"Pet Tails": What sense is this??

This isn't as much about my pets as it is about me. But it concerns them, obviously.

I have five cats: Porkey, Tabby, Athena, Whiskers, and Sylvester.

I have five food dishes for them to eat out of.

I have two litter boxes going at the same time for the five of them to use.

How many water dishes do you think I have for them? Three? Four? Two?!

Try one. One water dish? I have every other aspect of pet care for them thought out and taken care of, but I can only have one water dish going for them? What sense is that?!

"Pet Tails": Santa Pork

"Pet Tails": Sylvester's toy

They say that cats are finicky. Picky. Unusal in their tastes and preferences. Both for things they like and dislike. This applies toward food and toys and even people they meet. Some might say that cats have a sense of what people are good and which are evil. Gosh darn it, I wish they would have warned me about a few people from my past! (My cats, that is).

My cats are certainly unusual when it comes to toys. Granted, they are a bit older right now and aren't quite kittens anymore. Porkey is about 7-1/2 years old, Tabby is about 8-1/2 years old, Athena is about 8 years old, Whiskers is about 4-1/2 or 5 years old, and Sylvester is about 4 years old. Not young spring chickens, but they aren't old fogies either. They have their moments of activity and wildness. Trust me, they have a LOT of those moments. Do they have toys? Sure do! Countless catnip toys, jingle balls, and whatever else are all scattered about the apartment. I know they have a lot of them, but it'd take a whole day to try to find everything.

But they don't always go for them. Some of the toys they hardly touch, others they don't ever touch, and some they just really go crazy for. But that's only like one that I can think of that they go really gaa-gaa for. Like other cat owners, I have spent money on various toys and other accessories in hopes that they'd go crazy for something. And a lot of the time, 9 times out of 10, they don't.

But in the past month or so, Sylvester has found a toy for himself. It wasn't anything I bought for the cats. But it was something he found to play with that was around the apartment. What is it?

The stopper for the bathtub. Yes, that little rubber stopper thing. I know because I have seen him playing with it. In fact, I first began to suspect things when I began to find the stopper laying on the bathroom floor outside of the tub. How did it get there? It took a few days of finding it elsewhere to determine what was going on. Then, one day I found the stopper in the living room. To understand the crazy-ness of this you'd have to know the layout of my apartment. The bathroom door opens into the bedroom. Right immediately around the door to your left is the door from the bedroom out into the living room/kitchen area. So what would have to have happened, is this: he got the stopper out of the tub, across the bathroom (which ain't big), around the corner to the right into the bedroom, around the bedroom and bathroom door on the left, and then out into the living room. How he managed to do that is like performing on some sort of obstacle course. Left, right, left, right, left again, right again....up down up down. You get the idea.

But a tub stopper??? What's so alluring about that? Its a hunk of rubber shaped almost in a disk that has one purpose only: to put in the drain in the tub so it can be filled up with water. There's nothing to it! But.... Sylvester has taken a liking to it and will now play with it. So I have to be careful to keep it in the bathroom and not lose it because its the only bathroom tub stopper that I have.

I have made sure to put out a notice to Santa Claus that he might like one as a gift this holiday season. If not from Santa, then perhaps one of Santa's assistants or elves will give one to Santa to give to him.

Never in my life have my cats played with something around the apartment that is so unusual and strange.

But hey, whatever keeps him occupied and from attacking my plants, right?

what Santa Jay is bringing the cats

Santa Jay here just got home from the store and managed to pick up a few things for the cats for Christmas:

-a few different varieties of canned moist cat food (which they dont eat too often)

-a few different packages of dry and moist cat treats

-this fold open nylon cat play house (variation of a trio of fold-open cubes that I already have for them)

-a few cat nip toys

-a comfy looking cat bed that I will set in the window on a table for them to lay in, supposedly its got a pocket area underneath that can treat it with catnip

-a few toy tiny mice

-a few toy tiny mice treated with....what else, catnip!

*~Wait to hear about my cats' reactions to their stuff on Christmas morning!~*

"Pet Tails": 'Twas the Night Before Christmas... With Jay's Cats

'Twas The Night Before Christmas... With Jay's Cats

Twas the night before Christmas,
And all through the room,
Not a creature was stirring,
Except for the cats of doom.

