easy one. NOT THE CASE. It took Beau no time at all to accept them and want to play.  He was a very good kitty with them.

Murphy was sort of an a-hole to my cat, Rags – always challenging him for dominance.  I always told him that when Rags passed, it would be his turn – and it has been.  Charlie hates that – because he’s the dominant one in our household, but when the 4 of them get together, Murphy is the dominant one…although their egos have lessened as they have aged.

Murphy is young at heart – he loves to play and will play easily…acting like he is a 2-year old.

Unlike Caymus, Murphy was immediately okay with all the dogs – and always puts them in their place.  I think he’s on his 5th German Shepherd.  My sister has a 5-month old German Shorthaired Pointer and Murphy is already training him too.

Murphy and Charlie are a lot alike – they like to be where the action is. Our family has a lot of cats with blazes (white stripe on their noses) – we have a theory, given our experiences with blazed cats that they are all outgoing (I do hate stereotyping cats, though – so take this theory of ours with a grain of salt).  This is the case with Murphy.  When my parents’ house was for sale, he would follow around the realtor and potential new homeowners.

It’s very difficult to get a good photo of Murphy – as soon as you get on his level, he comes towards you to be petted and to greet you.  He demands a lot of attention – more than my Charlie does (which is also a lot).  

He’s not a huge fan of being held and will tolerate it only for a few minutes and then he wants down.  My mom does have a way she picks him up and scratches him that works.

Murphy was and has been an awesome cat with my nieces and nephews.  He has let them pet him, pull on him, pick him up and more – which is amazing given he did not grow up with kids.  Caymus is the same. 

However, in the last two years, Murphy isn’t as tolerant as he used to be – I think he must hurt sometimes when they pick him up – I always watch it carefully.  But his tolerance isn’t as great as it used to be.  However, he still is an incredible cat with them – much more than my two would be with young children.

I recently talked about how we ended up with Caymus because of Murphy on Caymus’ birthday post. 

The first Ragdoll in our family was a cat named Halston – adopted by my Aunt Nicky in the 1980s.  He was a BEAUTIFUL seal mitted with a blaze Ragdoll cat.  He is the reason I wanted a Ragdoll. 

Our family loves that color pattern because of him, so I went searching for that pattern when my mom agreed to get a new kitten when my childhood cat, Rags was 15 years old.  That’s how I found Murphy on Bluegrass Rags’ website.

Murphy’s coat is a great non-matting coat – but very different than Caymus’.  Both Caymus and Murphy are very tall and long cats – and have longer tails than my cats, Charlie and Trigg.  Murphy is very slender, however – he has a body that looks a lot like a cheetah would compared to a lion.  He’s an athlete too because of his body shape.

He loves to be man-handled and messed around with – if you’ve seen that video of the Ragdoll cat being slid across a kitchen floor – that would be Murphy.  You can push him over, grab his tail, etc and he comes back for more…well, if you are someone he knows is messing with him and not trying to hurt him. 

My mom recorded this video of me picking up Murphy a few days ago.  As I commented on the video on Facebook, Trigg would kill me if I did this. I do it with Charlie. This would never fly with Caymus, and this pick up makes Beau stay longer.  Just another example of how he likes to be messed with.  He’s a very good sport too, because of his desire to be messed with…always coming back for more.

Murphy has one brown spot on his back leg where it’s supposed to be white for a show-quality Ragdoll cat – so that’s what made him pet quality and available on Cindy Carpenter’s website many years ago.

I cannot tell you how excited I was to get Murphy in November 2004 – it was our first seal mitted with a blaze cat after my Aunt Nicky’s Halston in the 1980s – now it seems like we have a zillion with Charlie, Huck, Hobbs, and Maddie.

Murphy has that traditional Ragdoll look to me – the right facial profile and reminds me the most of Rags’ features.  Hard for me to describe because I just see it, or I don’t – and I do not have experience showing cats, so I don’t have the terminology to talk about what I see.

I love Beau Beau – he seems to understand my obsession with Caymus and allows it to be OK with him.  Unlike Caymus, and much like Charlie, I can have a complete conversation with Beau through my eyes – and can get him to do what I want by facial expressions and eye contact – which is how I communicated with Rags.  It is nice to have that as it was one thing I feared when Rags’ passed – that I wouldn’t have that connection again – but Murphy and Charlie get it and do it with me.

Murphy’s Pedigree:

Murphy 10-6-09

Caymus and Murphy – As Kittens

They get along famously well.

Caymus & Murphy (Murphy is the one with the white blaze)

Caymus, Murphy and Rags

When they were young, Rags tolerated them when they were asleep. When they were awake and kitten like he had no interest in them. Rags is 15 in this photo. Learn how we introduced Murphy and Caymus to Rags, when Rags was 15-years old – Introducing New Cats into Your Household

This is Tucker with Murphy.
Tucker, a German Shepherd, is 6-years old in this photo.

Tucker and Caymus

To see videos of Caymus, please go to his video page: Caymus’ Videos

To see videos of Murphy, please go to his video page: Murphy’s Videos

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