cat speak

Back At Last!

2007-05-27T20:44:00.000-07:00

You Are a Boxer Puppy

Energetic, playful and good with kids.
You've also got a wild spirit that can't be trained or tamed.

I saw this on Bob T. esq's site and decided to give it a try. I wonder if there's a, "What kind of cat are you," test? There must be one!

White Stuff Again!

2007-01-14T11:10:00.000-08:00

Sammy Jo has never learned to sleep through the night. On this occasion though it was his wanting to be outside at 3:00 in the morning that I discovered we were having our second major snowfall of the season.

I was surprised that he actually went out into it but he did. I guess even he is getting kind of used to it.
This last picture was taken a while later but I can't remember the exact time. Probably around 7:00 in the morning. It wasn't until two hours later that we realized the snow was coming down in a serious way and we were once again knee deep in the white stuff. That was last Wednesday and the snow is still here because the temperature refuses to crawl above 0. Very unusual for around here. We have had to temper our complaining though because Manitoba and Sasakatchewan are truly in a deep freeze with temperatures around -37 without including the windchill factor! Brr! Now that's cold.

New Year's Resolutions 2007

2007-01-01T10:38:00.000-08:00

1. Exercise more. I think I'll start tomorrow. I mean really, who starts their resolutions on the first?

2. Quit complaining about the food situation. Oops, too late, already broke this one.

3. I won't pull my owner's hair in the middle of the night to wake her up so she can

a) let me out

b) play

c) feed me

d) no real reason but I'm bored and want some company

4. Won't use the piano as a napping station. This resolution is more about self-survival. I don't know why but sleeping on the piano really annoys my owner. Maybe she should quit leaving piano books on top. Piano books make for very comfy sleeping quarters.

5. Bring home more surprise gifts. My owner really likes my gifts. I think she was quite taken with the live bird I let into the house not to mention the real live mouse. My that was fun. I

think my owner had lots of fun with that one. I liked watching her run in circles. However, her yelling at poor me was quite uncalled for!

6. Eat more real chicken. I think I need to get off the canned cat food. Canned cat food is like junk food so more real homemade baked chicken it is. Turkey, salmon, tuna and halibut can be substituted. If my owner would only make these for me on a daily basis then I would have no trouble following resolution number 2!

Happy New Year Everyone! Here's hoping 2007 is a good one.

New Year's Eve Party

2006-12-30T15:32:00.000-08:00

One New Year's Eve I went to a friends home and we had a lovely night. We had a Raclette, good wine and great conversation. It was a very nice, quiet civilized evening. When I arrived home I opened my door and out flew Huey a cat that lived downstairs. That was a shock. How did he get in?

Huey's owners opened their door and said they could hear Huey meowing and scratching at the wall that faces their apartment but there was nothing they could do. I remember one of them saying, "I bet they've become friends now."

I didn't think that was all that likely since the two of them were locked in a long standing feud over the back stoop. That back stoop has long been a disputed piece of territory around here! I started up the stairs only to be met with large tufts of cat fur on the landing.

I walked into my livingroom and into total destruction. It was unbelievable! Stuff was strewn all over the floor. There was one battered poinsetta plant that had toppled over in the commotion leaving a trail of dirt and crushed red leaves in its wake. Everything that had once been on a countertop, table top bookshelf was on the floor. Agh! All my pencil crayons were scattered amongst the mess. I was not happy about that one! I'm a little protective and obsessive when it comes to my art supplies.
I still cannot believe two cats could cause so much damage in one night! You hear of teenagers having parties that got out of control well believe me Sammy Jo threw one big shingdig himself that New Year's Eve! When I started cleaning up the mess Sammy Jo decided to help by batting the pencil crayons, sending them skittering across the floor with him in hot pursuit.

This year I am hoping there will not be a repeat of such naughty behaviour!

Happy New Year everyone and I hope 2007 is a good one. Take care.

For Mellowlee

2006-12-17T11:50:00.000-08:00

Well, Mellowlee, I must say this idea worked a little differently in my head! The only way I could get Sammy Jo interested in the santa hat was to put cat nip inside. Trying to get a picture with hat on head was out of the question. All the same hope you enjoy.

