Catymology

Dear Dragonheart,

Your birthday scavenger hunt has been a lot of fun. I've had my human, amanuensis, running all over the internet to hunt down the answers. Here's what we've come up with. (But first, here are the official contest rules!)

The first task you set was to create an item that conveys what the word "sphynx" means to me. You said this would be the hardest task, and I did have to think about it quite a bit. Since I am a poet, I dedicate this poem to you, the first Sphynx cat I've ever known.

Dragonheart claims his humans


I remember when I claimed my humans
My frootbat ears and Yoda eyes
Took in every word and action.
My curious tongue tasted them.
I drank their scent and found it good.

Then I wrinkled up my forehead,
And sent this message in my purrs:
“Forget the love of fur, that human foible.
Forget the life you knew before I owned you.
Worship me in my warm suede skin.”

The next task you set ( Scavenger Hunt Item #2), was to find the full (registered) name, as well as the more commonly used daily name of the following:

• Me - HairNSkin - Dragonheart Dragonheart, Drago, Drake, Dragoncat
  
• My sire - Champion HairNSkin Obi Wan Kenobi - Obi
  
• My dam (full {registered} name only) - New Taj Mahal Sherazade of HairNSkin
• My brother and littermate - HairN Skin Merlin - Merlin
  
• My older sister who will be having a litter that I will hopefully be getting a little brother or sister from - HairNSkin From Dusk Till Dawn - Dawn, Flappy
  

I love names, and the naming of cats is a particularly fascinating field of study! I wish I knew why you called your sister Flappy.

The third task, (Scavenger hunt item #3) was to answer three questi0ns about your blog.

• When did I first start blogging? Tuesday, November 28, 2006 was the day of the first post siged by Dragonheart. (This is tricky, because Caylynn posted to the Dragonheart's Domain blog on November 25.)
  
• What was my Gotcha Day? Saturday, November 25, 2006
• When did my human mom first post about me on her blog? Tuesday, November 28, 2006

The fourth task (Scavenger Hunt Item #4) was easy, but I learned some interesting trivia while looking up the answers!

What is another name for the Sphynx breed? Canadian hairless

What was the name of the Sphynx cat character in the Austin Powers movies, and what is the cat's real name? Mr. Bigglesworth was played by SGC Belfry Ted Nude-Gent. I do love that name: Ted Nude-Gent! Did you know he's even got his own web page and was named "Cat of the Year" by Cats Magazine in 1999?

Dragonheart, you asked another easy question in Scavenger Hunt Item #5: list the colors of the following cats:

• Me - black and white tuxedo
  
• My sire - brown classic tabby & white
  
• My dam - blue point
  

According to the CFA (Cat Fanciers' Association) what breeds can be used as outcrosses when breeding Sphynx? Until when can these breeds be used? American Shorthair, Domestic Shorthair/ Domestic Sphynx Outcross. Sphynx born on or after December 31, 2010 may have only Sphynx parents.

In Europe, what breed has been used most often as an outcross? Devon Rex


For the six task (Scavenger hunt item #6) I had to name three themes that your breeder has used for her litters, and give the name of one cat from each of these themes. This was pretty easy. All the answers are on Drago's breeder's site:

Fairy Tales - Dragonheart
Action Movies - Mission Impossible
Star Wars Cats - Obi Wan Kenobi

Then you gave me a harder task: #7: Give the German word for the following (use the correct article and capitalization):
My human's German is pretty rusty, so I asked her to contact her friend Dennis, who taught at the University of Tubingen for a number of years. Here's what he told us:

* Cat - die Katze
* Kitten - das Kätzchen
* Cat Food - das Katzenfutter
* Cat Litter - die Katzenstreu
* Litterbox - das Katzenklo
* Scratching Post - der Reibebaum
* Catnip - die Katzenminze
* Cat Snacks - die Katzenhäppchen

Then came your Final Scavenger Hunt Item and it was almost as hard as the first one.


Provide a caption for the following photo:

Labels: fun and games