As I lay in bed,
I heard such an awful noise,
I jumped up out of bed to see what was the matter,
Only to find Tabby's sick vomit splatter.

All the stockings were hung,
On the apartment wall by Jay with care,
But they were pulled down by Porkey,
Encouraged by another cat on a dare.

Athena was all comfy,
Laying on the couch sleeping,
She was the only one that I knew,
Was not up to anything.

Whiskers sat silently watching me,
Sitting over by the empty food dish,
Waiting for me to fill it,
That was his wish.

Next to the other pets was Sylvester,
Trying to paw through the cage doors at the critter,
Not being able to reach the gerbil,
Was really making him bitter.

What is up with my cats?
What is up with them?
Its fine to be crazy,
But its two AM!!

I fall back into bed with my blankets in a heap,
In hopes that I can still catch some sleep.
As I pulled up my covers over my head,
Merry Christmas to all my cats,
Now go to bed,
And get to sleep!

L.A.R. Part III - the final chapter

There really isn't much to say here except to say just what went on.

The other day I was in at the animal shelter like I usually am on Saturday mornings to volunteer. In a way I was anticipating seeing my rabbits again as their cages had been in the room I regularly clean. However walking in I only saw one cage. And that cage was empty.

It wasn't until I spoke to Crystal, one of my friends in there who's one of the employees, that I learned that this past week the rabbits each found a home.

It's a bittersweet feeling. Glad that they were finally adopted out and that they have a new home now. But still feeling bad that I was not able to keep them with me forever.

I still feel like a failure, but I am glad that someone was able to give them the home that I could not.

Seeing their empty cages in the shelter with them no longer there... knowing that I will now never see them again..... is very heartbreaking and I had a good cry myself that morning. It still hurts and is still sad to think about....

But life goes on.

"Pet Tails": my cats are UPS drivers

Everyone knows about UPS, the delivery company. It's a common sight in any town or city to see the big brown trucks driving around the streets and parked out in front of buildings. Even before you see the words on the side of the vehicle, you know its UPS by that poop-brown color. Haha. One of the well-known jokes is that they park wherever in the damn hell they want to. Often blocking traffic and creating treacherous situations on streets as they will park right in traffic so they can get into a building right nearby, which causes hectic situations for traffic going on the street in the same direction.

My cats have become the same way in the past several weeks. My apartment is certainly not the biggest, and I probably will be truthful to admit that perhaps I have a bit too much stuff around. Not that its crowded by any means, but I just have a lot of belongings and it can make for interesting layouts of where to put stuff like furniture, book cases, entertainment stand, and so forth. This causes for varying methods of crossing a room from one side to another. Maybe its a narrow path to go between the refrigerator and a piece of cat furniture (this jungle-gym like thing), but you can get that way.

My cats have a tendency to sit where they know I am trying to go. If I am cooking at the kitchen counter, then they may lay in spots just behind me so that if I am going to turn around, then I may end up stepping on them or something. Tripping over them. If I am trying to walk most anywhere in the apartment, they will tend to lay directly in my path. If they see me standing over them wanting to pass by, do you think they bother to move?

No.

They simply park their hairy butts down on the floor anywhere, and if its in my way....so be it. this includes laying in the bathroom as well. I need to go take a shower or use the tub for a bath? Chances are there's a cat laying on the bath mat rug on the floor right in front of the tub. Will he (usually Whiskers) move? Not until I turn on the tub's faucet to start the water running!

I have yet to figure out what my cats will hope to accomplish by doing any of this. The only thing they have accomplished is sometimes I may step on their tail BY ACCIDENT and then they'll run off meowing. Or I may nearly trip over them and fall down myself. Or in trying to step over them I may fall off balance, or spill or drop anything I am trying to carry. And who's at fault?

Cats? No.

Me? What do you think! Oh no, if something goes wrong it's never their faults! It's clearly my fault somehow.

Just like when you are driving down the street and a UPS truck in your way. Oh hell no, its not their fault. You need to get out of their way. My cats are the same way. If they are blocking your path....

Just suck it up, sigh, and take the long route around.