The Orange Bully

2006-12-11T10:22:00.000-08:00

My cat is being terrorized by the neighbour's deceptively sweet looking kitty! So there is Sammy Jo checking out the stoop making sure there are no rogue cats lurking around the corner ready to attack.

Truth be told the orange kitty tried to make friends with Sammy Jo but he would have none of it and decided to whack the orange kitty across the face. Well, needless to say orange cat took exception to this snotty behavior and swiped back. Turns out orange cat is a whole lot better at fighting than my cat! So we are now in the midst of a domain war over who owns the stoop. So far orange cat is winning. But, look out orange cat for Sammy Jo is sneaky and he doesn't always fight fair!

Yesterday when I opened the door to let him out, he could see orange cat was resting peacefully blissfully unaware of his presence. Sammy Jo flew out the door and in one flying leap crash landed on orange cat sending him hurtling over the edge. This lead to Sammy Jo strutting around with an air of, "Oh yea, I'm so good. I'm tough! Who's king of the stoop now? That's right, I am! Take that you orange furball!"

Don't worry orange cat is fine and no doubt plotting his revenge. I think Sammy Jo had better watch his back in the upcoming days!

Here of course is the orange cat that is the cause of all the cat dramatics around here of late.

2006-11-26T15:49:00.000-08:00

The Snow of 96

Today Victoria is having a grand snow day which is a rather unusual event. We have received a lot of snow today which has everyone hoping for another storm like 96. I completely missed it because I was at my parents home and the storm hit the day I was to leave. My parents live in snow country so we were fine as long as you did not want to leave. Leave you could not! Not in any direction. Every road out was closed along with the airport. For six days I was unable to leave but hey I was at my parents and they spoiled me rotten so it was the best kind of stranding.

For the first couple of days we would make the trek to the bus depot to see if buses were running. The bus terminal was in chaos. The station was filled with harassed workers, stranded skiers and travellers all wanting to leave. The terminal would post signs on the blackboard with any news about when possibly the buses might start running again. My father's favorite was, "Don't even ask!"

On one of our treks one of the station workers flipped out at a man that made the mistake of asking her if she had any idea when the buses might be running. The poor woman was at the end of her tether and instead of simply saying no she yelled back, "Do you want to die? Is that it! Do you want to die?" Her voice kept rising until it reached an ear splitting level of hysteria. You could watch the entire station full of people in one formation stepping back giving her a wide berth. After that we decided not to even bother trying for a couple of more days.

So by now you are probably wondering why on earth is this on your cat blog? Well, while I was storm stayed at my parents my sister was here in Victoria and she was given the job of making her way through 9 foot snowdrifts to save and feed my cat! She said everytime she came in Sammy Jo would fly to the furthest corner letting her know there is no way I am going out in that!

After a couple of days she called and asked, "How long does it take your cat to eat through his kitty kibble?" His kitty kibble is just something to snack on if I'm out longer than I plan it's not his usual food. So I tell her, "Oh, I don't know about three weeks." To this she replied, "Well, he just ate an entire bowl in a day!" I couldn't believe it.

When I finally managed to arrive home I found myself with one fat cat! I couldn't believe it. He was huge! For a time people would ask, "Is that really Sammy Jo?" They seemed to think I had traded him in for another.

That first night back when he wanted out I climbed down the stairs opened the door with the chain still on and found he was too fat to get out the door! I had to remove the chain to let him out!

So that New Year even my cat had to go on a diet!

(The pictures you see posted were taken today. The first is him deciding if he really wants to bother with the white stuff and the second was taken about a foot from the back stairs. That was as far as he would venture. He lasted about 3 minutes and is back on his perch above the heater where any smart cat would be.)

2006-11-18T17:54:00.000-08:00

It's That Season Again!

Domesticated cats are very good at catching things but they don't always bother with the follow through of actually killing and devouring their catch of the day. Unfortunately Sammy Jo is very good at catching baby rats.

Baby rats are disgusting. They look like they belong in a jar filled with formeldahyde in a biology lab. Every fall I am forced to suffer through a two week stretch of baby rats on my doorstep each morning. This morning marked rat number one of fall 2006.

