Cattitudes

life’s too short not to try to have fun

to scamper at midnight

and lounge in the sun

dreaming of birds

and a great hunting plain

zebras and lions and me in a mane

I’m a king, I’m a god,

there’s nobody better

if you have a complaint,

go mail me a letter

I’m not gonna read it

not even a word

I’ll shred it and eat it and make it a turd

too many things,

too many happenings

I’m busy, you see,

eating and napping

and playing and scratching

and snuggling and running

chaos and crazy, just how I like it

if life doesn’t work, it’s simple–just bite it

too busy to stop

too busy to care

I’m a cat, after all,

I’m proud everywhere

I do what I do

and I’m good at it all

I’m a cat and I’m proud

my tail standing tall

March 1, 2020 0

Angel In My Bed (A Cat Poem)

on darker nights

seeped in cold

I sleep well knowing

I am not alone

I hear the door,

the quiet creak,

the lighting weight

of little feet

padded paws,

a little nose

cold and soft,

tiny toes

kneading me

and nuzzling fleece

purring calm,

purring peace-

filled remedies to every ill

quiet breaths

long and still

a warmth that falls

through open arms

to settle down

on blankets and yarn

a tiny tum, a little head

smiling, snuggling

in my bed

and we drift along

in cozy night

snuggled close,

holding tight

paws on chest

chin on cheek

my angel is perfect

soft and sweet

my little boy,

my little one

someone to hug

someone to love

through the nights

cold and deep

hugging close

in quiet sleep

there’s an angel

in my bed

comfort for

the road ahead

February 1, 2020 2

Vet in Other Languages

This month’s cat vocabulary is the word vet. Not someone cats always like, but have to deal with at times. I don’t blame cats for not liking the vet. I don’t care to see doctors that much either.

But sometimes it is necessary. Check ups can be helpful especially if a cat doesn’t complain when something goes wrong inside of their bodies. Cats are famous for hiding their various ailments and illnesses so that other predators don’t know.

It’s a survival instinct. I can’t say I blame them. It’s not always good to complain about every little thing. It will just make us all sicker and more miserable.

Depending upon what it is, we and cats can get better with or without medical intervention. We just have to make sure we can take care of ourselves and know when it’s time to ask for help.

Saying Vet in European Languages (source)

Language Ways to say vet
Albanian: veteriner
Basque: albaitaria
Belarusian: ветэрынарны ўрач
Bosnian: veterinar
Bulgarian: ветеринар
Catalan: veterinari
Croatian: veterinar
Czech: Vet
Danish: dyrlæge
Dutch: dierenarts
Estonian: loomaarst
Finnish: eläinlääkäri
French: vétérinaire
Galician: veterinario
German: Tierarzt
Greek: κτηνίατρος(ktiníatros)
Hungarian: állatorvos
Icelandic: Dýralæknir
Irish: VET
Italian: veterinario
Latvian: veterinārs
Lithuanian: veterinaras
Macedonian: ветеринар
Maltese: vet
Norwegian: veterinæren
Polish: weterynarz
Portuguese: veterinario
Romanian: veterinar
Russian: ветеринарный врач(veterinarnyy vrach)
Serbian: ветеринар(veterinar)
Slovak: zverolekár
Slovenian: vet
Spanish: veterinario
Swedish: veterinär
Ukrainian: ветеринарний лікар(veterynarnyy likar)
Welsh: milfeddyg
Yiddish: וועטערינאַר

February 1, 2020 0

Spot

After Spot was no longer a kitten, we continued to wrestle together. Sometimes I would jump on him and then we’d be all over the room. My girl would watch us and laugh. She thought it was a show we were giving her. I suppose in a way we were. At other times, he attacked me. But the results were always the same.

Once when we were in a wrestling mode, we faced each other from opposite ends of the room. My girl was in the middle and watched us. He and I wiggled our tails and butts at the same time. All that was missing was Ding! We leaped at each other at the same time right in front of her. Those were the days.

After we were done, there would be silence and we’d cuddle and sleep together. My girl never stopped us from fighting. She didn’t care. I think she understands that we just had disagreements and this was how we dealt with them. I suppose if we were going to harm or even kill each other, she would have stepped in. But it was better that she stayed out and let us do what we needed to do.

