Cat Prodigy

I live with a cat prodigy. It’s not easy. In the beginning it meant baby safe locks on all the cabinets unless I wanted to come home to find him sleeping on the dinner plates.

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Then he learned to open the tri-fold closet doors. I couldn’t find a lock for those  so  a stool blocks the doors from opening now.

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I come home to the TV flickering away when I know I turned it off before I went out and the ceiling fan…well, lets just say he even knows how to adjust the speed. I watched him with the remote just last night. After he got  the fan up to medium he went back , nosed it around and with a very deliberate paw, pressed the button for the lights, switched his tail and walked away.

He’s been typing for years. It’s how he earned the title of “Editor -in- chief”.

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Editor in Chief

Today he discovered a new trick. He took a selfie with my cell phone. I watched him do it!

Usually he hates my phone. He’s always trying to chew on it but this time he moved it around with his paw and managed to unlock the screen. Next thing I knew the flash went off. After that he lost interest.

I checked the camera function and there it was… his very own “selfie”.

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He’s a scary cat… Sometimes I think he’s smarter than me. What will he figure out next?

 

 

The Sounds of Spring time

Birds tweeting comes to mind…but not in my neighborhood.

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Today it was the revving of Harley engines on the side street by my window. At dawn…grrrr

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That is my only complaint with motorcycles.. the noise…or maybe it’s not the bikes themselves but the inconsiderate riders who like revving the engines so early. When they actually pulled out the noise level wasn’t bad.

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The other sound of spring also started today 🙁  Ach, ach, ach…the lovely sound of a cat barfing a hairball. Yup shedding season is upon us.

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Somewhere it all that noise a bird has to be singing , right?

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Dazed and Confused

As I mentioned recently Smokey is in his senior years. He is 17 as close as we can figure.

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We’ve had a few health scares in recent years as he tries to age gracefully but his newest issue is upsetting the whole household.

We think, that’s the vet and me, that he may be getting a little senile. It started a couple of months ago.  At first it was only occasionally at night, always after I’d gone to bed (of course). I’d be awakened by this horrible caterwauling. I’d get up only to find Smokey in the bathroom, sometimes in the tub, crying at the top of his lungs. I don’t know if he liked the way the tile amplified the sound or what but he wouldn’t “snap out of it” until I touched him. Then he’d seem to refocus on me  and start purring. Over the course of the past few months these episodes have become more frequent and no longer confined to the nighttime. On the good side, a word from me will now snap him out of it instead of having to physically touch him.

After a complete physical the vet confirmed that there was no medical reason for this behavior so we concluded it was Feline Alzheimer, not uncommon in senior cats.

Since this behavior has sprouted Smokey actually seems happier. He wanders around the house purring at the top of his little lungs. He doesn’t seem to mind Buddy any more. (That had been a bit uneasy) and he seems to have more confidence.

Maybe that increased confidence is what started Smokey  competing with Rocky for the spot under the heat lamp. Maybe he gets cold easier since he’s lost weight and is the “old man”. I don’t know, so although Rocky doesn’t like it , we’re dealing with it. Rocky frets and paces but doesn’t force Smokey down. If Smokey stays there too long Rocky just gives up and takes the other cat tree or occasionally takes Smokey’s old perch. The point is, they seem to have worked it out.

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But now, just this past week, Smokey has decided to take on Buddy.

Why this is strange is because cats are by nature territorial, even if the territory extends no further than the end of the couch. Each of the cats  has a “spot” they call their own. Rocky’s was under the heat lamp, Smokey’s was one level up and the top spot or “crows nest” was empty. When we got Buddy he simply went to the empty spot and made it his own. For the past year that’s been the hierarchy and there’s been no conflict.

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A couple of nights ago I  went to my “spot” at the end of the couch and Buddy was there! That was a surprise.

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Usually none of the cats sleep in my seat. It’s like they respect it as mine. Then it occurred to me that a few days before I’d almost sat on Smokey because he’d curled up there and his gray fur blended with the gray couch. So I started looking for Smokey and there he was … in Buddy’s spot in the crow’s nest!

