Loose House Cats

[Vort]

[zil2]

I'm a complete push-over.  Lunch was delayed by 3 hours today (and became dinner) because Klaw fell asleep on top of me...

[zil2]

2 hours ago, zil2 said:

I'm a complete push-over.  Lunch was delayed by 3 hours today (and became dinner) because Klaw fell asleep on top of me...

Further, this boy is way too smart!  I recognized a pattern today - if I come in here while he's playing, after a while he starts meowing pitifully.  So I go into his "safe zone" (aka the family room) and sit on the floor, and as soon as I touch one of his toys, he starts purring!!  How am I supposed to resist that?  We then proceed to play together.  And sometimes it's just me watching him play, but every time I engage with him, he purrs!

[Carborendum]

Out latest cat "Bobcat" decided to run away.  I was sooo broken up about it.

A friend of ours had a litter a few weeks ago.  So, they invited us to pick one up.  This one pictured above was chewing on a vole that its mother had caught.  And he was enjoying it.  The way it was running all over the place with huge leaps was something that caught my eye.

The youth mob* called him "Michael".  I insisted that you can't name a cat "Michael."  That's just not a cat name.

We had a family council about naming the cat.  I wanted Hoid or Watson.  I got outvoted.  We are calling him Strider.  No, we cannot escape the literary influence in our family.

*Youth Mob: The group of teenagers and relations among the several families that my children have friendships with.  The network amounts to about 20 youth.  All of them have visited the kittens several times.

[zil2]

25 minutes ago, Carborendum said:

Awwwww!  He's so cuuute!

25 minutes ago, Carborendum said:

Out latest cat "Bobcat" decided to run away.  I was sooo broken up about it.

27 minutes ago, Carborendum said:

A friend of ours had a litter a few weeks ago.  So, they invited us to pick one up.  This one pictured above was chewing on a vole that its mother had caught.  And he was enjoying it.  The way it was running all over the place with huge leaps was something that caught my eye.

Good boy!  Klaw's sights are constantly up.  He's gonna be at the top of everything before long.  (I'm trying to keep him from going too crazy since he's recovering from surgery, but once a kitten gets the zoomies, there's really no stopping him.  Fortunately, it doesn't look like he's torn any stitches or anything.)

27 minutes ago, Carborendum said:

I insisted that you can't name a cat "Michael."  That's just not a cat name.

Amen!

28 minutes ago, Carborendum said:

We are calling him Strider.  No, we cannot escape the literary influence in our family.

Good name.  Now he needs a sword!  (Anduril is a gorgeous sword.)

Congratulations on your new family member and vole-killer!  Klaw and I are very happy for you.

[zil2]

Klaw at play:

 

[zil2]

There's a lack of kitten activity on this forum, so...  Here's Klaw in his backpack, looking adorable.

And here's Klaw preparing to attack you:

And here's Klaw climbing the couch so he can get close enough to smite you!

  (For those interested, another Klaw at Play video posted this morning on the same YouTube channel as the one I posted previously.)

[askandanswer]

Well after a careful analysis the conclusion is obvious - Michael, aka Strider is much cuter than Klaw. 

[askandanswer]

I just prefer nonmonochromatic. 

[zil2]

2 hours ago, askandanswer said:

I just prefer nonmonochromatic. 

Klaw has a little bit of grey and white on the underside of his tail.

[zil2]

So, I was relaxing on the couch, reached out my left hand to pet Klaw (curled up in his make-shift tent on that cushion), and he shifted and laid his head on my palm and fell asleep. Now I'm trapped here indefinitely. Please post something interesting before I die of boredom .. 

[Guest Godless]

42 minutes ago, zil2 said:

So, I was relaxing on the couch, reached out my left hand to pet Klaw (curled up in his make-shift tent on that cushion), and he shifted and laid his head on my palm and fell asleep. Now I'm trapped here indefinitely. Please post something interesting before I die of boredom .. 

I know a thing or two about being trapped by furry friends.

 

[NeuroTypical]

Cats will sit on anything, even each other.

 

So rude.

 

When I first went into COVID lockdown in my basement, I was informed it was my cat's basement, and they'd be keeping a close eye on me.

 

[zil2]

In today's episode of Pinned by Klaw, our little boy was snoozing on his condo.  Meowmy decided to give him some pets before going to exercise.  Now, the condo is in the corner of the room, and on each of the two walls that form the corner are table-desks.  So, desk, condo, desk, in an L shape.  So, I bend across the corners of these desks, stretching out both arms to reach Klaw, and pet him with both hands.  After a short time, little boy gets up to stretch (or so I thought).  I stayed put, waiting - mistake.  Klawboy starts walking up my arm.  I'm thinking he's headed for the desk.  Not.  He climbs up to my shoulder, then onto my back and settles between my shoulder blades...   Now I'm all bent forward with my arms stretched out and a kitten between my shoulder blades!  I spent a few minutes pondering my options, but then, thankfully, little boy decides he wants to come cuddle in my lap.  An hour later, he returns to his condo and Mom can now go exercise...

[Carborendum]

I've been enjoying how much Strider is playing with everything.  I get endless joy out of watching the antics of a playful cat.

