MEET TURBO & JET!

​The first blog post under ‘TURBO & JET’ was always going to be an important one so we took a while to decide what to write about. In the end we settled on doing a little ‘about’ section and then comparing our two furr-babies to how Wikipedia says they should be….so here we go!

Turbo & Jet have their own Social media Profile! Follow them here:
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​​Turbo
Born 25th April 2014, the same litter as Jet but he was born first so technically the eldest even though he’s smaller!

Turbo has the traditional look of a British Shorthair (BSH), 'chunky body, dense coat and broad face'. He has a definite ‘Cheshire cat smile’ that BSH are famous for and his ears are the perfect example of pointy and triangular. His coat is softer than Jet’s, perhaps that's because he doesn’t suffer with the allergies that Jet does.
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He is lighter than jet, weighing in at 5.5kg and has a British Shorthair Blue coloured coat , similar to his birth Mother.
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He was born with blue eyes which developed until 18 months, turning a muddy colour around 12 weeks and then around 12 months changed to a distinctive and vibrant fiery copper. The colour of his coat stayed the same from birth.
 
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Turbo is typically the more active one of the two, we sometimes feel we have a dog, he even plays fetch! He’s keen on shepherding us and does a tail shimmy, a sign of excitement and extreme happiness (often confused with spraying).

​​He doesn’t love cuddles in the day and he DESPISES kisses, but he does love cuddles at night time, sometimes he sleeps on Eve’s tummy! In the day time he will be in the same room as you but sleeps away from you, in the evening when watching TV he jumps up and joins us and Jet who’s often up during the day too. He asks for strokes by placing a paw on your arm and staring you out.
 
Turbo is much more territorial than Jet, when out in the garden he patrols the borders before relaxing and he is very much keeping an eye on the neighbourhood cats and children. He likes to play/chew with electrical wires, which has made us baby proof our house prior to even considering having our own babies!



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Jet
​Born 25th April 2014, after Turbo so technically the youngest (we know...who’d have thought it considering he’s bigger!). He is definitely on the chunky side, has a dense coat and broad face.

He’s larger than Turbo by 0.5-0.8kg, presumed a lilac colourpoint like their father (although they’re not GCCF or TICA registered so nothing is official). When we first picked him up he was white with only very faint colourpoint markings so we could never be sure. This developed until he was 1.5 years old. He always had blue eyes but these got blueer as he matured

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He currently weighs 6.2kg which according to our vet is appropriate for his build.

​As for this temperament he tends to be more indoor and relaxed than turbo, although he does have his frisky and playful moments!

He’s DEFINITELY a foody and although we never give them human food, he LOVES the smell of milk and if unattended he will make an attempt to go for it. For that reason, we have to measure his food to stop him gaining weight. Jet loves sitting next to us, leaning against us and loves strokes and kisses, so much so that you couldn’t give him enough. He meows when we ignore him too haha!
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​Jetty hasn't been the luckiest in the health lottery! First, when his adult teeth came in, his molars were puncturing the lower gum line due to a misalignment of his gums… we spotted this through his smelly breath (I know!) and he struggled with eating...a major sign for jet! This led to having 2 teeth removed under general anaesthetic! Now we have them checked every 12 months and he will have to have them ‘de-scaled’ every so often, although he hasn’t had to have it yet.
 
He also has allergies which developed as he matured. We discovered this through his constantly cleaning his paws and flicking them as they itched. That led to them becoming dry and cracking and sometimes there would be a little blood as they were sore.

We had some tests done and it turns our he’s allergic to EVERYTHING… ok well not literally but here’s a list: Specific Trees (oak etc), plants, grass, weeds, dust mites, human skin cells, pork, chicken, rabbit, lamb and on and on. Food wise what he wasn’t allergic to was fish and now has a special diet that we will write about in another blog post..
 
To control this, we have been through a range of tests and treatments which have led us to a tailor-made injection, every 3 weeks… something we can also write about in another blog post. Luckily it’s now under control and he is happy, healthy and has perfect pink paw pads!
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Turbo and Jet joint behaviours
Turkey noises
They’re often communicating together or with us making what we call ‘turkey noises’. They sound like little high pitches trills, often indicating playful moods or a ‘check in’ to see where we are.
 
Always together
​Turbo & Jet do everything together, playing, eating, sleeping and even pooping! We even got an extra litter tray to accommodate this, poop bonding!
 
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​Eye bogies​
​Both our boys suffer from what we call ‘eye bogies’ which is due to their flat faced genetics. It’s basically dried sleep, like humans in the inside corners of the eyes.

​It’s more obvious on Jet due to the colour of his coat, which Eve removed on a daily basis as it’s easier than leaving it a few days and having it build up and dry in his fur. We only to remove it every couple of weeks on Turbo, he seems to better at cleaning it himself.
 
Welcoming home
The boys are always at the door to welcome us home, very excitedly meowing for strokes and giving tail shimmies!

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So, to compare to Wikipedia:
If you look up British Shorthair on Wikipedia you’ll find it says they have a distinctively chunky body, dense coat and broad face. They have pointy triangular ears unlike Scottish Fold cats which have folded over ears. They are considered to be a long-lived cat of up to 20 years!

With male weights that go up to 7.7kg and female weights up to 5.4 kg, they are a BIIIG breed, one of the largest cat breeds.

BSH come in a variety of colours, which even then vary down to solid, colourpoint, tabby, shaded and bicolour patterns.
 
It also goes on to say that they are ‘not as active and playful breed’ but are sweet-natured and devoted to owners. They do not like to be picked up or carried. They require minimal grooming and take well to being indoor-only cats, prone to obesity.
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In comparison...
 
“Not active and playful”
We think the COMPLETE opposite, especially Turbo! He sleeps a lot but is always seeking out his toys, they both wrestle each other and are very playful with new toys (especially catnip). It sounds like we have children running around our house sometimes, stomping up and down the stairs and jumping off the beds!

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“Sweet natured and devoted”
We TOTALLY agree with this, they love us haha! When Eve is sad watching a film they come over and demand strokes and kneed her stomach. When we’re dancing around the house they join in and start shimmying and become playful. It’s like having two little shadows, wherever we are in the house they are too.


​“They do not like to be picked up or carried”
We would agree with this, having never pushed this on them from the get go. We do sometimes get cuddles from Jet, but not generally from Turbo. We get the best cuddles in the vet as the vet table is lava – particularly for Turbo!

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“They require minimal grooming”
We also agree with this, for a plush coated pedigree cat we really don’t have to do anything! We don’t bath them and rarely brush them, although they do malt… especially in the summer. When we do brush them it's more to save our house from the hair rather than them needing help with grooming.
 
“Prone to obesity”
Definitely true, we have had to become very strict and measure every single meal and we don’t give treats. This has also been encouraged with Jet’s allergies.

So there you have it, that's a little info about Turbo and Jet and an introduction to British Shorthair Cats. As always, we feel that a cat's behaviour is a reflection of nature and nuture, they won't always behave like Turbo and Jet and, like people they are individuals and show unique character traits to create their own personalities!

Thanks for reading, please share and comment down below any questions you may have! 

Chris & Eve x