We cats do need to establish our own order. No human or anyone else can do it for us. We just have to have order and then we can get along after that. Although, it’s better when the newer cats are just kittens. Then they will just accept any older adult cats as the ones in charge and they won’t challenge the order. Kittens can be accepting like that.

So, I’m glad he was just a kitten when he showed up. I was happy I was the one in charge and he grew up. Kittens are truly annoying until they mature. Then it’s a another cat buddy you have around you day and night. You never have to be alone.

Even though he was no longer a kitten, he never grew out of being adorable. He continued to pose for my girl. She was able to catch him in all sorts of poses and attitudes. He truly was a model. She went through different kinds of cameras. You could say we cats outlived her cameras.

I don’t even know how many different kinds of cameras she had over her life. I certainly remember her using a Polaroid as the first one. The square pictures give that one away. The film developed right in front of us. She no longer has those pictures as hard copies. She scanned them all in at some point.

After that, she had a digital camera her dad had given her. She used it, but not as much as he would have. I don’t know why that was. She even used a camera that came with her cellphone. That wasn’t always so great for a camera. I don’t know if she will ever use a camera that comes with a cellphone again.

Spot wasn’t just adorable, he had some real cattitude, as they call it on Twitter. He knew how to pose and show it off. My girl could catch him and capture the moment digitally. I know she went to school and studied graphic design. While doing that, she stopped getting pictures printed out as she used to.

Instead, she would play with some of the pictures she took of us and sometimes she’d print them out herself. We were featured in her projects for school. It’s quite an honor to be immortalized by humans. My girl is also a writer. Most of her work is done on computers. She could do it all by hand, but it would take much longer and she could risk hurting her hands and wrists.

As you can see from some of these picture collages, Spot had a tendency to pose with a computer. Whether behind it, or to the side of it on a printer or even on top of a computer, he knew how to get her attention. He was brave enough to tell her she wasn’t allowed on the computer all day. I never would have said anything.

I knew she was working on them. I know her well enough to know she could keep herself occupied whether she worked for someone else or not. She had plenty of satisfying work she could do right in our home. I loved it when she worked at home because then she was there whenever I needed her throughout the day. She was also quiet for long periods of time so I could meditate and sleep as much as I wanted to.

By the time Spot had grown up, he had completely won me over. He didn’t grow out out of wanting to play or wrestle. He was still adorable. He was my best friend. I’m glad my girl brought him home. She must have known and understood how much I needed another cat. Even when I didn’t think I wanted a new cat around me.

He certainly has kept me on my toes. I never knew when he wanted to play or simply wrestle. At other times, I was the one who went after him. He didn’t mind. He was ready for me when I wanted to wrestle. I could also teach him more about being a cat. He was a good student. He had picked up some habits from my girl and I still don’t know what to think about that.

But what can you do when a kitten is raised by a human? Of course they will imitate the human. It was a good thing I was there or else he wouldn’t have acted like a cat too. Even though he was an adult cat, he was a real mama’s boy. He loved to be picked up and carried by my girl. I can’t say I understand. I never thought I was that bad with my mama. But Spot certainly was.

My girl and Spot were both so full of love and kindness. I’m glad I am able to share my life with the two of them. They could also play together and leave me to my sleep or meditation.

February 1, 2020 0

Milow, the Kitten with a Magic Tail

(I wrote this little story at the request of Milow, a kitten I met on Twitter. @Milowmagic Also, it’s International Cat Day, so I’ll go ahead and wish it to be a wonderful day for cats everywhere. By the way, I did spoil and love my little darling, Nuri. She’s quite happy now.)

Once upon a time, there was a kitten named Milow. He was a cute little thing his human mama had found in a shelter. Soon it was obvious he had a magic tail. The tip was white in sharp contrast to the rest of his silvery fur. He could wave it and the magic would come sparkling out.

The better half of the courage was when he was growing up and exploring. He would get into drawers because he was still so small. Once inside he discovered many things. He discovered there was an elf named Silver Moon Unicorn.

This particular elf had a tendency to create feathers from thin air to defuse any tensions with other people. The elf had learned that the best way to defeat people who are poor listeners was with laughter. She waved her wand and poof! Feathers would appear and tickle the poor unsuspecting people.

But it had to be the joyful, playful sort of laughter or else it wouldn’t work. It was the same kind of laughter that Milow could create with his presence and by waving his magic tail.

