From the cats' point of view, anything that interferes with their skritches or their treats is a Very Bad Thing.

Apr 04, 2007

Thursday Thirteen 87::23:

The cats had an interesting March:

1. I started feeding them the new cat food in late February. All three cats' coats are thicker, their eyes are brighter, and they have more energy. (Just what three apartment-bound cats need: more energy.) The vet was pleased to see that Fog had lost weight, and said that twelve-year-old Monkey is moving very gracefully into middle age.
2. Two weeks of my limited mobility meant no combing, no treats, and no claw-clipping. Today I noticed where one of them (probably Fog, the window-sitter) tore a hole through the light-blocking layer on my bedroom curtains. This is pretty heavy, sturdy stuff...so I'm betting that Fog slipped, caught herself on the curtain, and then slipped the rest of the way off the windowsill...tearing the hole in the light-blocking layer as she fell into the three pillows right below the window. (And then, being a cat, she probably licked her shoulder and sauntered off, acting as if that had happened to some other, less graceful cat.)
3. When I was immobile, I didn't thrash as much at night - and there were some nights when it got very cold. The cats took to sleeping next to me. One night Ursa went to sleep on my right, by my ribcage. I woke up at about 3 am with Ursa's tail thwapping against my arm. After about five minutes, Ursa finally moved...because at some point Fog had decided that she wanted Ursa's sleeping spot, ambled across the room, and jumped right up. Thus, the disquieted behavior...and my cat-tail alarm clock.
4. An air conditioner to examine. I bought the air conditioner two weeks ago, but most window-mount air conditiners available these days are made for easy installation in vertically-opening windows. Mine open horizontally. This meant measuring, getting custom-cut plexiglass, getting weatherstripping to line the edges of the plexiglass, getting something to block the window closed so that it won't rattle open when the A/C cycles on... All of the prep work took time. During the week, I left the air conditioner down on the floor. Monkey pretty much ignored it, but I think Fog and Ursa sniffed every accessible inch of the unit. They'll really freak the first time it cycles on! (If one of them happens to be sitting in the window when this happens...I'll have another claw-hole in my light-blocking curtains.
5. Two empty boxes to play in (plus styrofoam! o joy!). One box was from the A/C, the other was from the combination printer/scanner. When the two end-cap pieces of styrofoam were put back in the box, there was just enough room for Ursa to jump in turn around, settle his backside into one of the end caps, and rest his chin on the other one.
6. The disappearance of half of their favorite windowsill when the air conditioner was finally installed this past Saturday. I've dutifully moved the footstool so that Fog can still use it as a stepstool to get up into (what's left of) the windowsill. Often one cat would watch the bird feeder from the patio door, and the other would
7. Now that I'm almost fully recovered, and the weather's getting warmer, I dosed all three cats with flea goop. I've had to keep them separated so that they don't groom the flea-goop off of each other. This isn't so much a problem with Monkey, but Fog is Ursa's loving servant. She'd probably make herself ill getting as much of that stuff as she could (and since Ursa is the one with the flea allergy, he needs to let all of that cold, wet ugh spread across his skin.) I'm hoping that by the time I'm ready to go to bed, enough of the stuff will have worked its way into each cat's skin that I won't have to try and keep them separated all night. (I can already hear the rambunctious games of under-the-door paw-tag.)
8. As part of last weekend's housekeeping, I put away most of the cat toys. I'd stepped on, and nearly slipped on, the superballs plenty of times when my back was hurting. Now that I'm relatively pain-free, I'm not taking a chance on an unexpected pratfall. I'm graceless enough as it is. (As a compensation, I stuck the feather teasers' ends in an opened box of office supplies. They get pulled out now and again, but while their ends are stuck in the box, they're really entertaining for the cats.)
9. I dragged all three cats to the vet earlier this week. As usual, Monkey cried the entire way there but wouldn't leave her carrier once we got into the exam room. Ursa loved the car rides and once again was complimented on his incredibly mellow behavior. And Fog wailed in the car because she heard Monkey wailing, and so Something Very Bad must be going on.

Now that the weather's warming up, there will be more changes:

10. They'll get to go outside in about a week, after the first year's dose of flea goop has had time to get into their system. They won't be going far, just the patio; but if one of them gets fleas, they all get fleas. And Ursa will be miserable. (And flea-bombing is such a hassle...I'd rather avoid that if possible.)
11. Tonight I made tacos; and before I added the chili powder to the ground beef I gave each cat a little piece of browned meat. (Fog and Ursa had both been in the kitchen, at my feet, the instant they smelled the browning meat. Interestingly enough, once Fog knew what it was, she was utterly uninterested in the meat any more. Ursa inhaled her bit...and probably Monkey's, too. Monkey has always been on the slow side, treat-snarfing-wise. She delays in deciding to actually eat whatever-it-is, and Ursa will just nose her out of the way and snag himself another treat. It's a wonder that Fog's the heftier one, instead of him.)
12. I'll begin brushing all three of them to help them shed their winter coats. They'll appreciate the lighter coats when the weather warms up.
13. Once the days start getting over 80, I'll have the A/C cycling to keep the place from becoming an oven. The cats will have to get used to a new set of noises...and a new, much-cooler temperature in the bedroom. (The warmer spring evenings when I've had the fan on low, the cats have elected to sleep in the living room rather than have their fur ruffled. Picky, picky, picky...)

Other Participants

• The Flatland Almanack with favorite cat names
• The Screaming Pages with random thoughts from her first week of unemployment in almost a decade...she doesn't quite know what to do with herself!!
• The Story of Me with popular shows that she *does* watch (in contrast to her list from last week)
• The Median Sib gets the hate on for poison ivy
• Selena Kitt with toys she played with

Keywords: | Thursday | memes | cats |
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