He has very easily made himself home with the family.  He's still a little wary of the family dog.

The past week we saw just how much he likes to claw all over furniture and carpets.  So, I broke down and got those silicone claw covers.  It was a pain to put them on him.  I'd recommend a three-person team.  One for the fore-legs, one for the hind-legs, one to place the covers on the claws.

It is still very playful. But it seems to have some problems climbing on things.  He uses his hind claws (no covers) to boost his climbing ability.  I'm still observing to see if we will need to put covers on his hind-legs as well.

[zil2]

2 hours ago, Carborendum said:

I get endless joy out of watching the antics of a playful cat.

It's so much fun.  Little boy makes me laugh.  I'm totally convinced cats have imaginations: The last time (prior to Klaw) I got kittens, I was in my early 20s and had to go to work every day, so I didn't spend as much time around them - plus there were two of them.  Now, being much older, wiser, and more observant (and here all the time), as I play with Klaw, I'm recognizing that he's using his imagination (anyone says they don't have imagination is just plain wrong - this kitty is planning and pretending!), and he's clearly intentionally practicing "moves" - sneaking, hunting, pouncing, problem-solving, even killing.  He may not know what those instincts are for other than play (at least not until / unless he encounters a mouse), but he's clearly got the instincts for it, and is practicing for the day he needs them.  He even likes making things more challenging for himself.  I've started looking for "puzzles" for him, just to keep him challenged.

Today we go to the vet for the first time (time for vaccine booster shots).  Wish us luck!

2 hours ago, Carborendum said:

He has very easily made himself home with the family. 

That's nice to hear.  Klaw is getting braver and more comfortable all the time - relaxing in more areas of the house.  Hopefully our visit to the vet doesn't set that back any.

2 hours ago, Carborendum said:

I broke down and got those silicone claw covers.

Poor Strider.  I just pick Klaw up and put him elsewhere when he tries clawing furniture - my carpet is almost 24 years old and needs replacing anyway, so I don't care about that.  Fortunately, most of his "clawing" is really just climbing, and as he gets bigger and stronger, he's doing more jumping.  Eventually, he'll just jump to where he wants to be.  In the meantime, I'm trying to train him where he can and can't sharpen his claws.

[Carborendum]

1 hour ago, zil2 said:

In the meantime, I'm trying to train him where he can and can't sharpen his claws.

How on earth do you do that?

[zil2]

16 minutes ago, Carborendum said:

How on earth do you do that?

1. Make my "don't do that" sound when he claws where I don't want.

2. Pick him up and take him from where he was clawing to where I want him to claw.

3. Simulate his clawing on the scratcher - he doesn't get this part yet, but he's got the other two down.

Edited June 6, 2023 by zil2

[NeuroTypical]

44 minutes ago, Carborendum said:

1 hour ago, zil2 said:

train him where he can and can't sharpen his claws.

How on earth do you do that?

Something else that works, catnip on the scratcher.

[zil2]

52 minutes ago, NeuroTypical said:

Something else that works, catnip on the scratcher.

I was told not to give catnip to Klaw until 1 year old (adulthood).  I haven't bothered to look up why, but, yeah, catnip on the scratcher is good for adult cats anyway.

[zil2]

Vet trip went well.  Klaw appears to be a healthy little boy (already figured as much).  He's decided he likes to be the goalie - Meowmy collects all the soft toys and flicks them past him and he leaps out to stop them.  Once a toy has been stopped (or gotten past him), he goes back to his "ready" position, waiting for me to launch the next toy.   I liked "fetch" better - at least then he'd bring the toys back to me...

[Carborendum]

18 hours ago, zil2 said:

1. Make my "don't do that" sound when he claws where I don't want.

2. Pick him up and take him from where he was clawing to where I want him to claw.

3. Simulate his clawing on the scratcher - he doesn't get this part yet, but he's got the other two down.

That seems like a lot of hard work.  I'm not sure if I'm willing to make such an investment.  I'll go the lazy way out.

So far, the silicone claws haven't stopped him from being a spaz-cat.

Speaking of which, I found a completely different definition of "spaz" in the dictionary than what I grew up using.  Anyone else?

Edited June 7, 2023 by Carborendum

[zil2]

32 minutes ago, Carborendum said:

stopped him from being a spaz-cat

Presumably you mean the "zoomies" or "squirrelies" - nothing stops a cat from getting those.    As for lazy or not, it takes work to train.  People seem willing to train dogs, but not many are willing to train kitties.

[Vort]

3 hours ago, Carborendum said:

Speaking of which, I found a completely different definition of "spaz" in the dictionary than what I grew up using.  Anyone else?

I grew up thinking that "spaz" was short for "spastic", which meant moving in a jerky, uncoordinated fashion (i.e. prone to muscular spasms, I guess). It was generalized to mean someone who seemed uncoordinated, or just someone who was uncool. I considered it a term used almost exclusively by jerks toward people they deemed uncool.

[SilentOne]

I also, or maybe even mostly, knew it to be a sort of metaphorical term for someone whose mind would spasm- maybe getting overly excited or jumping around from idea to idea in a seemingly random fashion.