Enter Candyland

As the internet has so aptly shown us, cats are cute.  A video with kitten antics can send the most hardened personality into a diabetic coma from the sweetness.  It is for cats a tool, defense mechanism and weapon.

When you have a cat as intelligent as Sunny, this can be a dangerous thing.  He is very good at using his cute to get what he wants.

One of his most potent weapons is the tummy fur.  Now, for anyone who understands animals, this is one of the most emotionally powerful things a cat can do.  For Sunny, this is especially true.  For almost any animal, their belly is their most vulnerable body part.  To expose their belly is an expression of extreme trust.  When you've adopted an animal who was abused, trust is incredibly precious.  A little piece of my heart melts every time he does this.  It doesn't hurt that it's just so soft and fuzzy and he looks ridiculously precious when he does it.



Of course, with Sunny, it is a trap.  He will show you his tummy, but it is not to be touched.  Unless he is half asleep and in a REALLY mellow mood, touching the tum will get your hand grabbed in a very sharp set of teeth.  He doesn't bite down with me, but he does express his displeasure at this transgression.  The revealing of the tummy is an invitation to scritch him behind his ears, or on his chin and cheeks.  The tummy itself is verbotten.

He's developed some other uses for the cuteness.  The primary use of the kitty superpower is to get his paws on treats.  Sunny is a treat-powered feline.  Treats are to be acquired as frequently as possible.  Treats are the first thing he wants in the morning when I wake up.  It doesn't matter where he's been sleeping, when the alarm goes off, he's in the bed, looking for treats.  Sometimes, he just waits for me, so I open my eyes to this...



"Are you up?  I've been waiting.  You've been asleep for so long and I've been waiting that WHOLE time for treats."  At least he is nice enough to not actually wake me himself and opening your eyes to that level of cute accompanied by a happy purr is not a bad way to start the day.

His other cute habit is when I'm not paying attention and he wants something.  This is from a few days ago.  I was working on the computer and he wanted to get my attention.  "Hey, hey there.  Stop tapping at the machine and give me treats."

I know I'm especially susceptible, but I find this to be unbearably cute as well, especially since he will often walk over and rub his head up against me once he has my attention.  Part of it is that he never used to do things like this.  It's just another sign of the bond between us.

Aside from using his super-powers for treats, there are the completely unintentional, casual cute moments:  putting his paws over his face to sleep, stretching with that little purring meow when he wakes or poking his head out from the covers after he's been sleeping under them.

A day with Sunny is a day filled with an overload of toothache-inducingly-sweet cuteness...and I'm happy to live in this candy land.