Pet Adventures! Take 6

Hello everyone!

It's been a bit since my last post and I wanted you all to know that I'm still here with the cat. I just couldn't think of anything new to post.

I finally had to go buy another bag of cat food and boy was that an adventure. First off, the bag weighs 14 lbs and is about half my height. And of course I didn't have my powerchair so bringing it to my car was quite a sight to see haha.
Eventually I did make it and brought it home so the cat is well fed and happy.

Last week was a pretty busy week so I wasn't able to be home as often as the cat would have liked. So when my schedule did slow down the cat took every opportunity to sit or lay down near me.

I have learned from the last bedtime disaster and have since placed a small pillow on my window to prevent him from climbing up and antagonizing all of the neighborhood cats.
And as much as he dislikes this new setup, I get a lot more good sleep out of it.
I don't think he's quite figured out that I'm not moving the pillow because most nights he still unsuccessfully tries to climb up.

The last few nights he has been especially affectionate and tries to sleep near me.
Generally I don't have a problem with this, except he likes to lay on my feet.
I don't know about you but I move all far too much in my sleep and it drives me crazy when I don't have that option. When this happens I inevitably end up moving my legs so much that he doesn't want to stay.
After a couple nights of that he finally got smart and decided that it would be better if he slept on the side of me. There is a nice pillow on my left side that stops me from hitting the wall and I think that he has decided that's his new space to sleep. It was perfect because he's high enough that I can't roll over him and I can still move when I want to.

This week I once again decided that it was time to vacuum my apartment again. So I went all out and vacuumed my entire apartment, which is even more than I did the last time.
The cat has unofficially made my armchair his. Most days that's the best place to find him. That definitely shows because before I had vacuumed it was covered in black hairs. I had to go all out with the pet attachment to get it back to looking good.

He must have known how difficult that was because immediately after I had finished and put the vacuum away the first thing he decided to do was lay down on the carpet and stretch out as far as he could.

My first thought was how to create a #petproblems tweet. Didn't come up with much but
@jeenad: I finish vacuuming & the shedding cat decides to stretch. Is this karma for scaring him with the vacuum? #petproblems

And not even a few days later I come to find this:


I've come to the decision that he doesn't like anything that makes a loud noise. Vacuum, hair dryer, powerchair, or any type of loud music in general.
But he loves the bathtub and shower. He's fascinated by it and loves to sit on the side while I shower. He's almost made it a game and likes it when I pretend to splash him with the clear screen in front to protect him.

Oh and in case you were wondering the size ratio between the cat & I, or why I make him sound like such a monster... here is a picture to prove it.

He definitely takes more than my lap!

I'll leave all of you with this Daily Affirmation from Dr. Wayne Dyer
"What other people think of me is none of my business. One of the highest places you can get to is being independent of the good opinions of other people."
http://www.healyourlife.com/affirmations/dr-wayne-w-dyer/2012/02/28/get-inspired

Until next time!

Pet Adventures! Take 5

I got another day off of work today and after making some major life decisions (more info will come later in another post), I decided to stay home and be productive.
My apartment needed some airing out so I decided that I would open up my sliding door. For those of you that don't know, so far this hasn't proved to be a bad idea because I have the additional screen door that is keeping the cat inside.
Turns out I've given him a new hobby and a nice place to sit and relax.

Here, have a look for yourself.

According to his person this was a terrible idea. She said, "now he will sit at the door and do the most unappealing meow you have ever heard until you open," the door. Oh well... at least it gives him something else to look forward to.

On another note!

I don't know if there's something in the air or if he's come to realize that I will not tolerate any aggression but lately he has been really sweet. He likes to come and cuddle with me on the couch and has even come to lay down on my bed for a little bit.

Here's my fuzzy valentine :)

Of course he still tries to attack me and has done so a couple of times. But in the last week but I have noticed that they have been a lot gentler than beforehand. It's more like play-fighting then outright anger.

Happy Valentine's Day 2012!

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

To the young and old; the heartbroken, single, "it's complicated" and whatever I've missed.

No matter what your 'status' it's a day to celebrate all forms of love.
Families, friends, lovers, and beyond!



If you hadn't noticed yes, I do consider myself to be a hopeless romantic and I'm not ashamed to admit it.

