Let's play

It's said that the ancient Egyptians worshiped cats as deities, and cats have never forgotten.

Sunny, definitely falls into this category.  He is a kitty with dignity and poise.  He knows his own beauty and has a very regal air about him.  Just in case you don't believe me, here's a picture of himself lounging on a silk pillow on my couch.

Do you have any doubt that this is a creature who believes he was placed upon this earth to be worshiped?

Given that this is Sunny's natural state, there is nothing funnier than when all of that is forgotten and goes by the wayside for play.  Sunny can be one of the most playful cats ever.  It's not just the hunt instinct, which is of course the trigger for it.  He likes to be silly.  He knows that whatever toy he or I have picked out is not actually an animal to be killed, but he doesn't care.  It doesn't take much, either.  A piece of yarn tied to the end of a stick is one of his favorite things to chase.  He will run at it, sometimes, not even bothering to try to catch it, just bouncing himself off of whatever furniture is closest to scrabble as he hits the hardwood and bolt into the other room, or up the stairs.  He will run at something and jump around in its general vicinity without actually trying to grab it.  He's just having fun and I've given him a handy excuse to drop his dignity like a hot potato.

His look changes a bit when he's playing.

Goodbye dignity, hello crazy eyes.  This is Sunny, having wrapped himself in a piece of string, which he valiantly conquered.  Yes, when it comes to playtime, he is a complete goofball.

One of Sunny's favorite toys is a gift from my niece.  She and some friends braided up some polar fleece and he will happily leap and jump to get a hold of it, as you can see here (just ignore the laundry being sorted!)

The one dangerous part of that toy is when we both misjudge...me on timing and him on where the toy ends and my hand begins.  Let's just say that my hand is a little worse for the wear at the moment.

Play is great exercise for cats, so I've tried to make sure I do it every day with Sunny.  The biggest problem is that while he's getting healthier, he's also gaining energy, so he wants to play more.  That's fine for the moment while I'm home, but it could prove interesting once I have a job again.

In the meantime, I'm just going to enjoy those moments when my deity deigns to come down to earth.

Only 40 winks!?

So, as cat owners know, sleep is a very important part of a cat's life.  They are the kings of the napping world.

Sunny, of course, is not exception to this rule and who can blame him?  Besides, let's face it.  There are few things cuter than a sleeping cat.  If you browse through Flikr, there is actually a group called "My Sleeping Cat" which is completely dedicated to photographs of somnolent felines.  You can get cavities just browsing through the pictures.

What has always amused me is the positions which cats find conducive to slumber.  Now, there are some that you see, which are perfectly normal.

Here, his majesty stretches out on my bed, blissfully slumbering amidst the soft comforter and sheets, dreaming of catching mice and being rewarded with treats.  He looks so comfy and sweet.  There are soft warm things and this is a perfectly comfortable position.  I get it.  This makes me want to curl up in the bed with him.

Then there's this:

In what world is this a comfortable sleeping position?  I mean, seriously.  A contortionist would look at this and cringe at the thought of the sore muscles and aching joints that would result from spending any length of time like this and yet Sunny is sleeping away, blissfully unaware of the sympathetic aches and pains he is transferring to his astonished caretaker.

He does have two other sleeping habits which I find adorable.  The first is that, like his owner, he snores.  I don't know what it is about those sweet little snorts that makes me smile, but there it is.  I'm a sucker who finds the sound of her snoring cat utterly enchanting.  The other one is when he plays Undercover Kitty.

If you look closely, next to the pillow and against the back of the couch, there is a tail sticking out from beneath the fuzzies.  Undercover Kitty strikes again.  As I sit here typing, I have a huge grin on my face, because Undercover Kitty is currently snoring to beat the band under that purple throw next to me on the couch. He seems to have a bit of a cold, so it's really loud. It just makes me giggle.  

One of the sweet things about Sunny is that he likes company when he naps.  I had a couple of back to back business trips to Dallas with my old job.  On the weekend in between, I also had a commitment for Saturday.  I came home to a very upset baby.  My friend who was going to stop in on him had a week of life smacking her in the head, and her ex-husband had pulled one of his really nasty tricks, so she totally forgot (much to her horror, since she's such a huge animal lover!) to stop in.  There was not much food left in his bowl when I got home and he was SO happy to see me.  Cats don't like to see ANY of the bottom of the bowl, so only a quarter of a cup of food left is pure terror!

