Cats Need Stability #43

Tuxedo is like a little child in that she needs stability. Or, call it a habit that cats like to maintain without interruption. Anything that changes in her immediate environment has an impact on her psyche.

If I move my blankets to a different area, she whines until I put them back where she is familiar. I leave her water bowl in the bathroom where she has access to it at any time of the day. In fact, when her cousin Angel visits, she also knows where the water bowl is, and uses it.

Give her different food and she gets panicky if she doesn’t like it. If I were to move her litter box I might find a mess where the box used to be. Tuxedo responds to a stable environment. What about your cat?

Note:           I have been able to set up a specific blog name for Tuxedo called The Adventures of Tuxedo the Cat for future reference. It is http://theadventuresoftuxedothecat.blogspot.com. Please feel free to sign up at this blog for regular emails about Tuxedo. 

If you are looking at the blog titled http://carolyn-gibson.blogspot/, please switch to the adventure blog. I plan to close this blog at the end of November 2011, so the blog will be on http://theadventuresoftuxedothecat.blogspot/ on a permanent basis. Right now I am using both blogs so fans don’t lose out.

Does Your Cat Like Water?

http://homesteadbound.hubpages.com/_2xqq6mr86s3p/hub/Cats-and-Water-Some-Like-It-And-Some-Dont

This is a really funny article about cats and water. Tuxedo is a water cat, for sure!

Tuxedo's Possessiveness #42

I am lying on my bed watching television. I look out of the corner of my eye to see two black and white paws appearing at the far side of the bed. Soon a little cat head peeps up. Then Tuxedo jumps on the bed and walks toward me. This is the funniest thing she does yet.

Sometimes I feel like I am on lock down. She seems to be everywhere. She sleeps next to me, and if I move she’ll complain.

She follows me from room to room, sometimes walking between my legs. She lies across my computer keyboard when I’m trying to work. I put her on the floor, but she keeps jumping back on the desk.

When I try to leave the house, she runs out the front door. Boy is she fast! Then I have to wait until she decides to come back in from the upstairs or downstairs. She will follow me downstairs when I go to visit.

I don’t know if this is appropriate behavior or not. I am home every day. When I go out to run errands, she gets frantic. She jumps on the bed and claws at me whenever I pass by. She starts to scream loud, and follows me everywhere while I am trying to get dressed. I have to pick her up as I go out the door. Then put her down as I close it.

At the same time she is smart and sneaky. If I leave the back hallway door open, she stays in the house. But as soon as I go to sleep, she runs upstairs to visit with Angel. It’s as if she says to herself. “Well, she’s asleep. I know where she is, so I can go upstairs now.” LOL

My HubPages Articles

Where I write other articles
http://carolyn2008.hubpages.com/_2xqq6mr86s3p/

Tuxedo After the Spay #41

Since her spay operation, Tuxedo has become a different cat. Her personality is full of energy and amusement and curiosity, much more than before. She even produced the ratty toy mouse from whatever depths she had hid it for me to play with her. She now likes to share.

She is so affectionate, it sometimes overwhelms me. She follows me everywhere, every room in the house. She sleeps directly under my part of the bed, so if I move an inch, she’s comes from under and waits for me to make a move. When she sleeps on the bed, she likes to be as close as possible to me. She never did that before her operation.

I want to get her a harness and leash so I can take her with me whenever I leave the house. I hate to leave her home alone. She is so sad, and tries to follow me out the house. She cries when she hears me in the hallway coming upstairs.

How close should a cat and human be? I’m home every day, and there is the potential for serious co-dependence. Is that wrong? She talks to me much more. I can tell the difference between her meows. One day she got caught behind some boxes and cried out for me. I knew immediately she was in trouble and moved a box so she could get out.

She loves sniffing whatever I have in my hand. Water, food, potato chips, it doesn’t matter. She wants to sniff it before I have it. Most of the time, she doesn’t like what she smells. I think she thinks it’s her job as the official food sniffer to protect her mommy.

She looks and acts so happy; it fills my heart with joy. People say it is because she was spayed. I think that is part of it. But I believe that clearing up her gum infection that I didn’t know she had is also a big chunk of her happiness. A healthy cat is a happy cat, and I know Tuxedo is very happy these days.

Tuxedo Recuperates #40

Tuxedo took three days of sleeping heavily after her spay operation. She was a little lethargic, and probably in pain. The hospital gave her 3 days worth of pain medicine internally. Since she returned from her overnight stay, she sleeps next to me, a new habit. She still wants her kisses on the head and face again. I’m happy about that.

After a few days, she was back to her happy energetic self. She began playing with her toys again. She didn’t need a cone head. I still had to try to keep her from licking her wound. She’s affectionate again, and wants me to hold and hug and kiss her face.

One thing – she fights me from trying to give her gingivitis medicine twice a day. I have to put an eye drop down her throat, which is traumatic for both of us.

The first time I gave her medicine, she stared at me with a look of ultimate betrayal as I held her neck. I tried to talk to her and explain why it was so important to give her this medicine. She just kept looking at me with her wide black eyes as if to say “Why are you doing this to me?” I forced as much as I could before she bolted to the far side of the bed. She licked her mouth and cleaned herself as if to get my stench and that of the medicine off of her.

I felt like a big asshole. Happily, it has gotten easier to give her the medicine. She doesn’t fight as much as the first few times. I think she’s just resolved to herself that it’s futile to resist.

When I see her all spread out across my bed, sleeping silently, I feel happy.

The Guiness Book World's Longest Cat!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gc5M0aGc_EI&feature=colike