My favorite movies are romantic comedies, that's over half of my collection. I'll read anything written by Nicholas Sparks; for me the Notebook is a classic. If I paid for cable I'd probably get fat from eating chocolate all day and watching waaay too much of the Lifetime and Hallmark channel.

As ridiculous as all of that sounds I don't consider myself to be completely adrift.
I understand the realities of human relationships... at least to the extent that I've observed/experienced and I'm not waiting for the 'prince charming' delusion.

I like to think of myself as 'hopelessly realistic'
I don't want someone that will always agree with me or someone that always has to be in control.
I'm looking for someone who is considerate but independent, can be serious and fun, someone that has a similar sense of humor to me.
But most of all, I want someone who can be my equal and share everything that life has to offer.



Sounds like a tall order doesn't it?
Yeah I guess it does... yet I still know there is at least one person out there.

And I'm okay waiting because I know that it will all be worth the wait.
It gives me something to look forward to.
I try to look at this time as the perfect way to get to know and improve me. That way I can be the best me that I know how to be when the time comes.

For anyone struggling with being alone today (or any day) just remember... you are loved.

"I have learned that love is the most powerful force available to us. When we have real love we have the strength to perform miracles." ~ Leo Buscaglia

Thank you http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Leo_Buscaglia

Pet Adventures! Take 4

Oh the things that happen when theres a pet in the house...
Like when you go into your room after taking a shower and not noticing the blinds are out of alignment.... until you've already started getting ready.

Checkmate cat.

And even after all of that I know that I still care about the insane animal.
You know how I know?

Tonight when I pulled up into my parking spot I noticed a very similar looking black cat walk by. But before he/she walks away it makes sure to stop and acknowledge the unintentional stare down I had started.
This cat looked so similar to the one I am taking care of that before I had finished my mental picture of physical attributes I was freaking out.
Before I had even realized that this cat was too big to be the cat I had already thought up multiple scenarios about the harsh realities he had experienced in the 12 hrs I was gone. Being a strictly indoor cat I imagined the worst.
So of course, me being... myself I started to jump out of my car and called out to the cat by his name.
He's generally responsive to his name so I knew that he'd come if he'd been out all day. I wasn't even all of the way out of my car before the cat was done with me and started walking away.
I turned for a moment and it was gone, which only added to my panic. That and a growing amount of embarrassment as I looked like a crazy person talking to myself desperately.
Hoping he had run off to meet me at my door I bolted for my apartment. Hurrying as fast I could I left everything but my keys in my car. As I unlocked and opened the door I hadn't even bothered to look to see if he had followed nearby.

To my confusion, surprise and happiness there he was sitting at the door like he'd been waiting all day. Almost like he was as glad to see me as I was to see him.

Pet Adventures! Take 3

Last night (okay more like this morning) as I was trying to go to sleep I realized that I forgot to mention a vital aspect of my pet adventures!

Unless I am home I always keep my bedroom door closed.
Like most cats he loves to get into anything and everything. And if I leave him for any amount of time that he 'dislikes' I can expect some kind of mess waiting for me. So long story short I don't trust him to be alone with all of the really important things I've stashed in my room.

But at night I keep my door open so he has a nice place to sleep... Another bad idea that won't be changing any time soon haha.
I don't know where but there is a cat somewhere outside that roams my apartment complex at night. And so of course the cat in my apartment likes to look outside of the window and antagonize the mystery cat that is yet to figure out that I will NEVER leave my window open.
Without fail, if that cat is around my window he will jump and try to attack 'my cat'... ONLY when I have almost fallen asleep. Scares me awake every time! And by the time I am finally able to fall back asleep I'm wired and paranoid.

Today was an especially funny day.

As I was in the shower this morning the cat thought it would be a good time to visit.
Of course like any other cat, he is not fond of water. So he made sure to sit on the side of the tub between the shower curtains.
Not thinking about the consequences he decided it would be a funny to play and swipe at the clear plastic curtain with little to no balance.
After almost falling into the shower with me he eventually fell on the other side onto the floor.... all while still sitting in between my shower curtains.
Of course none of that stopped his desire to play and he continued to play with my clear shower curtain until I turned off the water.

It's times like this I wish that I knew what was going on in that cats head.
I wonder if it's as scatter brained as mine...

