Post 1641: Eek!

IMG_20180206_234319

I sense a presence…!

And another!

Whew! Just Dougy and Andy! Must be “feed the kitty” time.

56 thoughts on “Post 1641: Eek!”

        • They have their claws and hang onto things if you try. Of course, after ruining the ottoman, it wouldn’t take much to ruin the recliner, too if I encourage Dougy to think he has exclusive (scratch! scratch!) claim to that item.

          Reply

          • I don’t tell you how to raise your children, so…! It happened over years. I tried and tried, but I am a sxxx cat trainer. Were I to do it again, I wouldn’t have accepted the kittens so soon after the death of Louie the ginger kitty.

            For that matter, had I known I would fail to break Dougy of his furniture scratching habit, I would have given him away to someone else, who probably would have given him away to someone else, and he probably would have ended up in a kill shelter till euthanized.

            I not only was unprepared for what that involved emotionally, but was totally unprepared to deal with behavior issues, having never had a kitten (let alone two) before. I even bought a book called “Kittens for Dummies” that marginally helped.

            I guess the point is: It’s just things. When I die, someone can put a match to the wreckage. If Dougy dies first, I can have the ottoman recovered. The structure is sound, if the top covering is a mess.

            There will not be a replacement for either cat. They are the last pets I intend to have. This sounds rather cold and grim, but I hope you understand bringing them into my home has been both a curse and a blessing. I enjoy their antics, hut they come with problems and responsibilities, too. They aren’t properly behaved children I can reason with. They are animals that I accept on their level for as long as I or they are alive.

            My attitude is that you shouldn’t have animals (especially cats) in the house if you can’t accept some mayhem. If I couldn’t, Andy and Dougy probably would have gone to the shelter years ago.

          • I totally agree with you, Doug! I hope you understand that I wasn’t telling you what to do but rather accepting what you have accepted, as well as what I have accepted years ago. I grew up with a cat in the house, so I knew that cats are not trainable, no matter what the smart books tell us. Believe me, my couch looks much worse than your ottoman!
            We took baby Pyshka home because otherwise she would’ve ended up in a pound. We did that expecting adjustment issues, and issues we got, but we take them in stride and deal with them as best we can.
            Andy and Dougy’s antics are adorable, and so are your posts – that’s why I read , them and enjoy them every day!

          • Thanks for the clarification, though I have a hard time believing you have a naughty kitty girl! I kind of expected something from kitty boys, but I guess it’s more cats than male or female cats issues.

          • Both girls are troublemakers, even with manicure. The boy (AKA The Main Chief Cat) never breaks or shreds anything. His sister Beba has more or less matured now, or at least she has started acting in a more mature way ever since we bought the baby home. The little one has no stops and no boundaries, though. However, we estimate that she was about 4 weeks old when she was found (the vet concurred), and we don’t know how long she survived on the street, but she did, so she is a street survivor and a fighter, even though she still comes to mama (that’s me) for attention and loving.
            Every cat is a distinct personality, as you have pointed out so many times about The Adorables, but broken dishes and ruined furniture comes with the territory, regardless.

          • Three cats! Oh well, they keep each other entertained whrn we can’t be there for them, and I have to give you two thumbs up for adding that third kitten to the household!

          • I can tell the difference in behavior between the kitty boys and their singleton predecessor, the late Louie the ginger cat. Louie was a huggable kitty that love, love, loved to be held by me, but got along poorly with other cats. The kitty boys are more catlike, interacting with each other than with me, resisting being held (though I do it anyway, holding them as long as they don’t fuss), and stopping by my place to beg for food and “scritching”!! Though they are a bit wilder than Louie, it’s fun seeing them behave like kitties. Louie was more doglike in how he related to people, which was nice, too.

          • That’s what I’ve noticed as well, in terms of kitty interaction. Not all “single” cats are lap cars, though. My brother’s late cat, Smokey, had an arrogant, nasty personality. No holding, no “scritching,” no petting. Just presenting himself as the king. Now my brother has four cats; two they had gotten as babies (siblings, like yours mine), and the other two were rescued much later, one at a time, The interaction there is both hilarious and amazing.