One evening Milow was looking out the window of his flat. He saw some figures doing a waltz. They were transparent like ice. After the ice waltz the kitten saw outside his window, he heard some humans talking to each other.

“Let’s listen to the sky.”

“Yes, let’s do.”

Everyone watched the stars and the moon appear.

And the real night comes, thought Milow to himself. He wondered if he would meet Silver Moon Unicorn. He remembered she did say she could fly by using her magic wand.

He wagged his tail three times and an elf appeared flying on a broomstick in front of the moon. She came near his window. She waved and said hi.

Milow mewed back. Then he saw someone else was holding onto the broom and flying with her. Someone small with black cat ears, black cat tail, and two black cat paws. The little one also had blond hair and blue eyes.

He laughed. “Hi, Milow! I’m a little neko. That means I’m half human and half cat. Meow!” He laughed some more. “My name is White Lion Unicorn and I’m flying with mama so I can talk to you as cats do!”

They meowed for several minutes. Silver Moon smiled to hear them. Not that she could understand them, but that didn’t matter. Milow did a couple of back flips and smiled.

February 1, 2020 0

Cat Quotes 2:02

Cats can be cooperative when something feels good, which, to a cat, is the way everything is supposed to feel as much of the time as possible. —Roger Caras

This is why bribery works with cats. You find out what their favorite treat is and they will do anything for that particular treat. It works whenever I have to keep Nuri in one room and either she gets out or I can keep her in by offering her some treats.

Like a graceful vase, a cat, even when motionless, seems to flow. —George F. Will

It must be all the bones and joints they have. They flow with so much grace. Even when they are lying still in a kitty loaf.

February 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

Carnivore Wallpaper

Tiger, tiger, burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?
— William Blake

Mom says auburn kid was born an animal she can’t
handle (but not bad) with tiger T-shirts on
first birthday and arrival of first baby to prove it.

My little sister got earth-tone puppies or kittens
but Pops insisted as their firstborn son
his room needed to be toughen up burnt orange.

With that as our Blakean beginning, I learned
how to fear and loathe my father Bernard
which carried over hunting Bernie until you died.

Then our surprise: after there was no breath —
so relieved, finally – Papa’s blue eyes
opened then looked more radiant than any sky.

January 1, 2020 0

Nuri’s Fairy Tale

Once upon a time, there was a cat born on the street. Her mother named her Lady Light because there was a lot of pure white light inside the silvery kitten.

Living on the street was rough because of the other cats. Some of whom who also lived inside. There were too many cat fights over the territory and access to mates. Lady Light had to learn early how to defend herself.

Once her mother was gone, she was all alone in a frightful world. She couldn’t trust other cats. But it wasn’t just the other cats, there were humans as well.

They were much bigger and Lady Light wasn’t sure she could trust them either. Some cats had told her stories of how good humans could be. It was just a fairy tale to be taken care of by a good hearted human.

Some humans would scream and yell at her. They’d throw things at her. She’d run and hide. She was quite good at hiding. But she was all alone. She was getting tired of this life.

A tomcat found her one day and after the incident which she didn’t want to remember, she knew she was pregnant. So, now here she was all alone and she just wanted a safe place to live where she could raise her kittens in peace.

But it wasn’t to be. The kittens didn’t survive. She heard more stories about cats getting thrown out on the streets because humans didn’t want them anymore. She had heard of shelters for cats where they could be adopted by humans.

Was there a human with lots of pure white light like Lady Light who would want her and take care of her? Lady Light sighed. She just wanted to be loved and allowed to live in peace.

One day other cats on the street were scared. Some were excited. There were humans in the area trying to gather up stray cats. Lady Light listened. She was scared, but she came out of hiding. These humans were different. They were kind.

She let them pick her up and stuff her into a cage. The cage scared her. She complained bitterly of this treatment, but it was far from over. There was nothing she could do. She was trapped. The cage was in a moving vehicle!

Cars she had seen and tried hard to avoid. She had seen cats get run over. It was an awful death. Crossing the street was dangerous with cars around.

Yet, she was inside of one of those dreaded cars with no way to escape. She wasn’t sure what was going on at this point. The ride seemed to go on forever. Then it was over quite suddenly. Her cage was taken with her inside and soon she found herself inside a building.

She was no longer outside. The humans let her out and soon they were examining her.