And I won't even bother with the negative happenings of last night... like him getting sick again. Of course it happened right before I was about to get into bed.

Pet Adventures! Take 2

Hello again!

Still playing catch up here so I'll be recounting events from the last couple of weeks... hopefully I'll be caught up by the end of this post. There's a few pet happenings that you've missed.

A little over a week into watching the cat my sister came to visit with her service dog. Since she's such a sweet dog and was raised with a cat like brothers I wasn't really worried about the cat being hurt. I was more worried about the cat taking out the dog, if you know this cat... you'd know that I was concerned for good reason.
But before either of them had gotten completely inside he bolted! Took me a good 10-15 minutes to even find the cat, turns out he had found a spot on top of my fridge between that and my cabinets.

It wasn't until later in the night when the cat thought no one was looking that he tried getting off of the fridge. And of course the service dog was up and ready to play before the cat had even gotten off of my counter. This is when it got interesting....

The best way I can think of to explain what happened is to give you this completely unrelated visual.

Picture the cat instead of the pinball and my kitchen in the place of game board and there you have it. I don't think I've ever seen that cat move so quickly or crazy-like!

It was hilarious and fortunately just loud and not destructive.
I'm pretty sure that he didn't come down from my fridge until the next day.

It wasn't until this next experience that basically sealed the deal. I finally realized that this cat is just not that sociable.

My mom and brother were over to visit for a couple of hours and the result was a calmer version of last time. He was up on the fridge until I 'cleared' him to come down.

Oh and I forgot to mention... a few days ago when I left him alone at my house I forgot to put his treats away. So of course he ate the chewed a hole and ate an entire bag, about the size of this:

And no this is not the cat, I used the picture to show the size of the bag of treats.

If you're still keeping track... he attacked my leg a couple more times and fortunately didn't scratch skin because I was wearing thick pants.

Are there any cat people out there that would have any tips for me to put a stop to the scratches?

And a positive side note...
A couple of days ago I woke up with the cat snuggled asleep at my feet. Of course he decided to lay down as I was starting to wake up and by the time he was completely comfortable I had to get up and go.


I was thinking that this might have been his way of asking me not to leave.
But who knows? I sure don't!

Pet Adventures! Take 1

This year I have embarked on a new adventure... pet care.
For those of you who know me well, no no no! I did not get a permanent pet. I'm pet-sitting a cat for the next 2.5 months for a good friend while she's out of the country.

Sounds easy enough right? Wrong.

First I had to 'pet-proof' my apartment... had to stash everything that would possibly be targeted for kitty destruction, accidental or out of 'cats curiosity.'
Then I had to find a place for the litter box in my kinda small bathroom.
And because this is no ordinary cat I also had to find a place hide his bag of food so he wouldn't go crazy and eat another hole in the bag... yes, you read that right. I did say another hole.

If all that wasn't enough work there's the everyday maintenance that comes with pet ownership/care.
To avoid having my apartment smell disgusting I vacuum and clean my bathroom at least once a day.
Feeding the cat isn't so bad most of the time. That is unless he's trying to trip me while getting my attention on my way to his bag of food. Oh and there's this minor issue of his nervous eating habit. I think I'm finally starting to get the hang of how much to feed him that doesn't allow him to overeat and make himself sick.

But the part that makes it all interesting...
He likes to attack me. Bites and scratches me just because he can.
I'm convinced he's either bipolar or has a split personality disorder. One moment he's being really cute and snuggling with me and all of a sudden he snaps and attacks me! Totally out of the blue! I've been trying really hard to watch out and not do things that bug him but it's definitely not working.



In the 9 days it's just been me I've been attacked 3 times, twice on my arms and once on my leg. That wasn't counting the other time I was attacked before my friend had even left yet!
He's also puked twice. Once in my bathroom right next to his box and the other on my dining room floor. To be optimistic I am glad they've been on tile... thank you!

Since I know that I haven't done much in the positive talk department I would like to note that it isn't all bad.
Everyday I come home it's nice knowing that there's someone that is glad to see me... even if there is some other motive like food haha.
There's also something to do in watching the funny things he does to keep himself entertained. I think he's about as graceful as I am.

Besides... I think we're both still in the adjustment stage. We're getting used to sharing my space and putting up with each others quirks.
That and I'm sure he misses my friend, they haven't been apart for more than a few days.