Monday, September 19, 2011

My cat's routine

My cat is a year old and has a fixed sort of routine, implying that it has a greater system and discpline than me !

It sleeps by 10pm (in the wash basin in the basement in hot summer ;  and on the sofa on the first floor in spring and fall;  and with us in bed in winter)
It wakes about twice a night, sits on my chest and rubs it's face into my neck for about 10 minutes and then goes away. Sometimes it falls asleep while rubbing it's face in my neck! Apparently many cats do this.
It wakes in the morning and comes mewing, trying to wake me so that I take it to the backyard where it watches out for squirrels, birds (starlings,woodpeckers and finches) and butterflies. It chews on the grass and tries to chase butterflies and wasps.(It got it's paw stung by a wasp once when it tried to catch one and it's more wary of wasps now!)
After this 15 minute walk in the back yard (on a leash, with me.....I am afraid it will run off or worse still, walk on/ eat the racoon shit in the garden) we go in .....and then it rushes around with such a burst of energy, it is amazing ! It acts berserk, running around, wanting me to chase it! It runs from one room to another, jumping on and off the sofa, hiding under the dining table, taking flying leaps from one place to another. If I have time, I chase it until it is tired and stops.
As I wake late on weekends, and do  not walk it in the garden,  it whines a bit and then settles itself in the bathroom window, looking out at the passing vehicles.
 I have seen this puss, sometimes trying to entertain itself, by pushing a granite ball, back and forth with it's paws, all by itself!
It eats on and off a few times a day; it poops(once a day) drinks it's water a few times a day and goes to sleep by 9 or 10 am. It sleeps the entire day until we get back home.
When I return from work, I  barely have time to  take off my outdoor shoes when it starts mewing at  expecting me to take it out to the back-yard immediatly !
We go through the same morning routine outside. It sometimes sits on a rock, basking in the evening sun. It sometimes, rolls on my neighbour's soft lawn. It likes to chew on dried twigs; I do not know why. I read a book, while it explores the back-yard. Often it does not want to return inside and whines or bites my hand or sits tight or rolls and refuses to get up....when it is time to go inside. Then I have to swoop down and carry it in!
When we come in, it wants to play again...I should either chase it or throw a ball at it.....it chases the ball and stops(does not fetch it like a dog).
 It loves to play i.e. chasing a ball or  a stick; trying to catch a thread shaken in front of it........It also loves to be chased and it loves to jump into boxes and bags lying around the house and hiding in them......it thrusts itself into small brown paperbags, thinking, we cannot see it ! When in bed, it sometimes creeps under the bedsheet and bites our legs. It seems to love closed places and to be hidden. I try to make small spaces  for it such as a pillow placed on a sofa where it can go between the pillow and the sofa; I arrange books in piles and it likes to hide in the middle of the pile; it loves to be chased into the basement where it hides in the various empty boxes lying around. You only have to pretend to walk away, for it to come out and seek your attention again! This cat initiates play by running hard in your presence or by rubbing against your legs and running!
This cat is very specific with what it wants to do with whom; it wants me to chase it but it wants to chase my husband; it sits on me and pushes it's face into my neck when I am sleeping but it bites my husband's legs almost every night, in order to wake him or in play. It never sits on his chest and rub his face or bite my legs to get me to play.
The only variations in it's routine are:
 when it seems to be a bit sleepy/lethargic in summer and a lot more active in winter;
 it seems to be more on it's own in summer i.e. in the basement and more with us in winter;
Once in a while it vomits  (grass;  and some stuff, which I have been told is a hairball but does not look like a hair ball to me!)

This cat has certainly made me a bit more discplined than I would have been without it. Now, thanks to this cat, I have to walk it daily twice; Thanks to this cat, I have to be careful, not to throw things around the house, which it is likely to swallow. This cat has also made me  more cheerful and less grumpy. I cheerfully give up reading even in the middle of an exciting crime fiction if this cat wants me to play with it...........this is something I would not do for any person I think!

October 2011: The temperatures really fell this week and I did not walk this cat for the last two days. And is it ANNOYED! My poor cat is not yet feeling the chill like me and wants to go out....I do not want to as it is rainy and cold. I keep telling my cat, 'No', but it just does not get it. I did take it out in the rain for a few minutes, when it did not stop whining. After it got a few raindrops, it came in and finally stopped whining!
It is going to be tough in winter I think.....the cat wanting to go out and me refusing to take it! Today morning, it did not whine much, but was sitting in a sort of tight, huddled way, as if it was trying to keep warm. It did run about a bit and I gave it chase.........it wants me to play with it by chasing, as a substitute for not taking it out. The poor thing is also feeling sad as I have just shut the bathroom window, it's perch for looking out at cars..........the windows glass is frosted and it can no longer look out. That window will remain shut till June of next year to keep the cold out and my poor cat will be with little visual stimulation! I hope I can fix something interesting for it to do and play, this winter..... October to June i.e. eight long months!

December 2011: More news of my cat
This cat's latest interest is cotton buds! I throw and it jumps after the cotton bud and attacks it like it were a rat( the cotton tip probably  makes it think that it is an animal with fur). I love to watch it chase the cotton bud......I throw it from the bed on which the cat & I are sitting on...then, the  cat  takes a flying leap from the bed  and skids  for a short distance before finally stopping and attacking the bud! I can watch this  leap and skid a hundred times and not get tired!
The other objects it loves to chase after include table tennis balls, cod-liver oil capsules, any small object like hairbands, small roundish objects that roll like peanuts, pomogranete seeds.......at least, these are the things I have thrown and it has chased.  I am not sure if I mentioned it earlier but it loves to place these things(it's playthings) in it's water mug and I have to periodically remove them! Right now, it's water mug is filled with cotton buds and one cod-liver oil capsule. Previously it was putting my hairbands ino it's water mug.
I have three dishes filled with water, so that  it can drink from one and store it's toys in the other dishes. But it insists on drinking from the mug it uses for storing it's toys!
Another thing I have discovered is that it loves to attack my finger when I insert it from a small crack in the box it is sitting in.(I was chasing this cat round the house and it jumped into a large cardboard box....then I tore a small opening in the box and put my finger in and wiggled. It pounced on my finger the moment it spotted it while I withdrew my finger for safety).

Sometimes I think that this cat not only  gives me a lot of funbut it is less trouble than kids. So maybe, it was wise of us to not have kids but own a cat instead!

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