Sunday, December 04, 2011

Happenings of the cat persuasion

I moved my enormous Xerox colour printer off my work table to make more space for my work, only to end up filling the gap with a cat bed. It seemed to be the only way to stop Julius from lying on my keyboard for a nap. Occasionally Naomi sneaks in and makes use of the bed...

As you can see, she gets very tense. Not.



And the unflattering shadows make her look fat!



Meanwhile, Alex and Julius, who had not been getting along particularly well this summer (after co-existing peacefully for four years), have apparently reached detente. Thanks be to the Great Cat in the Sky! 

Alex is four and Julius is 11. I think the kitty dynamic has been shifting as Julius ages and gets a bit crankier. The loveseat is covered with an old comforter because Alex PEED on it this summer. Although repeated applications of Odormute seem to have removed the stench, the thing is scheduled to be burned.  It was  just a very cheap Ikea loveseat we bought to sell our last house (that's another story) and I never liked it anyway, but still! We have only recently moved the kiddy-gate blocking cats from entering this room. Let's hope that nasty chapter of cat life is over. I've had pee wars erupt with cats before and it's never pretty. Feliway and Odormute are helpful tools. We did have all the cats checked by the vet and they were fine, so this summer's eruption was strictly behavioural.

We have lot of furniture-shopping to do. This year has been too damn busy.


Note the open eye, making sure I'm not up to anything sinister!


If you're getting the sense that cats rule this house... you're right.

10 comments:

  1. You really should encourage your cats to relax more. It's obvious even to the non-veterinarian eye that you're working them too hard.

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  2. Ah another three cat household. And of course they rule the house. Someone suggested yesterday, that they were merely a staffsperson for their cats - how appropriate.

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  3. Peno sleeps like Naomi does - belly up without a care in the world.

    The cat dynamic in my house has been... interesting... since we brought Mopar in. Peno, who we thought would like him, hates him. And Rocky's become his best friend. We never saw that coming!

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  4. Anonymous11:56 am

    Ah, yes. "Inappropriate peeing" as the vet called it---we deal with that every once in a while. Except it's our female that does that in payback for some real or imagined slight. Fortunately it's only done on the floor, not the furniture--yet.

    Our two indoor cats live in a state of detente but occasionally we catch them snuggled up against each other, so I think the fighting is all an act for our benefit.

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  5. I always thought neutering/spaying eradicated territorial peeing in cats, but I was wrong. Bad Alex!

    I had a friend whose neutered male cat would pee on shoes and welcome mats. My friend suspected that it was because those items contain strange scents from outside the house, and the cat wanted to cover up the strange smells to establish his territory.

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  6. Holy Cod, you guys need to take over a little more. The desk and loveseat are not NEARLY enough. Oh, and tyy to get in a nap...Carpe Dormio!

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  7. Ah there is nothing better than a three cat household than a four cat one!

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  8. Cats have got relaxing down to a fine art haven't they?

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  9. You live in a storybook like The Wind In The Willows.

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  10. Anonymous6:54 pm

    Naomi does look a tad pudgy. And usually black is so slimming.

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Thank you for all your comments, which I love to read!