You Sweater Believe It

Mother Duck and I enjoy watching Kitten Academy, a Youtube channel where you can watch 24/7 live streams, and shorter close-up videos, of the many kittens they foster.  These kittens have a good deal of delightful toys and have been a major influence in us buying extra goodies for our kitty Elsa.  Since watching Kitten Academy, Elsa has gotten a cat tower, assorted toys, and a tunnel, not to mention the topic of this post.

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Bonus Time: Yet Another Cat Nap

The other day, I couldn’t find my kitty Elsa.  She spends most of her time with me in the living room, either on the blankets on the couch, specifically placed there as an extra soft place for her to nap, or on a dining room chair.  With the cat missing from her two most frequented spots, I went searching for her.

Elsa Says “Ah”

Maybe I’m rather biased, but sometimes it seems as if my cat exceeds the average level of cuteness displayed by most felines.  I also know people seem to enjoy pictures of cute and cuddly kitties, so sharing such things with you all is surely one of the kindness things I can do.  No need to thank me; I’m happy to do it.

My kitty Elsa sleeps in all manner of silly ways.  You may have seen posts describing how she enjoys sleeping on her back or wrapped up in blankets.  She also sometimes uses my computer’s power…thingy as a pillow.  You know, that big, block of a thing that’s part of a laptop’s power cord?  Well, it gets warm when the computer’s on, so she naps next to it, or on it, a lot.  No pictures to share of that at this time, but maybe someday.

When Cats Use Objects as They Were Actually Intended

Cats are pretty adorable creatures.  Sometimes, it almost feels as if they’re doing it on purpose, and it really only makes it that much cuter that they’re not.  They were just born that way.  There has always been one thing in particular I found especially endearing, and that was when kitties sleep under blankets like people.  I don’t know why, but seeing a cat napping with just its head visible has always been a pretty goofy sight, and I never pass up an opportunity to photograph it, that I may share it with the world.

I used to have a Manx named Arwen well-versed in this ancient kitty technique.  On more than one occasion, I would find that she had decided to pull a blanket over herself, after which a nap would ensue in utmost comfort.  Had she learned this from watching me (I hope she didn’t watch me while I slept….)?  Or was she just a kitty ahead of her time?  She could open sliding doors, after all.  Either way, her adopted brother Alex never did such things.  I think it was because he wasn’t super bright, and he was a big dude and probably had plenty of warmth-giving padding anyway.  But mainly because he just wasn’t all that clever.  He was still a nice boy, though.

The Reason Elsa’s Toys Are Always Moist

Recently, my cat Elsa has begun a very strange habit.  To put it simply, she drowns her toys.  Despite having many pets over the years, I have never seen this before.  You see, starting a few weeks ago, Elsa’s jingly mouse toys have been ending up in her water bowl.  I thought she had been doing it by accident, as she likes to toss them, but it just kept happening, leading me to wonder if itwas, in fact, entirely on purpose.

So, What Elsa is New

Well, I just got a new cat, what’s new with you?…

Ahem, yeah, I have a cat again. For the first time in over a year. And I don’t recall getting a cat ever being this difficult before. I went to a bunch of different pet stores on the lookout for the right cat, but many were unfriendly, too hyper, or when I did find one I liked, I’d pet it, and then get hit with a mad case of asthma. There are better ways to die than asphyxiation. I’ll pass.

A Farewell to a Fabulous Fish

It seems I have been writing a lot of these lately. Well, you know my popeyed goldfish Peepers? You know what, let me start from the beginning. Though, there’s not much to tell. Basically, I got home from work the afternoon of 10/7/14. I didn’t bother opening the blinds in the morning, so I thought I’d open them now to give Peepers more light, and I’d run over and give her a great big “how do?” before doing some hardcore gaming. It was at that moment that I found her.

Well, she’s buried in the backyard now, but I’ll get to that.

Peepers Takes a Bath

Not terribly long ago, I had this ingenious idea. Kind of. I thought it would be rather fun to put my adorable popeyed goldfish, Peepers, in the bathtub. Her bowl is rather little, and I thought she’d have a rather delightful time having a much larger place to swim around in. And so I cleaned the bathtub before filling it up with as much water as I had the patience for (it takes so long to fill up!), I made sure the water was the right temperature/density (vague “Everybody Loves Raymond” reference), and I put a bowl over the drain so there wouldn’t be any kind of unpleasant catastrophe that might result from a drain whose circumference is much larger than my fish, including an attempted escape on her part. You’re not going anywhere, Peepers. You are my prisoner for all of eternity….