“Aren’t you a pretty girl? You must have had kittens recently. You are in good shape. Quite healthy.”

Lady Light was still frightened and not sure what was going on. They gave her a shot and soon she lost consciousness. She dreamed she saw a human full of pure white light who gave her nothing but unconditional love.

Lady Light had never felt so blissful before. That was when she knew this particular human was coming for her. She just needed to be patient for now.

When she woke up later, she found herself not in a cage, but in a room. She was sore. Something felt different. She wasn’t sure what it was. She was groggy certainly. She was also surrounded by lots of other cats. She didn’t interact with anyone.

She found there was plenty of food and litter boxes to use. It wasn’t hard to figure out from watching the others what she needed to do now. She waited even though she was still scared.

The next day humans came and went. Lady Light ignored the other cats in the room. They were playing, but she didn’t want to socialize with them. She was hoping her forever human would come and find her.

She studied the cage in the room. She was trying to find a way in. She was too busy with that to notice a human approaching her. She had no idea anyone was near her until a shadow fell over her.

Lady Light looked up. “I knew you would come me! I dreamed of you!” The human smiled at her not understanding what Lady Light had said. The human picked her up and then set her back down again. It was all the human needed to do.

Before Lady Light had known what was happening, she was grabbed and put into a cage again. The human was there trying to comfort her, but it was no use. She was trapped and unhappy.

“Please spoil Nuria and here is a parting gift from us.” A braided rope for Lady Light to play with.

Lady Light was taken by the human into another car. She complained the whole time and wasn’t able to calm down. The car stopped and the cage was taken out of it. Lady Light soon got quiet when she realized she was inside again. She waited.

Then the human took her into a bedroom. The human closed the door and let Lady Light out of her cage.

“Welcome to your new home. I need a cat.”

Lady Light walked around exploring her new home. She was frightened, but no longer alone. There was food, water, and a litter box. There were even toys about the room just for Lady Light.

The human petted her gently. Lady Light still couldn’t relax right away. Eventually, she realized it was the very human she had dreamed of.

The human had some trouble saying her new name. Finally the human asked, “Is it alright if I just call you Nuri?”

Lady Light didn’t mind. She was still adjusting to her new life. Sometimes the human would lie on the floor playing dead. Lady Light knew it was a game and would walk all over her human. They both had fun.

Eventually, the human learned her real name and the human told her she was named correctly in the shelter. The two still live together and have been much happier together than before they had met.

January 1, 2020 0

Pet in Other Languages

This month’s cat vocabulary word is pet. Cats can be pets that we never own. Of course knowing cats, they probably think of us as their pets. Sometimes they look after us. When I was suffering from a concussion and post-concussion, Nuri tended to cuddle up to me and purr whenever I was resting on my still point inducer to help me recover.

She was so sweet. She never complained if I forgot to clean out her litter box. I’d feel bad about forgetting and tried to clean it out as often as I could remember.

Pets can and do keep us from being lonely. Sometimes that’s worth more than what we spend on them to take care of them.

Saying Pet in European Languages (source)

Language Ways to say pet
Albanian: manar
Basque: maskota
Belarusian: хатняе жывёліна
Bosnian: kućni ljubimac
Bulgarian: домашен любимец
Catalan: acariciar
Croatian: ljubimac
Czech: Pet
Danish: kæledyr
Dutch: huisdier
Estonian: lemmikloom
Finnish: lemmikki-
French: animal de compagnie
Galician: mascota
German: Haustier
Greek: κατοικίδιο ζώο(katoikídio zóo)
Hungarian: házi kedvenc
Icelandic: Gæludýr
Irish: peataí
Italian: animale domestico
Latvian: apmīļot
Lithuanian: glamonėti
Macedonian: миленик
Maltese: domestiċi
Norwegian: kjæledyr
Polish: zwierzę domowe
Portuguese: animal
Romanian: animal de companie
Russian: домашнее животное(domashneye zhivotnoye)
Serbian: Кућни љубимац(Kuchni ljubimac)
Slovak: domáce zviera
Slovenian: hišne živali
Spanish: mascota
Swedish: sällskapsdjur
Ukrainian: домашня тварина(domashnya tvaryna)
Welsh: anifeiliaid anwes
Yiddish: ליבלינג

January 1, 2020 0