          • The two singletons I had were both tabby moggies and both were very affectionate. The little kitty girl was a lap cat out of gratitude for being rescued from the shelter. The kitty boy was a five year old rescue cat from the same shelter. He clearly had belonged to someone at one time, but no one ever showed up to claim him. I had him scanned for a microchip because he was such a fine cat, I couldn’t believe no one wanted him! The whole time I had him, I expected someone to show up and say, “That’s my cat!” Didn’t happen.

            https://youtu.be/8G8nY5ym2Zk

          • I’ve always thought that singleton pets, both cats and dogs, acquire personality traits of their human companions. It doesn’t happen that much when they interact with each other, but they are affected by the environment nonetheless. Yours are kind and loving because you are.
            Your youtube link did not work for me, unfortunately.

          • Andy sometimes shows his love in cat ways that are painful to humans – a little claw action on top of my head when I’m in the recliner and he’s on the back above me, for example, or a little bite that’s meant to be playful that goes through the first layer of skin. Dougy spends more time kneading my poor right arm. Purring along, eyes half closed in ecstasy, he starts digging a bit deeper as he kneads, and I have to interrupt him! (I try to put as much cloth between his claws and me!)

            The link was to a video showing Louie the ginger cat lounging on the settee, doing nothing as only cats can do. If you can view videos on YouTube, go to phainopepla 95, my YouTube channel, and click on the videos. The Louie videos are at the bottom. Of course, the Andy and Dougy videos are at the top.

          • Totally understandable. I miss Laddie, my grandmother’s dog who died in the early 1960s and Peanuts, my childhood dog who died in 1974. They become g=family so fast and they remain family no less than our siblings or mother and father.

          • Empathy is a valuable attribute, something yesterday’s tragic event in your state brings out. When I heard the way the president read his statement, I thought, “He doesn’t get it….sad.” Not all people have it. Sorry for that comment. It’s been bothering me since I saw it. There is no White House pet, something everyone who’s had the job in my lifetime has had. Baron may have had a whole floor to himself in Trump Tower, but no dog? No cat? Goldfish? Nothing? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_pets

          • Baron has ASD (Autistic Spectrum Disorder). It is widely publicized, so I am not disclosing any state secrets. In my experience, kids with these disorders greatly benefit from caring for pets, and not goldfish, but rather someone they can hold, touch, and love. I’ve wondered why They never got a dog or a cat for him, but perhaps he has allergies? I don’t know and don’t want to judge anyone.
            What happened in that high school is so horrific that it doesn’t even bear discussing, only mourning and crying together with those families!

          • Yes, I was aware of his condition, and that, as you note, he could benefit from having a furfriend. Perhaps he does have allergies. It seems kids these days are more prone to them and respiratory disease. I would hope that whatever his circumstances, his mother, at least, has made every effort to help him deal with an impossibly difficult public position his parents deal with these days. I always feels sorry for any White House kid, especially minors. It must be very hard to keep them from reading or seeing terrible things said about their parents, especially out right lies and conspiracy crap. He’s at an age that is difficult without external stresses, too.

          • I doubt that it is possible to keep kids from reading or seeing anything these days, whether they live in the White House or somewhere in the boondocks. Internet reaches everywhere. I hope parents and staff manage to put information in the right perspective.

          • That was back in 2009. I only had her a few weeks, but she was a lovely spirit. I would potentially have her today at age nine had she lived, and she would have been a great addition to my life with her sweet personality.

    • It is Andy, but that isn’t immediately obvious. He has a Dougy quality about him in that particular photo. I’ve been thinking about making that the heading photo to replace the one of the kitty boys playing on the settee when they were wee kittens, but that is such a favorite photo of the two (a screen print from a video of them) that I just can’t quite decide to replace it.

      Reply

Leave a Reply. You may comment using your WordPress.com, Twitter, Facebook, or Google+ accounts.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.