CATS ON TUESDAY

 

For my cats Christmas are horror days ! Their worst enemy arrived in form of 3 year old grandson Toby.



Pookie and Kim spent their days on Mr. G's bed



Rosie on mine, and they only sneaked out when it was absolutely necessary !

For Arthur however, Christmas was fun ! With his 12 years he suddenly transformed into a kitten and spent two very nice and very busy days. Not only he enjoyed the salmon and the guinea hen, but also his little friend Toby.



He loved all the new toys, ran behind little cars, played with the crane and anyway was always between our feet.



Arthur loves Toby, he is such a kind little boy, he doesn't pull his tail or runs behind him, he just talks to him and pets his head.



Even in the afternoon, when other kids arrived, Arthur was there observing what they were doing.



But then in the evening, after all the treats Mr. G. had smuggled into the kitchen because he (Mr. G.) was not allowed to give Arthur anything at table to avoid that he would jump into the guinea hen, Arthur was so tired that he didn't even protest when I put a mouse on his head for a picture !

He really is a special case because it's quiet seldom that a cat loves little kids !

CATS ON TUESDAY

 

None of my darling cats are interested in Christmas ornaments or decorations.



Pookie had a quick look on all this stuff and then went away, The balls and angels were of no interest to her.



Rosie too, completely ignores the tree and hasn't tried once to catch a little Santa Claus and  taken him for a mouse. Usually she also prefers green mousies.




Arthur has found the place to watch me and the Christmas tree from outside, on our neighbors garden shed.



He likes to sleep besides the snowman on the radiator, fortunately it's a snowman who doesn't melt but changes colors !

My neighbors went to France for the holidays and as usual we take care of their cat Chouchou. He is a cat who mostly lives outside and doesn't like inside life at all. He has a spacious doghouse and warm blankets in it. Normally there is no problem at all, we feed him in the mornings and evenings, he is a good cat and eats it all. But this time he had to take medication which I should add into his food. What I did. But he didn't eat at all ! Not the first day, not the second and not the third. I started to worry very much about him and finally called his vet.



Chouchou didn't protest at all when I put him in the carrier, which is rather strange for a half stray cat. He didn't say anything while I was driving either. I had spoken to the vet who knew him very well and that's why he asked me to come he would give him antibiotic shots. Poor Chouchou has a tumor in his mouth and can't eat. The antibiotics should help to heal it, and it helped, but apparently it had come back again and he couldn't eat !! What a stress and that in the middle of Christmas preparations. Chouchou got two shots and I hope he will eat at least for the next two days so that I can put his medication again in his food. Although it's not my cat I am very worried. The worst what could happen is that the vet would keep Chouchou with him. If I can I want to avoid that, because it must be awful for a cat who is used to so much liberty to stay in a cage for a week ! Wish me the best !

CATS ON TUESDAY

 

Ever since I moved my desk to the window, Rosie and Arthur keep me company and watch what I do.



Arthur warms up his old bones under my desk and takes most of the space I have left for my feet, the fact that I sometimes put my feet on him, he doesn't like at all.



Rosie prefers the "Neighbor watch" version and also controls what is happening outside.

Then one day at the end of the week, something strange happened, Mr. G. first carried up a carton



in which was our folded Christmas tree. Arthur found this very interesting and of course slipped inside where he worked for a while on the branches, until I chased him outside, I feared for our tree.



Meanwhile Rosie checked the new Christmas decoration I had bought, as the balls were still in their box, it wasn't very interesting for her.



When the table was cleaned up and the balls hanging on the tree, Kim and Rosie completed the table decoration. Nobody took notice of the tree so far.



The last weeks Rosie is very busy during the night to tidy up her mousies and now she doesn't put them not only in the water bowl but also in my slippers ! Each morning I have to collect the mousies, the wet once I put on the radiator to dry, and the others I throw somewhere. But Rosie is stubborn and each night she starts again and each morning I also start again. For the moment it's the summit of her nightly work. She hasn't done this during the whole summer. A fact which should be studied by professors of animal behavior research.

CATS ON TUESDAY

 

Since a few days when I serve breakfast to my little monsters, I always have the same picture in the kitchen. Pookie and Kim gobbling down their food and Arthur sitting close to Kim and just doesn't move. He stares in the air and looks like a sculpture. The food is there but he doesn't touch it. After some logical thinking (if a woman can think logically) I found the reason. He eats the whole night out of Rosie's bowl in my room, she has special dry food for "fragile stomach". As the bowl is always full, Arthur just helps himself and I wondered how a little cat like Rosie can eat so much food !



We still have one fly in our house a survivor of the summer. I feel like a cow as the fly turns always around me. Rosie tries to catch it, that's why she makes these big eyes, jumps around without any success, the fly is still with us. I wonder if it's not the great great grandma from the one which moved in in summer !  I only hope it doesn't fly around the Christmas tree and Rosie jumping in the tree ! What a disaster this would be !



Arthur's favorite place for the moment is once again the radiator. He sleeps in front or on it, and as I had dried some laundry and put the little cat figurine on the floor, he was happy to have some company.



He (and Pookie) was even more happy when we celebrated our 44th wedding anniversary with Sushis !
While I was preparing the plates he sang his operas and as soon as Mr. G. tried to eat one he was there to ask for his share ! I am not so sure who got more Sushis, the cats or Mr. G ?

CATS ON TUESDAY

 

Since a few weeks I had noticed that Pookie must have something with her teeth.