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I patted Buddy and told him not to worry, Smokey would give it back soon. Then I sat down on the bench where I had a small throw for the cats and got out the cat nip. Buddy moved over immediately. About 15 minutes later Smokey moved down to his normal perch and all was back in order.

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This morning I heard hissing and the blinds rattling and Smokey was back up in the crow’s nest. Buddy had climbed the cat tree to try to get in and Smokey was under siege. Even weighing 7 lbs less than Buddy and with no claws, Smokey won the day. Buddy moved down to the middle perch where Smokey usually relaxes.

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Not too long after his victory Smokey gave up  top spot and wandered over to the food bowl. Buddy didn’t miss his chance to reclaim his “spot” of choice. Smokey seemed to have forgotten all about it.

I can see life will be interesting as Smokey’s condition advances and disrupts the balances among the 3 cats.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nat Geo Wild

There’s a television station/ channel called Nat Geo Wild. I hate and love it at the same time. Does your cable provider supply it in your area?  To me it’s the new Animal Planet. I remember when Animal Planet launched. It was the new kid on the block and everyone wanted it. If it wasn’t available in your area you lobbied your cable provider to carry it. Now it’s a staple in most cable lineups.

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Nat Geo Wild is a joint venture of Fox Cable network and National Geographic. It first launched in Asia, Hong Kong actually in January of 2006. It slowly worked it’s way to toward the New World, United Kingdom, Turkey, Ireland, Romania, India, Vietnam, and Poland.

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The channel finally launched in Latin America on November 1, 2009. It didn’t make it to the United States until 2010 when it arrived in High Definition Glory, a true member of the National Geographic Family, dedicated to animal related programming with National Geographic’s signature quality photography.

I love this channel. I love the animals, the stories and the amazing vistas from Canyonlands to Safaris in Africa.

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So why do I hate the channel? I hate it because it is so real, especially in HD on a large screen TV. The locales and adventures call to my heart. I want to be in that sub at 500 ft. under the sea. I want to be on the boat off Maui watching the humpbacks breach in the azure water. I want to be scuba diving the Great Barrier Reef in Australia.

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I want to climb aboard an airboat in the Everglades and kayak under the glaciers of Alaska. Maybe I’ll skip Antarctica but I’m not adverse to searching for komodo dragons on Indonesian Islands or visiting Galapagos.

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It’s very possible that I can do some, if not all of these adventures… if I win the lottery. National Geographic offers vacations with their guides and photographers but like all things National Geographic, done to the max and with the price tag to match. They even have a “mentor” series where you travel to a location for training with their award winning photographers. Again $$$$.

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So I dream on and torture myself with wishes. I take my little vacations and scratch the surface of these amazing locations. I enjoy my vacations but there’s a slight feeling that there should be more.

I watch Nat Geo Wild to see what I’m missing and keep my wanderlust fueled for my next adventure, and I keep dreaming. 🙂

 

 

Horses

I reblogged the latest in the Connecticut Vicious Horse Case. I posted about it last fall after I heard talks about it at Equine Affaire.

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Conn Court: Are Horses Vicious? is well written and I couldn’t have made the points any better. Please take a moment to read and share.

This is truly a case where man is trying to impose his standards on an animal. Common sense has fled.  Whether an animal is inherently vicious or not, we need to respect their character and take precautions. Even big , cuddly creatures can inadvertently cause injury.

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The case began in 2006 when a boy tried to pet a horse named Scuppy at a Milford farm. The animal stuck his neck out from behind a fence and bit the child on his right cheek, ‘‘removing a large chunk of it,’’ according to court papers.

What I find interesting is that no one is blaming the parents for letting the child approach the strange horse. There were signs saying  “Do Not Pet” etc.

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This litigious society that we live in today really upsets me. No one accepts responsibility for their own actions. It’s always someone else’s fault. Shame on us. 🙁