Cats & Dogs

The age old story of cats and dogs. The famous sayings that we’re not meant to get along. I don’t usually like dogs. Although I’ve been associating with some on Twitter. They aren’t so bad on Twitter. In real life, they have tormented and chased me. But not always. Some were fans of cats. But I still didn’t like them. Even my girl tried to tell me about the one dog who wanted to get to know me better. He was a major cat fan. He even lived with a cat.

I don’t get it. I’m used to the mean sort of dogs who will kill us cats given the chance. Not like the dog who likes to play with Nuri. She isn’t me. She doesn’t attack this dog who is bigger than she is, but still a small dog. Nuri tends to smell him, but he usually gets too hyper for her. It is kind of funny in a way. She handles herself better with dogs than I ever have.

Except for those on Twitter. What is it about Twitter that makes it okay for me to have something to do with dogs? I know they can’t attack me. Perhaps that’s part of it. That and I can’t smell them.

October 1, 2020 0

Grooming

Grooming is very important to us cats. I would hope it’s just as important to you humans as well. Although with some of you, it’s quite obvious that it isn’t.

We cats groom a lot every day. After we eat or after we come in contact with dirty things. We need to be clean. How else do you think our coats will be so shiny if we didn’t groom so much? We have to get rid of the loose hairs that are falling off our coats. We have to sharpen our claws and shed them when it’s time.

It does take a lot of time and effort to groom ourselves. Sometimes we can’t reach everywhere. That can happen as we age. We might not be a limber as we were when we were young. So, we get a buddy and groom each other.

My girl tended to brush my coat. I loved it when she did that. Certainly it helped to get rid of the excess hair that was ready to come off. And it felt great. She understood my need for grooming and didn’t mind helping me out.

September 1, 2020 0

Smell

Smell is very important to us cats. We have an excellent sense of smell. We know each individual human and cat has a unique smell. Sure those of you who are related smell similarly, but you still have a unique smell. You humans may not be entirely aware of it. As I understand it, cats have a much better sense of smell than you humans do. We do appreciate humans who bathe regularly. Otherwise you will smell bad. It’s not pleasant. Please clean up for us.

We also appreciate a clean place to live in. If you’re a slob, your place will smell bad to us. If you’re good about cleaning up after yourself, and usually my girl is, then your place will smell better to us. Definitely keep up with your dirty laundry. That can smell bad too. Unless, like your shoes, your dirty clothes smell just like you. Our favorite human in the whole wide world.

August 1, 2020 0

Swimming

Here’s a fact that perhaps many humans wouldn’t think of about us cats: We can swim. Not that we like to. We don’t usually like water unless perhaps we’re tigers. I hear there are even tigers who like to run through the snow. That’s not me. I’m not one of those cats. I’m a little tuxie and I hate to get wet. I don’t even like steam from a shower my girl might be taking.

We are born with the ability to swim when we need to. Usually we don’t have to. So, that’s probably why you wouldn’t know that about us. We’re usually so agile that it shouldn’t be too hard to understand how it is we know how to swim without being taught. We just do it when we find ourselves in water. Not a pleasant thing to have happen. It’s annoying for us. We can dry out from being in water. Not pleasant to look at either. Being dripping or soaking wet is not my idea of fun.

July 1, 2020 0

Imagination

We cats have active imaginations. My girl is one human who still has an active imagination as an adult. I think that might be one reason she gets so silly. We do have an active imagination in common. I think that’s why she understands what I’m doing when I’m stalking my food bowl. She knows I’m pretending to hunt and sneak upon my prey. She finds it amusing.

When she plays with Spot, they both are using their active imaginations. She will tease him with a teddy bear. He pretends the teddy bear is someone to play with. They can do that for longer periods of time than I ever could. Yet, we all have active imaginations. Spot also has a tendency to play with the Y2K bug. He grew up with stuffed animals. The fake kind. He plays with them. My girl never minded. They were hers after all…

That particular Y2K bug lost all six of its legs to Spot. He’d wrestle with it and pretend to kill it. Then he would carry it in his mouth and puff out his chest. He’d announce to all of us about his latest kill.

We cats certainly know how to have a good time without much of anything. All thanks to our active imaginations. How else could we have survived for centuries without you humans to entertain us? I can assure you we weren’t bored as long as we had our active imaginations to entertain us whenever we needed it.

