My Adored

One has to have many cats in order to appreciate the large variations in their purrsonalities.  I say "appreciate" because if one did not it would make for a very miserable life.  I may get a little annoyed when Santino steps into my coffee, claws his way up to my shoulder, or does not pause screaming during the entire time I am getting his treats.....BUT, love puts it all into perspective.  I mean, to love means to love all of him :-) though I don't necessarily have to like it all.  The truth is that I really don't care about any of it.....I drink the coffee, anyway, and I've learned to wear old shirts at home so I don't mind the little holes.

Oh, and there's his habit of loudly announcing when he has to go to the bathroom....no, not always, but certainly always in the very early morning.  Nothing's wrong....It translates into a toddler's "Mom, MOM!  I am going potty!  MOM!  POTTY! "  He is passionate about pretty much everything!  My son.

Happy Birthday, Santino!

Today was Santino's birthday!!!! He turned 9 months old. We began the day with "kissy face"....had the bedroom to ourselves, just he and I, smooching to our hearts content. Such bliss!

He reminded me of a little dog as I put the lei on him.....He seemed so pleased with my exclaiming over him!:-)

Later in the day, he napped, and played with Sophie and Rudy.

Chicken treats, too!!! Such a great kitten!!!
(Such a great Mommy.:-)

Bedmaking

Santino and Miki are in agreement. This is not right! Our beds are gone! Why is she doing this to us?



Not happy campers. Miki, especially, does that "long-suffering" look really well.

Santino has found how to have fun with this.
(look in the lower left corner) He also "tunneled" both the sheets that came off and the ones that went on the bed, happily crawling under and through.















At last, our ordeal is over! That wore us out...., and now for a nap.

Sweet, Sleeping Cats

Yes, of course, my kitties do a few other things besides sleeping, but there's no much that is sweeter than their angelic selves when they are sleeping. Their configurations change, but these shown here are most typical. Rudy with Miki, and Santino with Sophie. If there is a different combination on the bed, they are a bit further apart from each other.

I never would have guessed that four cats would be so much more fun than three, my usual number. :-) There is a lot of loose hair, though.......

Leroy Sunning

I have so enjoyed your recent posts of your furry children. I haven't been able to post in a while as there has been so much going on around here. I have some new pictures of Leroy to share when I can get then downloaded from the camera. Until then here is an older pix of Leroy enjoying the morning sunshine in the hallway. He also can keep an eye on the coming and goings of the neighborhood and any stray squirrel or bird that may venture close to the big glass door.

Kitty Treats & Ultimate Joy

Each blog post is merely a snapshot in time. Only yesterday I remarked on the general lack of verbal communication from Santino, and I should have mentioned that ALL my cats are extremely adept at expressing themselves, just not necessarily always vocally.

Also, after I had written yesterday's post, I remembered that we had Pit'r Pats in stock again. Don't get me wrong....we never run out of treats!.....but, Pit'r Pats take some planning. I have now discovered one store...just one...
that sells them for under $3, and, knowing that, I can't bring myself to pay much more. Santino and I are lucky in that only HE finds them so extraordinarily special. They are tiny, expensive nuggets of addiction. But, what mother could deny her child such joy?

So, I took out the little Pit'r Pats, and Santino knew immediately that he was about to score big. As he ate the first one I was rewarded big time! He said....VERY CLEARLY...."Oh, wow, wow, wow...." I had previously only heard that long ago when I gave him chicken, and then once again
when he had not had any chicken after I stopped eating it for a while. Obviously, the words are reserved for ultimate joy. :-) I wonder if he'll ever figure out that he could get treats any time he wanted them if only he uttered those words................I'm so trainable.

Little People in Fur Coats

To state the obvious, cats are a lot like people. They like to hang out together, and they also appreciate their privacy. Some need more sleep than others, and some love their food more. I also notice that some of my kitties just pack on the weight...and, yet, all things appear equal otherwise.

Like people, my cats have their favorite toys. Miki and Rudy prefer the occasional moving live bug, but Sophie is partial to very small furry mice. She does not play with balls other than to shove them into closets through the crack under the doors, or to gather them behind drapery in the far corner of the living room. She is very particular about which interactive wand toy she deigns to play with. Santino prefers the new crunchy foil balls sold in pet stores, and a particular kind of mouse of crocheted gray yarn. I find mice of all descriptions in both dry food dishes, which never fails to crack me up!:-)

Perhaps, some people would not agree with me that cats definitely have...or don't....a sense of humor, as well as either a good, happy attitude or a grumpy one. It seems to be determined both by nature and nurture. I imagine Rudy grinning frequently, whereas Miki definitely has a grumpy outlook. Santino is a happy kitty, and thinks life is all good as long as no one else comes into the house. He starts purring when he sees me! He is also very, very vocal about demanding treats, while the others beg quietly. :-) Rudy is the only real "talker", holding melodic trilling monologues often.
I think that genetics provides the "raw materials" for survival, a well (or not) formed and healthy body and brain, and breed characteristics in the case of a carefully bred cat. After that, though, nurture takes over. What fascinates me is that in humans end results depend on the interpretations as well as the decisions each individual makes about what has happened and is happening to them, but what about cats?

Cats do not all react the same, so obviously...to me :-)....they have interpretive and decision making powers, meaning, high intelligence. As cat lovers, all of us probably already knew this.