I decided that rather than drive up and spend Friday with my friends as originally planned, I would spend the night at home with my lonely boy.  I was up and out early the next morning, not returning until late at night.  Then, I got up Sunday and went straight to sing at church.  When I got home Sunday afternoon, I went upstairs to go to the bathroom.  Sunny had been sleeping on my bed and immediately rolled onto his back to get some attention.  His well applied use of ridiculous cuteness had the desired effect.  I went to the bathroom quickly, then joined him on the bed for some scritches and kitty time.  After a minute or two, I decided that napping with him was just what I needed as well, so I stretched out next to him.  All was right in both of our worlds and nothing could be sweeter than drifting off together for a nice nap.  An hour or so later I awoke.  We both got up and went downstairs.  He happily crunched away at his food in his full bowl (bliss!) while I fixed myself an early dinner.  Cooking complete, I sat down to enjoy my meal as Sunny gave himself a good grooming.

I put the dishes in the sink and sat down on the couch with my laptop to catch up on emails and Facebook posts.  Sunny had gone down to use his own facilities, then came running up the basement stairs, through the living room and straight for the next set of stairs.  He sat down on the landing and looked at me.  His running pulled my attention from the screen to see him sitting there staring.

"What?" I asked him.  He looked up the stairs, then looked back at me.  A moment later he looked up the stairs again and then back at me.  I smiled.  "I'm sorry baby.  I need to finish off these emails and can't go take another nap with you."

He blinked at me, took a big breath and let it out with a "humph."  Then, he turned and ran up the stairs to my bed.

Obviously the silly human did not have her priorities straight.

Naps should always come first!

Training Days

So, in bringing a new cat into my home, I knew that there could be a learning curve.  Where would he be allowed/not allowed?  What behaviors would be acceptable/unacceptable?  There's always a bit of training that needs to happen.

Right.

We're talking about a cat here.  These are not creatures known for their desire to please their owners.  As the magnet on my refrigerator says, "A dog comes when called.  A cat takes a message and gets back to you later."

Surprisingly, Sunny is actually pretty good about those types of things.  He stays off the dining room table...as long as I don't leave a chair conveniently out to give him an easy up.  My couch has taken a bit of a beating, but it got much better when I go him more scratching posts/hangings.  He does like to drink from the kitchen sink, especially right now as I wait for my order with the replacement pump for his fountain to arrive.  We have established a rule with that.  He's allowed in the sink, but counter surfing is out.  I'm usually home when he does this and if he goes sniffing at the counter, all I do is ask him, "what's the rule?"  He usually looks at me and blows a breath out through his nose (sounding for all the world like a human "hmph") then either goes back to drinking from the sink, or jumps down.

He also likes to go out onto the front porch, which is enclosed.  The mail slot is the perfect height for him to put his front paws and prop himself up to look out through the jalousie windows of the front door.  He'll use the scratcher hanging on the front door, then get down, turn, sit and look at me.  Sometimes he'll even meow to get my attention.  That's his way of asking to go out.  Thankfully, he's good about coming in when I need him to.  He seems to always want to go out on the porch shortly before I need to leave the house, so that part of the equation is essential.  I just can't bring myself to leave the door into my living room open where everyone can see through the glass on the porch to the inside when I'm not there.  Call me crazy, I know.

When he wants to go up into the attic, he's even more direct.  There's a specific meow for "please open this" which is usually accompanied by scratching a bit at that door.  I don't worry about him for that one.  The only time I don't like having that door open is in the winter, because it's not heated, so it gets quite chilly.  Sunny doesn't like the cold, so he never stays up there for long.

So, have you noticed who's been trained here?  Granted, I have been able to insure that there are no egregious behaviors on his part...but there never really were any.  On the other hand, he has trained his human to respond to both vocal commands and silent gestures.

Yeah, there's a learning curve all right, and Sunny made darn sure that I got right on it!