Plan A is to pretend that my cat did not bring the baby dead rat to the doorstep. However, the drawback to this plan is the revolting sight is not about to disappear from my doorstep just by my reclosing the door. Plan B I have down pat. I open the garbage bin, don thick garden gloves, grab a shovel and scoop up the carcass and walk as quickly as possible, while screaming gibberish to dump the offending thing in the bin. Slam down lid and resume breathing.

One day down, 13 to go. I am seriously thinking about having Sammy Jo put under house arrest!

The Move

2006-11-13T13:23:00.000-08:00

When I made the move from a grungy damp basement suite into my new digs I knew the move would be initially hard on the cat. But, I figured the move into a more upscale apartment on a second floor surrounded by large windows with ledges perfect for cat sitting would make him instantly come around.

I was told by several people to do the butter on the paws trick. What you do is as soon as you arrive at the new apartment you slather your cats paws in butter. They then immediately start licking the butter off and by the time they're done they have forgotten that they have moved. I know, I know how ridiculous. Ok, maybe I was suffering from some delusional hope springs eternal kind of thinking. I still cannot believe I actually followed this advice.

So, we arrive at the new apartment and I immediately spread butter on Sammy Jo's paws. Lots of butter. More is better, right? Of course the moment I let go he was like a cat possessed as he went flying around the apartment going from room to room frantically shaking his paws flinging butter in all directions.! Every blinking room was covered in grease spots. When he finally came to a stop he spat out a hiss and stormed off into the bathroom and refused to come out for two days. He just sat there with his fur all fluffed out and angry as all get out.

Did he forget about having made the move? Well of course not. As soon as someone opened the door he made a mad dash to freedom and immediately found his way back to the old apartment. He did this for two weeks coming home only to eat.

Sammy Jo

2006-11-11T12:14:00.000-08:00

Sammy Jo and one of his many war wounds. This was taken in my old basement apartment which was always damp and cold. He would sit by the heating vent and rest his head inside to take a snooze.

Three years ago on the week before Halloween he went out for a prowl and didn't come back. The first night I wasn't worried but by the second night I was getting a bit frantic so I went out looking for him. I combed the neighbourhood to no avail. As I sat on the porch stairs wondering where the heck he was, I heard a plaintive meow sound. I found him in some nearby bushes and it was immediately obvious he had hurt his back paw. The next morning, which unfortunately was a Saturday, and his regular vet is closed I had to go looking for a vet. Luckily my sister drove me around. We phoned one place and they said they would be open at 10:00 and they could take a look at him then. So we truck on over there only to find out they are open but the vet doesn't come in on Saturdays. It would have been nice to know that before hand!

So they phoned another vet clinic with a working vet and we were able to get in there. We head over there and the vet takes a look at him and says, "Oh, it's nothing we just need to clean his wound." She takes him into the back room and a few minutes later comes back out to say, "I'm sorry to say it's a lot more serious than I thought. We're going to have to amputate."

I just looked at her and said, "Not a chance. I want a second opinion." So she bandages up his paw for transportation. Her bandage was enormous. It looked like he had a second tail, only bright pink. I took one look at that bandage and thought, "Lady, you're a quack!"

Thank goodness I got him out of there. I called a friend with lots of animals to see who she takes her animals to and so that's where we went. When I took Sammy Jo out of the cat carrier the vet took one look at the bandage and said, "That has to come off." When I told him a vet did it. He gave me such a look of disbelief that my sister stepped in and said, "It's true, a vet put that on."

Found out his paw was broken but they were able to put him back together for $800! Of course they don't knock you with the price all at once. Oh no. They do it in stages and they do it in the waiting room with all the other pet owners staring in your direction waiting for your reaction. Over the course of the whole broken paw fiasco I had three different vets say, "We have a saying about cats. Put in him in a box and they'll be fine." By the third time I said, "Next time, I want that presented as an option."

By the second day after having his paw set and cast he was wanting outside. He couldn't walk down the stairs of course so I would carry out into the backyard and he'd hop around for a couple of minutes and then I'd carry him back him. A few more days and we'd walk the perimeter of the house together. Within a couple of weeks we would walk up the back lane and up a hill nearby. Although his paw is now 100% and he goes off prowling on his own , we still take that same walk together a few times a week.