"Tales From The Pets": January 2008

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

"Pet Tails": Dr. 'Bester and Mr. 'Biskers

I love ALL my cats. I want to make that sure and known before the next statement. But of the five cats that I have, the most recent two that I had adopted have two of the most unique personalities that I have ever seen in cats and certainly the ones that stand out the most of the five here.

Whiskers and Sylvester. Over time they have certainly gotten to know me and my own personal preferences. As well as things that make me tick, things that make me smile, and certainly things that irritate me. At times I wonder if some cats do things just to annoy their owners. Many times I believe that's what mine do! :) However, out of everything they do, what makes these two really unique in a way - a strange way - is their general behavior. It's hard to say what their behavior is as that would require it to be defined as ONE attitude. My other three cats - Porkey, Tabby and Athena - I could classify as having one demeanor about them. But Whiskers and Sylvester? They're as two faced as it can get.

Part of this may be due to their overexposure to me and underexposure to other people. Of course they are both used to me so very well because....they do live with me....so they act very friendly. Very active, very hyper, and always following me around to see what I am doing and get into the middle of things. They each have to make their presence known. Out of the five cats, they both are more apt to be around me wherever I am in the apartment doing whatever it is that I am doing. That is just how they behave when its just me here....

When someone else is in the apartment, no matter whom it is, something must criss-cross in the wiring of their minds. Instead of being the sociable and very friendly cats that they are with just

me....they turn into anti-social, Houdini cats. Anti-social in that they don't want ANYONE else patting them or showing them attention, and they will also do their Houdini impersonation by disappearing to underneath the bed in the bedroom to rarely ever be seen. From time to time someone may stop by here to either visit or drop something off to me or whatever. And people know that I have five cats, but when they come in they will notice perhaps three or four cats. But they'll always ask me.....where's the fifth? Then I have to explain that "Oh, Sylvester is just being shy right now and he's under the bed hiding..." Its as though I have to justify my cat's existence and that he does truly exist! haha! For real, he's not imaginary!

Not only do they do this switcheroo from being socialable to just me to wanting to hide when other people visit, but they also do flip-flops at other times. Even when its just me.

The other day I went to cook my lunch for work in the morning while I was still at home. I was in the process of cutting up a slice of ham and chicken for a sandwich when I knew that at any minute the cats would come a 'runnin. They'd begin to hang around waiting for handouts. So in anticipation I cut off a few small chunks of ham ready to give them. Sylvester was around, Porkey came by, Tabbby I saw on the bed, and I knew where Athena was. Where was Whiskers? He's the biggest of the five cats - he'd be SURE to want some treats! I looked in the bathroom - but he was not in there. Not in the bedroom, nor was he out in the living room/kitchen area. I called out to him figuring that if he knew ham was being handed out then he'd make sure to be front and center. After all....isn't he the cat that follows me around everywhere....literally, even when I go in the bathroom to use the toilet? He sure is! Whiskers never did come out from his hiding place, which I suspect he was under the bed. Whiskers is one of the more sociable cats when its just me at home, but then periodically he'll want time to himself and he'll hide under the bed.

Sylvester is the same way. When I come home from work he'll be right over by the door w

hen I come through the door and he'll want to show me how much he missed me while I was away at work. He'll even jump up my front as I stand in front of him because he wants me to hold him and cuddle with him. Sitting on the couch in the evening watching tv or trying to type on the computer online? He'll get up on the couch next to and try to walk all over my lap even if its already occupied by the laptop. But someone like even my mother walks into the apartment to visit...... and he'll run and disappear. He may come out to see what's going on, but not for long. Then he'll just go back to making himself invisible.

As soon as any visitors leave the apartment? Both Sylvester and Whiskers will slowly wander out from their hiding spots to make sure it's just me here. When they feel comfortable that it's just me here....they go back to their normal selves. Whiskers the mellow, friendly cats. Sylvester the hyper-active, rowdy rebel-rouser.

Just like the story of Dr Jekyl and Mr Hyde, my cats Sylvester and Whiskers have their own split personalities. You think they act and behave a certain way if you were to come by and visit....

But you don't even know the half of it.

Sunday, January 27, 2008

"Pet Tails": Pizza Thief!

"Did someone order a pizza?"

"You did? Well, it was delicious!!"

"Pet Tails": want proof?

I may write about some crazy and interesting things that my cats may do or get into. Some of it sounds a bit too crazy to believe perhaps to people who haven't met me or my cats.

Susan, can you confirm for the world that my cats are as crazy, nuts and bonkers for real as much as I write about them being?