Jeepers, Creepers, Where’d You Get Peepers

I finally gave in and got a new pet.  If you missed them, I wrote some posts in the past about the loss of my two cats, and some simple math will show you that 2 cats minus 1 cat minus another cat leaves me with a whopping no cats at all, which makes me sad.  But, since cats are a lot of work, live quite a long time, and are able to generate far more grief when misfortune befalls them, I did not fill the pet-shaped void in my home with another cat, but rather…  You remember that post I put up in the recent past about Pet Names, right?  Well, a name I forgot to add is one I thought would be great for a pop-eyed goldfish.  Peepers.

And so I was thinking one day how adorable it would be to have a pop-eyed goldfish with such a charming name.  It was Saturday, May 3, and I went to the pet store and looked at the section of their aquarium that was home to several kinds of goldfish, including two of the pop-eyed variety, black moor and calico.  The calico ones turned out to be far cuter, as they were orange, white, and black, kind of like little koi.  There were two in particular I liked the most, a white one with orange and black spots and an orange one with black spots, the former being my top pick.  But, I still wasn’t sure if I wanted to buy one or not, so I decided to just check out the other animals just for the fun of it as I thought it over, as looking at the animals at pet stores is a bit of a pastime of mine.  (You can play with the birds and the cats without the commitment and the expenditures of actually purchasing them.)  There was actually an adorable cat, though, named Ziggy that I paid a visit to, who seemed quite friendly and who played with some toys while I watched him, but as much as I liked him, I decided to pass up the delightful kitty, as hard as it was.  And I don’t think he was declawed anyway.  I don’t do well with being assaulted with razor sharp claws.

My Cat Has Died

My cat, Arwen, has been having issues for years.  Diarrhea.  Making messes all over.  But, she seemed fine.  I thought she just had runny potty.  But, last night, it was worse.  This morning, it was worse.  She dripped all over and threw up.  Went to the emergency place.  We can’t seem to get her better.  The vet or anyone.  It seems to be irritable bowel right now, though the special food for it doesn’t work.  They said it would turn into stomach cancer if it hasn’t already.  It always does.  So they put her down.  I didn’t say goodbye because I didn’t want to say it, and she wouldn’t know anyway, but I pet her.  Got her paw prints in clay first, too.  Clay in the shape of a heart, with little things put into it.  Her name, little cat shapes and a daisy and a glittery heart.  And that’s that.

Sometime later, I’ll do more.  I wasn’t prepared, and it’s unexpected, but I’ll write more about her another time.  I was afraid this would happen.  Last night, I said I’d get a video camera.  I would take all kinds of pictures.  I haven’t in a while.  I would also take all kinds of videos.  I have none.  I’d take videos of her playing, running to me, moving the blankets around on my bed.  I would always be able to see her.  See how she walked, shaking her tailless behind back and forth.  Always remember what she sounded like.  Her meow a trill that I’ve never heard from any other cat.  A sound I may never be able to hear again.  I was going to play with her extra and give her extra love, and she’d be the happiest she ever was.  But, I didn’t.

I had her just over nine years.  She should’ve lived longer.  Alex is four years older and fine.  And I wonder if he notices.  They never got along, but I wonder if he notices the difference.  I’ll never know because he has no way of showing it.  And even with my regrets, I’ll still likely not take more pictures or videos of him, either.  Just days ago, Arwen waited in the bathroom for me around bed time.  She knows I always go to the bathroom before bed, so she waited in there.  But, I didn’t pet her with my hands, just my feet.  I didn’t want cat hair on my hands.  I pet her with my feet and talked a little, and then I went to bed.  She looked disappointed, but I just went to bed.

So right now, my eyes burn, and I wish it was a few days ago.  If I had known, I would’ve stayed up with her that night instead of going to sleep.  I would’ve stayed up and pet her until she got bored of me and left on her own.  I regret all the times I got mad at her or didn’t give her much attention because I was too busy on the computer or I wanted to play my video games.  I wish I could pet her again.  Sometimes, I just stand quietly, and I make myself believe I did come home with her this morning, and I let her out of her carrier, and she’s just under the bed.  I’ll look under later, and there she’ll be.  I actually believed it for a second, not long after coming home.  I pet Alex, and as I walked towards the other side of the house, I wondered for a moment if I’d find Arwen, but then I remembered.

They say cats don’t have souls.  No animals do.  But, when we get to heaven, will there be no animals there?  I’ve sometimes wondered.  And so I hope maybe they will be there.  Heaven’s the greatest place, after all, so why would animals be confined only to our times when we were alive?  I just wonder if there’s any chance Arwen will be there.  And all the other animals.  Olimar the rat.  And Imhotep the fish.  And the pets I lost as a duckling.

But anyway, I’ll be back with more on her later.

Sad Duck