My Neighbor’s Cat

Posted on May 9, 2015May 9, 2015 by Dusty Roads

The Mystery of Cats

Posted on January 4, 2015January 4, 2015 by Dusty Roads

Or maybe I should say the mystery of one cat, Buddy.

I’ve lived with a long line of cats from childhood to my current advanced age. I really don’t recall being catless for any length of time.

My friends think of me as something of a cat whisperer, I may not be in the same league as Jackson Galaxy, but I come close. I watch his show all the time. I love trying to figure out how he is going to solve the behavior problems.

Little Joe, my rescued Persian cat gave me my biggest challenge. He had the number one reason cats get surrendered, litter box issues. One day I’ll have to write about the trials and travails of that cat adventure. But when I tell you I tried all of Jackson’s solutions and even some he hasn’t suggested it would be an understatement. It finally ended well but it took years of trial and error.

But Buddy is something else. Sometime I think he is schizophrenic. Sometimes I think he has a physical problem. You can be petting him, he’ll be purring and relaxed and then suddenly he’ll let out a yowl like he is in pain and go into vicious kitty mode.

He doesn’t like to jump. Rocky will jump anywhere,

the higher the better but Buddy will search and test until he finds a way to climb to where he wants to go. Minimal jumping required.

When he sharpens his claws he lies down to do it. Yup, I have never seen such a thing. Same with playing. He might do a little running around but mostly he flops down on the floor and only plays with what he can reach from his central position.

The vet said he’s just fat so he may be developing some arthritis.

I am feeding him about 1/2 the recommended amount of cat food and feeding Rocky on the counter so Buddy can’t steal food but it doesn’t seem to be working. ( I fully sympathize)

He can go from mellow sweet kitty to crazy, fixated kitty in 0 – 60 in a blink. I have many scratches and bites to prove it but I have noticed that his pupils get wide and he seems to become fixated when that happens. I’m not sure he’s even still in there!

I used to get out of Dodge until he calmed down but I recently took a fuzzy glove (made for cats to kick and bite) and to my surprise instead of attacking he calms down immediately! He lets me sit and pet him with that silly glove and all the wildness goes right out of him.

I don’t know his history and other than his weight problem I feel we are making progress. He bites less often than when I first got him . And he’s started giving affection more often. I love it when he comes for a cuddle at night when I go to bed or climbs up on my computer when I’m working and gives me kitty kisses.

There is clearly a sweet kitty trapped in that warped little kitty brain and somehow, someway I am going to find the key.

Rocky’s Antics

Posted on December 27, 2014December 27, 2014 by Dusty Roads

Rocky must have been feeling left out since Buddy was getting all of the attention. I had to protect the tree didn’t I?

So while Buddy attacked the Christmas tree, Rocky went missing. I saw him head into the bedroom but he usually doesn’t spend much time there if Buddy and I are in the living room so when he didn’t come back I began to get a little concerned. After all, he’s no spring chicken at 13.

I tried calling him..no luck . Not even an answering meow. I looked under the bed, in the closet, even opened the bottom drawers of the dresser. No cat. Buddy was at my feet but he wasn’t any help unless tripping me counted.

The tree box was standing on end at the bottom of my bed. I took a chance and peaked in the tree box and there was a little ginger face looking back at me. He got in and couldn’t get back out. I tipped the box on its side and Rocky flew out like he was shot from a cannon. Once out he gave himself a lick and a shake and walked off as if nothing happened.

Today Rocky gave me my Christmas present. A little late but no less sweet.

Rocky and I used to play fetch. He could go at the game for hours. The rules were simple. Rocky would bring a mousie to me and I’d throw it. He would retrieve it and bring it back and I’d throw it again. I was always careful to follow the rules because if I changed them he’d quit. He’d quit if Smokey decided to join in too. It was a very sensitive balance.

Smokey

Since Smokey passed over the rainbow bridge Rocky hasn’t once brought a toy mouse to me to play fetch. Oh he plays with the toys but like a normal cat. I tried to get him to play a few times and he’d just walk away.

Well today he brought me a toy mouse and laid it at my feet. I picked it up and you could see his body tense, a sure sign he wanted me to throw it. So I did and held my breathe. Yes! He took off after the toy, caught it and proudly brought it back. We played like that for about 10 minutes until the mouse took a bad bounce and escaped under the china cabinet.

In spite of my best effort to rescue it the momentum was lost but for a few minutes we’d enjoyed a fun game that I thought was in the past.

Thanks Rocky 🙂

(The cat picture with the mouse in its mouth isn’t mine nor is it of Rocky. I have never been able to capture that shot but this is exactly how Rocky looks. The same look in his eyes. Nice shot whoever took this.)

Here Kitty Kitty

Posted on December 16, 2014December 16, 2014 by Dusty Roads

You must be getting bored with my renovation project. I know I am. It just seems to be stalled for now.

So how ’bout those crazy kitties? Rocky hasn’t paid much attention to the tree this year (So far) but Buddy hasn’t quite accepted it yet. He’s kind of sneaky. He’ll sit next to it like a very good kitty but the minute I look away a paw comes out to grab something, a bead, an ornament, a garland and I have to tell him no and make him move away from the tree.

Every morning the bottom string of beads are pulled off and hanging and one little snowflake ornament is in the middle of the floor. He must be very gentle to only remove one and never knock the tree over.

Today after shooing him away he disappeared. I gave Rocky a treat and even that didn’t bring him out of hiding so I went “in search of”. (Remember that old TV show?) I found him in the bedroom.

This bed was neatly made up this morning.

Those lumps aren’t the sheets. It’s the “Bud-man” taking refuge under the covers! i didn’t have the heart to wake him up.

A little Christmas Mischief

Posted on December 10, 2014December 10, 2014 by Dusty Roads

There hasn’t been much to report. The install for my over the range micro wave was supposed to be Monday but it got trumped by an emergency out of heat call. Can’t really argue with that. Keeping warm in the Massachusetts winter is a bit more important than whether I warm my dinner in a microwave or in the oven.