Herd your cats here

[smallcleanrat]

In other news, Maestro has been a lovely companion cat this week.

I had oral surgery to remove a difficult molar (multiple root canals, chronic infections), and was not expecting the subsequent days to be this painful. I may need to go back to get checked out because it seems to be getting worse rather than better.

After the surgery, spent the day in bed with throbbing pain and swollen jaw.

Maestro, who has been sleeping in my bed far less frequently as he’s matured, stayed by my side pretty much the whole time, snuggling up to me, and at one point even took my hand between his two front paws and drew it towards him so he could “groom” me.

This level of affectionate behavior for such a prolonged amount of time is atypical. He can be a very cuddly cat, but will usually get restless and bound away to some other activity before too long. So it really did seem as if he was being extra sweet because he could tell I didn’t feel well.

How does he know?

[evil_physics_witchcraft]

So sorry to hear you've been in pain, smallcleanrat. Yes, I think cats, and other animals, just kind of 'know.' Maybe he's reading visual cues? What a good kitty.

[Larimar]

So sorry to hear you've been in pain, smallcleanrat. Yes, I think cats, and other animals, just kind of 'know.' Maybe he's reading visual cues? What a good kitty.

+1. Hope you recover quickly, and glad that Maestro has been such a sweetheart.

[AmLitHist]

They know, SCR.  After various hospitalizations and surgeries, especially in the past couple of years, Little Cat has been attached to ALHS/me both before and after the event.  She always has her routine of sitting or sleeping with/on one or the other of us, but when one of us isn't well, she's very clingy and protective.

(ALHS just had yet more surgery Thursday, and she's been glued to him since he came home.)

[smallcleanrat]

Stumbled upon a video of a kitten who strongly resembles Maestro.

So, if anyone is curious as to what Maestro looked like in his half-grown state, this kitten is eerily close:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=277mFcHNGpM&list=WL&index=109

The socks, the fluffy white chest, the disproportionately large, greenish eyes...just imagine a thicker, more glorious milk mustache and you've pretty much got Maestro's clone.

[Larimar]

Aww, he's adorable.

[Harlow2]

He’s wonderful. Could almost  be a sibling of Ulysses, who is mellowing at age 5

[the_geneticist]

Awww!  So cute!  I have quite the soft spot for tuxedo cats.

[Puget]

The cats are asleep in their baskets on either side of the fire-- Little Calico is curled up like a normal cat. Panther Boy has his butt up on the side of the basket with one leg and his tail hanging out, and his head under the cushion. Pretty much how they roll.

[FishProf]

I made the three cats their own Cat-TV window bench with blanket, and bird feeder right outside. 

They are all piled into the same one.  Growling.  But no one will move.

[AmLitHist]

We periodically talk about getting harnesses for the cats so they can go on walks, laugh about how they would each keel over and act dead if we could ever get the things on, and forget about it.

The idea came up again today, so we measured them.  There was much hissing, yowling, and side-eye from both.  Big Cat would probably wear one and go for a walk, since she likes to go outside when it's nice; Little Cat might like a stroller, once she'd get over the shock of being outdoors, where it is Big and Scary.  We'll see.  Right now neither is so much as looking at us.

[Puget]

We periodically talk about getting harnesses for the cats so they can go on walks, laugh about how they would each keel over and act dead if we could ever get the things on, and forget about it.

The idea came up again today, so we measured them.  There was much hissing, yowling, and side-eye from both.  Big Cat would probably wear one and go for a walk, since she likes to go outside when it's nice; Little Cat might like a stroller, once she'd get over the shock of being outdoors, where it is Big and Scary.  We'll see.  Right now neither is so much as looking at us.

Panther Boy adores going out in a harness-- he will run and sit on the shoe bench waiting for me to put it on when he sees it out, then run to the door. Then we have to make a grand tour of the back yard and down the driveway as far as the sidewalk. Last summer I started combining his outings with watering, since standing around while a cat smells everything and rolls in the grass is otherwise sort of boring. He really liked watching the spray of water and would sort of chase it and the moving hose around which was both amusing and helpful in getting him to go where I wanted.

Little Calico is much less sure-- sometimes she wants to go along, but mostly the backyard is just a little too scary. Plus wrangling two cats is tough-- they go in opposite directions or one doesn't want to go anywhere while the other tugs (would be easier for you with one person per cat).

They both love going out in the catio structure though (I think being enclosed makes Little Calico feel safe)-- if that's an option for you, that may work better for your two. Big plus with that is you can leave it open whenever the weather is good and you're home, so they can spend more time out.

[the_geneticist]

We are considering building a new garden shed.  That will require taking down part of the fence for a while so no taking the cats outside to "romp in the out".
I think we're going to have to build a catio if we don't want to hear endless wailings of sad cats and/or frantically trying to catch cats that escape outside with no fence to keep them safe.  The property line ends on a parking lot and near a busy road.  Too dangerous for adventuring kitties!

[evil_physics_witchcraft]

Youngest evil cat has finally executed her nefarious plans (she was in it for the long haul). She has had a fascination with one of my sweaters (which has large wooden buttons) and managed to chew one of the buttons in half. I'd been hiding this sweater in the other room, but forgot and left it on the sofa, for not even two minutes, and the little shit got into it.

I really like this sweater. Grr.

[mamselle]

Youngest evil cat has finally executed her nefarious plans (she was in it for the long haul). She has had a fascination with one of my sweaters (which has large wooden buttons) and managed to chew one of the buttons in half. I'd been hiding this sweater in the other room, but forgot and left it on the sofa, for not even two minutes, and the little shit got into it.

I really like this sweater. Grr.

Get a variety of wooden buttons if you can't find one to match and mix 'em up..keep one original in every other slot and put in different buttons in the off-slots.

Or, if you never button up the top or bottom button, use that and move it into the empty spot.

Costumer's tricks...

M.