June 1, 2020 0

Dreams

We cats like to dream about all sorts of things. We have active imaginations and we sleep enough to have an active dream life. Some humans have proven it with our permission of course.

What do we dream about? You, us, mice, dogs. Really anything. My dreams are fairly mundane unless the fairies show up. For me they are tiny humanoids with wings made up of pure white light. They are quite beautiful. And playful. And silly. And magical. They sprinkle their dust on me and… it’s too embarrassing to discuss any further than that.

I dream of it all. I dream of my lost family and I dream of my current family. My dreams are usually pleasant. Sometimes I have nightmares. Fortunately, they don’t last long. Then I’m back to my pleasant dream life. Can you say the same about yours?

May 1, 2020 0

Playtime

My girl is right. We all need some playtime. I was never that fond of toys or playing a lot. But she is right. We do need some playtime. We all need to rest and relax from the stress in our lives.

Perhaps we experience a different form of stress than you humans do. But we need to play too. I like to wrestle other cats. I know my girl will play with me. *Sigh.* I don’t always like it, but I know she won’t take it too far. She just wants to play for a little bit. Then she stops before I ever lose it. She even plays with Spot as if she is a cat! The two of them have a lot fun doing that. I think they’re both nuts and silly.

But they are right. We do need some playtime. Otherwise life can become too much for us to handle on our own.

April 1, 2020 0

Sleeping

From what I understand is cats sleep longer per day than humans do. There is some variance. Some humans claim they only need to sleep four hours a day. I hope you’re right about that. I know my girl tends to do well on about seven to eight hours a day.

We cats tend to sleep for at least 16 hours a day. Humans just can’t come close unless they are suffering from concussions or post-concussions. I’m not sure it’s good for you humans to get that much sleep unless you really need it for health reasons.

And you know what we cats do while we sleep? We dream. Vividly. Some humans have proven it. We actively dream while we sleep. We don’t always sleep for 16 hours straight. We take naps throughout the day.

What did you expect? We have to eat and use the litter box too. We also need to exercise and get some love from others we love. So, you may think we’re not doing much of anything all day long, but you’re wrong. We’re dreaming our lives away.

You can’t even come close to us in our dreaming lives. You’re just not asleep enough every day to do that.

March 1, 2020 0

Diet

What we cats need to eat is not what you humans need to eat. If I’ve learned anything in my long life, it’s that. My girl was one of the healthiest humans I’ve known. She is a vegetarian. She will not eat animals. Some humans have insisted that she would get sick from a diet of mostly plant food especially all the vegetables she likes to eat.

But they are completely wrong. My girl is healthy and happy. I’m sure part of the reason is her diet. Another part is that she lives with at least one cat. She is a crazy cat lady, so it amazes me that she can live with just one cat for so long.

But back to cat diet. We cats are true carnivores. We hunt in the wild or even living on the streets. We need to eat animals because there are certain amino acids which make up proteins that our bodies don’t make. They come from animals only. As for you humans, you need different amino acids and can live without eating animals and be perfectly healthy as my girl is.

Please keep that in mind when feeding us. No animal by products. Those will make us sick. Just pure meat. Maybe a little vegetables here and there, but mostly just animals for us. My girl doesn’t have a problem with feeding us this way even though she won’t eat animals herself. She just tries not to smell what we’re eating.

February 1, 2020 0

Personalities

In case many of you humans didn’t notice, we cats do have different personalities. We’re not all identical just as you are not. Some of us, like me, are curmudgeons. Some are super sweet, as Isis and Nuri are. Some are playful, like Spot. Others hyper, as Nuri gets at times. Some are quite laid back, as I am.

Until you get to know us, you may not know what we are really like. For example, I was always good about asking for food and water. And of course demanding my litter box be cleaned out once a day. Spot, on the other hand, would never ask for such things. Instead, he’d get mad that it wasn’t done and knock things onto the floor. When that didn’t work, he finally went over to my girl and asked for food.

Even Nuri doesn’t complain if my girl forgets to clean out the litter box. I don’t understand that. I know my girl has had some trouble remembering due to a concussion and post-concussion or just being distracted by something else. But you’d think Nuri would say something to get my girl’s attention on this matter.

Well, that’s just how it is. We’re all different, yet we’re all cats. We at least have a few things in common with each other. Just remember that we have different personalities and you should be able to get along with us all.

January 1, 2020 0