THE NEW CAT ROOM! (or the Cat Room #2)

I got home much later than I'd anticipated tonight.
Got stuck in the traffic ... shocking it was! (The bloody Melbourne Show traffic! Gridlock! )
Anyway, it was dark when I finally pulled up in front of my house.
And there was Poppy, meowing very loudly, looking pathetic, sticking her little head under the pickets of the gate.
I'd left home around 9:30 am. Returned around 7 pm.
I felt awful.
So, a big feed for Poppy, first thing.
She gobbled it up. The old vacuum suction technique! 30 seconds, maximum!
Then she ran up & down (no, she sort of frolicked, at top speed! ) along the decking. About 5 times, I reckon, up & back.
She was so pleased to have a full stomach & that I was finally home!

lots of work ! and little time

I could just picture Poppy's ecstatic welcome

our two? Yesterday I was teaching morning and evening at one place (the 'exclusive'! one I told you about) and in the evening at a community college with adults so it was pretty exhausting - Rosie welcomed me home ecstatically, which was lovely - I think perhaps she'd worried that I'd gone away for a few days. (Paddy's attitude if I go away is simply 'oh hi, can you open the door I want to go out')

Paddy leaves young rats and the occasional pigeon on the pation each morning. I don't mind him killing rats as I certainly don't want them in the area. Himself has to deal with the corpses though! One morning there was a half eaten pigeon! someone is getting worm tablets. He hoovers his food up - but he's soooo active he stays as thin as a rake. But then Rosie was slim when she was that age and is now getting quite well padded. (pot calling the kettle black here)

The welcome is NICE, isn't it?


Huh!

As Boida intimated.....I spent goos money on toys for Miranda to cheer her up...tonight she cheered up over being played with with a long piece of dental floss.



She's still scared of the toys.





Grrrrrrr......




But she was much happier after I enticed her to play.






She's weird.

Nah, she's not.
She's adjusting!

Good to hear that she's perking up, though, Deb.

So what were those fearsome toys you bought her? I'm curious! :wink:

Ooooooooh, rats, Vivien!
And half-eaten pigeons!
He's a jungle cat, that Paddy! :wink:
Yes, yes, to the worm pills!)


Twice in the past week Poppy has brought one of those teensie-weensie little lizardy critters inside. (What's the proper name of these little creatures?) I don't think she really wants to eat them. She wants to play! <shudder> She brings them in & just sits & sort of looks at them! At which point I spoil her game by attempting to sweep them onto the dust pan & taking them back out into the garden. The first one had died. But the second one looked OK as it darted away! Lucky for me she doesn't appear to have much interest in killing birds! Then we'd have a problem!

I love the image of Poppy running about, MsOlga!

Here's a pic from this morning.....Screech exits my bedroom as soon as Iopen the door. On his way to his water bowl (he won't drink from the one IN the bedroom), he stops in the sunspot. It's a ritual. I have trying to snap shots of him there.

"Ommmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!"

(the sound of a happy critter in his sun spot!)



Hey, check out those amazing whiskers! Wow!

Yes, it's her regular routine, k.
She has her dinner .... then straight into a couple of mad, top speed frolics, back & forward, on the decking!
The other night she was extra happy so did it about 5 times.
Makes me laugh each time.
Very funny to see!

yes, the welcome really cheers you up when you are down

Poppy sounds an absolute sweetie.

Littlek, a lovely image yoga in the sunspot.

Rosie and her box fetish again:

No one I know has any theories about Mikey's behavior. He just is the way he is, and sometimes he's more so. I don't think of Mikey as complex. He's too stoopid for that work to apply. He's just nuts--a simpler term for a simple guy.

Glad you got home and fed the hysterical feline, msolga. Poor thing. Locked out and hungry. I wonder how often cats in the wild eat. I know that most of the larger cats don't eat every day. These guys don't know how good they have. But still scary to be locked out. Happy you were home.

Ugh, Vivien. Dead rats and a pigeon. I reiterate the ugh.

Deb, glad that Miranda is perking up.

I agree totally!!! it made me rethink the idea of a catflap - they'd be inside the house if we had one ..... so .... no catflap!