Taking a cat to the vet is a nightmare ! First you have to catch her. Of course the always staying home Pookie choose this very day to stay out. In the last minute finally I managed to get her in. Immediately she became suspicious, although I faked to be completely normal and calm and just wanted to pick her up for a cuddle, she hid under the bed. With the help of a stick she finally came out, ran towards the door, which I had closed and then I could pick her up and take a struggling Pookie in the kitchen an push her in the carrier. By then I was already exhausted. All the way long to the vet she sang her best opera songs in all scales ! My poor nerves and ears ! Once on the vet's table she behaved very good, and didn't say anything when her mouth was inspected. The result was one molar and two little teeth had to be pulled out. We fixed an appointment and I put Pookie in the carrier to return home. But first she had to inspect the Vet's cabinet.




Once in the car, I let her out of the cage and she immediately stopped singing, looked a little around and then settled down as if she wanted to drive for hours ! Today I have to repeat the whole thing, I have to bring her early morning for the surgery and pick her up tonight.The vet had called me to tell me that everything went well. Pookie meanwhile is 15 years old !



I had decorated an advent's wreath, which was immediately inspected by Sir Arthur and then one hungry human waited for supper together with Arthur and Pookie who always are convinced that he eats other things then cat food. 



Rosie has discovered a new playground, the bath tube, where she chased her tail and then was waiting for a mousie to come out of the hole. Unfortunately she waited for nothing.

PS. I picked up and unchanged Pookie, she sat in the car and admired the landscape without "singing" a word. When we arrived she ran upstairs in the kitchen and "sang" for food, which of course she got immediately. I wished we would have the same reactions after a visit to the dentist !!

CATS ON TUESDAY

 

My cats noticed that November is really an awful month. It's cold, it's grey and it's very humid. So most of the time they are staying inside only doing one walk outside per day, except Arthur who still hopes that somebody would be in the street.



Before I switch off the light and sleep, I have this nice view on Rosie and Arthur who settled down to keep me company. The bed shrank.



Rosie sleeps or watches over her mousies, which now again she drops in the water bowl. She hadn't done this during the whole summer, so I wonder if it is a seasonal reaction. Should be studied scientifically.



Pookie likes to sleep on the remote controls, but I lifted her up to get them out under her belly. She also loves to sleep on files, like some employes do too. And loving Rosie had prepared a mice tea with two mousies for her. Isn't that sweet.



Always checking the kitchen if there is nothing eatable laying around, Arthur collapses on a bed and sleeps, waiting for the next meal.



Even Kim stays inside and shares the bed with Arthur or decorates the living room. Don't approach she would run away !

CATS ON TUESDAY

 

The flowers in my flower pots in the front yard were still blooming, but as it gets cold and colder I decided to take them out and replace them by fake plants.



Pookie was quiet disappointed that these balls didn't smell at all, and she watched me when I put hooks in the balls to fix them in the pots.



No cat came to admire my work !



But when I changed my desk from the dark corner at the end of my bed under the window, Rosie was delighted ! Now she can watch me and the street at the same time. As the desk and the tower are just in front of the radiator we both purr now. We have a new job .... neighbor watch !

I wonder if my cats don't prepare themselves for a cold winter and try to put some fat on !



Each evening at supper time I have the same view. The cats checking what is in Mr. G's plate and then meow all together to get some pieces. Of course he can't resist and shares his food with them, complaining at the same time that he can't eat in peace and that he hadn't even had the chance to try the meat. And each evening I say the same "stop feeding them", but without any result, in some situations he looses his hearing capacities.

CATS ON TUESDAY

 

Since I am back from my holidays in France I have the impression that I live in a sort of aquarium when I go outside and in a dormitory when I stay inside. In short, it rains and it is cold.



Wherever I look, there is a cat squatting the best places, although the doormat is not exactly what I would call a nice place for a nap.



Arthur enjoys some head scratching otherwise he sleeps in or on the cat tower because it's close to the heating.



Rosie prefers the sofa and when Arthur is not there also the cat tower.



I needed a model to present chop sticks but Arthur didn't cooperate, Rosie was a little better. No way to take a picture of an active cat !

The only thing they were doing, was going out at night and jumping on our beds at 3 am their fur completely wet, which of course waked us up and we were not very happy when in the dark you wanted to pet them and half asleep your hands were wet too !



But today the sun was shining and Arthur took a sun bath on the kitchen window sill. It didn't last very long because then it became cool and wet again and he returned home and meowed loud for some food.
Lately he has become a very noisy cat ! I hope it is only temporary, as we have already a very talkative cat ... Pookie.

CATS ON TUESDAY

 

When I came back from France a week ago, I had expected that Arthur was waiting that I stepped out of the car. But there was no Arthur, in fact there was nobody.

Even when I put my suitcase in my room I didn't see a single cat. When finally they showed up one by one in different moments, they behaved as if I had never been away. They were not happy to see me, or offended because I dared to go away.

In fact I got the impression that I hadn't been missed at all and that I  returned into a dormitory !



Pookie squatted the sofa, opened one eye, saw that it was only me and closed it again.



Arthur had put his head nearly into the radiator and didn't want to be disturbed.



Rosie watched me hanging some laundry on the radiator, but without further reaction.



The only work she had done over night was putting one of her green mousies in the water bowl and watched from far if they would drink. But they didn't.



Only in the evening when Arthur suspected that I would prepare the supper he came to check if I had taken something out of the fridge.

So I was thrown immediately into daily cat routine. The only event was on Halloween when kids rang at the door and when I opened I saw 5, 3 little witches and 2 pirates and .... one white cat ... Arthur ! He hadn't even worked under a car to get a black fur ! The kids were more delighted by Arthur's presence then by my sweets !