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

"Pet Tails": goodnight-goodmorning

One of the things I have caught on to with my cats is this. During the summer when the weather is sunny and generally warmer outside they enjoy finding anywhere they can in the apartment to sleep where it might be cool. Whereever is comfortable. But what about wintertime? They want to find the places that are warm and comfy. And where else is better than...where I am sleeping. My bed.

What better way to explain it than to describe how last night and this morning went about. I was preparing and getting ready for bed by 12:30am or 1am. TV turned off, lights were off. Things were all set. I went into the bedroom knowing that I'd have to find my own spot. At the moment there was only one cat on the bed - Tabby, who was laying on my pillow. I should mention that the bed I have is a queen size bed, and the side I sleep on is the side that is right next to the wall with the window that looks out onto Main Street. The side (laying in bed, this would be on the left) that is closer to the closet is normally open. So Tabby is laying on the pillow that I will be using on the window side of the bed. I get the blankets all set, as well as put the cats' little cat-bed that I got them for Christmas up on the bed so they'd have one comfy spot that one of them could use. I got under the covers and attempted to find a spot for my head on the pillow, which was mostly taken up by Tabby. She wasn't about to move! She was all comfy, all set, and all for remaining where she was.

Shorly thereafter Sylvester got up on the bed. He's been one of the other cats that when he knows its bed time - not just my bedtime, but that it indicates its THEIR bed time as well. I've tried to get the cats to learn that when I turn the lights off and I head into bed to go to sleep, that means playtime for the cats is over and there won't be any running around, climbing things, jumping around, or getting into anything. Sylvester can be almost anywhere else in the apartment, but when I get into bed and get snuggled up under the covers, he'll be almost immediate to come in and get up on the bed and find his spot to lay down. Which usually is on that left side of the bed, about halfway down the middle.

During the night the cats may change places, and shift around. Sometimes I am awake to see where they may end up, but not always.

This morning, this is what I awoke to. At the foot of the bed up against that wall and perpendicular to the wall with the bedroom window I have several plastic storage totes stacked up on top of each other and then on the top an overturned clothes basket with a thick blanket folded inside of it. I have put that up there as a place for the cats to lay. And since its high up above everything in the bedroom - not that high, ok, me standing at it is about chest high and its a rather short jump from the bed up there - the cats enjoy laying in it so they can keep an eye on the bedroom as well as look right out the window at the traffic and happenings outisde. I woke up this morning and Athena was laying up in it. Sleeping as usual. I woke up laying on my right side facing the wall with the window. Almost immediately I noticed I was not quite alone right there. Laying directly between me and the edge of the bed - which was not very far!! - right around my tummy area was Whiskers. Then down at that foot edge of the bed was Porkey. (That's usually the spot Porkey ends up at; partially I think because he likes having that viewpoint to lay on the bed and look outside.) Still in his position on the otherside of the bed was Sylvester. During the night Tabby may have gone about and did whatever, but in the morning today she was laying on the pillows on the other side of the bed.

Horray! I had my pillows to myself! What is funny some mornings is that some of the cats may lay close enough to me on top of the blankets, which ends up affecting my sleep. The closer they lay to me on top of the blankets the more the blankets are pulled down on me. Which makes me, even while asleep, subconsciously feel confined and unable to move. Hence, I may wake up sooner than expected. Such was the case this morning. With Porkey laying in his spot, and with Whiskers deciding to lay right next to me between me and the edge of the bed, I was unable to freely turn over.

So this morning I woke up with four of my five cats laying with me on the bed. Porkey, Tabby, Whiskers and Sylvester. Athena was in the bedroom, just up on their 'cat perch'. Of course, as soon as Whiskers realized I was awake, he up up, turned around, walked up the edge of the bed and sat right down next to my face just to sit-and-stare.

Some mornings what I am able to do is to sit up in bed, throw the covers off me and proclaim to the cats that its 'time to go'. Or 'let's go'. Which means, get off the bed and head out into the living room and kitchen area. Get breakfast or something. This morning? Sure enough, cats started jumping off rather quickly and heading out. After the bed was clear I was able to throw back the blankets so the bed was "made". Heading out to the kitchen I was able to see that the cats WERE indeed interested in going out that way.

Why?

Their food dishes were empty. So I think part of what they were congregating on the bed for this morning was waiting to know when I was getting up so they could be among the first to hurry out to the food dishes. As far as where Whiskers and Porkey were laying, I suspect they did so to help insure that I would not feel at-ease while sleeping so that I would wake up even that much sooner in the morning.

By bedtime at night the cats start taking their spots on the bed where they want to lay. By the next morning.....

they've taken over.