He did bring a little mouse in just before I went away and put it down near me - I called David to come and move the body - only to turn around and see it disappearing under the bookcase - it'd had enough sense to play possum. Wretched cat. Himself deals with the bodies.

I hope Mikey calms down as he gets older. Biting is how they discipline their kittens so I wonder if he's just plain telling you off for something?

That's a delightful photograph, Vivien. Lovely!

But I want to know: who is she stalking?

Locked out & hungry, Roberta?
Not likely!
She has not one cat flap, but two! (one in the back door & the other in the screen door). She comes & goes as she chooses during the day. At night they're shut at "curfew? time. (Luckily she doesn't complain. Phew.)
However, on some days madam chooses to remain indoors. I've sometimes rudely interrupted her snoozing on the couch, catching the late afternoon rays through the window, on my return home! "Oh, you're back already, are you?":wink:
On the "late" night she obviously decided that something serious was going on! And made the maximum amount to noise to induce the maximum amount of guilt. It worked!
This morning I have doors & windows open & she is tearing around the place at high speed - out the door, a quick bolt along the decking & vroom!, big jump onto the loungeroom window! - then a mad dash down the passage & out the back door again! Crazy girl cat!

Roberta, I think we mere mortals cannot possibly understand the mystery of Mikey! All we can do is wonder & ponder why is he so?. Now, Doctor Hew Wurth, radio talkback vet & head of the RSPCA, would no doubt have a theory for you! He is totally on the animals' side & holds (quivering) humans to account regarding all nature of critter ailments! (He is scary!) So he'd probably declare (in best booming delivery): "Madam, the source if the problem is not your cat! The problem is YOU!" (It always is!) :wink:

(Lucky Mikey is such a handsome beastie & has his loveable days, hey? )

Why do the captured mice always do that?
Why is the cat never paying attention when they suddenly revive & bolt?
Why is the mouse suddenly your problem to deal with? As humanely as possible, of course!
These cats are so predictable!

Vivien, Mikey is over 12 year of age. How much older is he gonna get before he stops? Let's face it. He ain't gonna stop.

The problem is from his kittenhood. He was born with a condition called neurodermatosis. It hurts him to be touched. When I found this out, I actually cried. Poor little guy. It hurt him when his mother licked him. When I pet and brushed him. Etc. When he was a kitten, he had open sores all over as he licked himself too much to try to get comfortable. His situation has improved. I learned that touching him around the head and neck don't hurt, so that's where I pet him. And the sores and overwhelming disccomfort are gone.

The biting problem is worse lately, and I agree with msolga's radio doctor. The fault most likely lies with me. My life has been unsettled and so have I. I've been distracted and inattentive. However, even when I make an effort, he doesn't seem responsive. I know he's unhappy. But I'm not sure why or how to make him happier.

Msolga, sorry I misunderstood about Poppy being locked out--or more specifically her not being locked out. I guess she was just annoyed that you were away too long.

Several years ago I wrote a poem about Mikey catching a mouse and then dropping it on the floor; it roused from its stupor and ran away. Duck, yes, here comes another cat poem from that annoying Noo Yawker:

Mikey's big
And Mikey's strong.
He's got lots of feline potential.

But I'm sad to say
That Mikey's flawed.
The problem is rodential.

He catches mice,
Then lets them go.
This makes my temples throb.

'Cause catching mice
And keeping them
Is his one and only job.

So get
Your fuzzy butt to work,
You little feline creep.

Catch the mice
And don't let them go.
At least try to earn your keep.


Apologies to poetry lovers.

Apologize? Why?? This poetry lover (who admittedly had Ogden Nash read at her wedding) finds it absolutely delightful.

Gosh, gee whiz, Soz. Thanks.

Love it, Roberta!
Verse #2, especially!

I loved it too - but then I always enjoy the way you have with words you have a gift

No, sadly Mikey won't grow out of it - Rosie still nips me occasionally if I overstep the mark - she knows she's not supposed to and it isn't as hard as she did it when she was little (drew blood then) but it's a serious warning not to be ignored, meaning STOP it.

Funnily she knows when I'm serious and never bites or scratches when being taken to the vet or given medication. She reserves it for when I have the cheek to stroke her when she's not in the mood, busy washing or ready to sleep.