Cat Talk in Everyday Ramblings
- Feb. 20, 2015, 5:15 p.m.
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- Public
Carlo and Diego are very excited because their uncle Most Honorable is coming to visit this evening. As I have mentioned before my brother-in-law Most Honorable was clearly a cat in a recent former life and he is like a cat whisperer now in his human form. Not only is he visiting, he is sleeping over on the futon so they get to play for hours and then sleep on him in a pile! There is definitely not enough guy energy around here for them.
The reason we are doing this is to save some wear and tear on him for our long day trip to Seattle tomorrow, where I am acting as companion and day laborer to help with getting stuff disassembled and off to Goodwill or in the SUV for storage down here in Oregon. We’ll be leaving early. My cat sitter is going to come over in the evening and feed them and play just in case we get stuck in traffic.
They are not really spoiled; it is more like they have a very high standard of living and a lot of comfort they haven’t experienced before. And about a million toys.
Diego is such a happy little guy. He is still a brat on occasion (and I have the scratch marks to prove it) but they both are learning how to relax a bit more and they actually can be in another room from me hanging out napping now for sometimes a few hours. The hyper-vigilance is waning a bit.
Carlo is still one big adorable stomach. He has his brat side as well; they are a pair, these two. They are both eating a bit slower but it still is pretty fast compared to most domestic animals. My challenge is to get his needs met without letting him get too big. So there is no at will feeding around here. If he hasn’t eaten in about two hours he starts following me around getting under foot and lolling next to me on whatever surface I am standing next to, making absolutely sure that I don’t forget he needs to eat.
They don’t eat people food and there are no treats. After having two sick cats around for the last few years, where getting them to eat, anything at all ever was a challenge, this absorbing, inhaling whatever is put out for them lickedy split is quite refreshing.
They still tussle energetically way more than I would like. It is how they relate to each other and what they know so I usually only interfere if they are doing it, umm, on top of me, sat at 4:45 AM or it looks like Diego could really use a time out.
In spite of my original anxiety about the choice to adopt them both I am thrilled with how it has worked out. Even though I do find myself wearing more gray clothes. :)
It is hard to believe that it has been a year since I did all the vaccinations and prep for the volunteer yoga teaching job in the hospital and I had my annual TB test on Wednesday and need to go back up again later today to have it read. I scheduled training a new fellow up there afterwards in our fancy forms project so that will keep me busy and out of trouble and I’ll get in some activity walking up there.
The annual mask fitting is quite elaborate now with Ebola in the mix. It is very space age and comforting in a way.
Carlo just managed to unexpectedly lower one of the blinds in the bedroom all by himself. There never is a dull moment with these two around…
~Katherine ⋅ February 20, 2015
I found this on Facebook's "Expressive Arts Inspirations" and thought of you:
“I love cats because I enjoy my home; and little by little, they become its visible soul.” ~Jean Cocteau
noko ~Katherine ⋅ February 20, 2015
Oh that is lovely. Thank you.
woman in the moon ⋅ February 21, 2015
I appreciate the cityscape and the sign post to Seattle. I hope your day goes well. Those are hard things to do, but they have to be done. ~~~ I'm happy for you and the cats. Match made in heaven.
edna million ⋅ March 26, 2015
I'd meant to ask on an earlier entry if you can't leave their dry food out for them -- I can see they'd be overeaters after their rough lives before coming to you! It's such a fight here lately over food because we feed Simon canned food (he's a anything-he'll-eat-he-can-have case) and I don't give Eddy and Cayce canned, but Cayce has figured out how wonderful it is and will do anything to get it away from poor little Simon. I shut him in the spare bedroom to eat and she sits outside and cries.
Eddie and Cayce are nearly 8 now, and they play by whacking each other in the face, harder and harder, until it's a full-blown brawl. Between brawls they cuddle up and wash each other.
noko edna million ⋅ March 27, 2015
That is good to know that your two still whack each other. I have never lived with cats that do that before and find it disconcerting. They whack hard! Diego thinks I am just a big weirdly shaped and smelling cat so he has whacked me a few times. Luckily I do not whack back. :)
edna million noko ⋅ March 27, 2015
Eddie and Cayce really get vicious and it's a little upsetting -- like having actual children who are beating on each other violently, I guess. I've had a LOT of cats and never had any who play like that either. I'm afraid they'll do real damage, and occasionally Eddie will get a watery eye which I"m SURE is from fighting. Eddie will also try to wash me and then bite me, which I do discourage. Apparently it's a way to demonstrate love---