CATS ON TUESDAY

Despite the new cat fountain, Pookie hasn't changed her daily routine, at least not in the mornings. She is terrible, a real pain in the neck ! Each day it is the same !

As soon as she feels that I start to wake up, she knows it already before I know ! And then she starts her concert ! I really try not to listen, but it's hard ! So she meows during my Yoga exercises and the bathroom, until I finally feed her in the kitchen. When she has finished her bowl, she starts meowing again until I lift her up to the sink and she drinks while my coffee runs through the machine.

Then there is silence in the house except Mr. G's snoring. But then the whole thing starts again with him and even more loud. Only there are two now to be noisy, she meows, he shouts to stop, of course she always wins.




Once this morning ritual finished she becomes a normal silent cat. I tried to make a selfie of her but she wasn't very cooperative.



The rest of the day is heavenly peace, until the whole ritual starts again the next morning.



While I did my Google street view I saw Arthur sitting in front of our neighbors hedge. That wasn't unusual in itself, but this time he stayed there fixing the hedge for about an hour always at the same place, before he looked to the left and right and went away. I will never know what was so interesting in this hedge !



After this exhausting observation job he spent the rest of the day on my bed.



Rosie enjoys the unusual warm weather and is mostly in the garden. I think she is jealous about all the fuzz we make with Pookie ! For the moment she doesn't sleep with me during the night, I am punished !

THE FAINTED BIRD

CATS ON TUESDAY

The cat fountain I had ordered for Pookie (and the others of course) had arrived and is in full function. Pookie first was very suspicious about this new thing, and I still don't know if she drinks from it or not, but she doesn't ask anymore to be lifted up to the tap, so I suppose it works. The others must use it too, because I had to refill water.

Pookie still continued her constant meowing and it really became unsupportable. On Wednesday my cleaning lady found a tooth in the kitchen ! It looked really rotted. I was shocked ! That must have been the reason she rubbed her chin everywhere and meowed that much. The vet's consultation was open, I grabbed Pookie put her in the carrier and went to the vet. I had never thought about a bad tooth, as she was always eating like a horse !



We didn't have to wait and when the vet opened her mouth, there was a big wound and a hole in her gum, she must have worked on that tooth the whole night to pull it out. She got an antibiotic and painkiller shot, was checked from top to bottom and the good news were she is in a very good shape for her age. I was so full of regrets and had  a very bad conscience, that I hadn't realized that she was suffering from a tooth and taken her to the vet earlier ! I had her checked in January and 3 teeth had been taken out, so I never thought about tooth ache ! Poor Pookie. Now she still meows in the mornings, but it is bearable. I am reassured that she has nothing and that she is only a morning chatterbox. Usually she stops when Mr. G. gets up and puts the TV on !!



Arthur enjoys the last summer days taking  a sunbath on the kitchen sill and watches me from outside through the window.



Rosie thought it was about time to visit the graveyard from where she observed what was going on, and then slept on the warm pebbles which cover the ground.

All this would never had happened if I hadn't made the experience with Lisa who at the end of her life was also meowing a lot and had nothing and I had been told that it is normal for an old cat. 

ARTHUR AND HIS BUDDY

Arthur always runs to greet Toby when he comes !

CATS ON TUESDAY

I never had a cat like Pookie ! She is terrorizing us ! Sadly terrorism is in fashion for the moment, but having one at home and in a cat costume is another thing !



She starts meowing around 7 am, non stop until I get up and feed her. After that she wants to drink on the sink at the tap. I have to lift her up, wait until she finishes and then put her down. If you think that now she would stop meowing you are wrong ! She continues, I feed her again, she doesn't eat. I lift her up, she doesn't drink. She meows ! And that lasts until Mr. G is up too, feeds her and let her drink, but she only would stop once he had switched on the TV !! She is punctual like a train ... every single day ! Now I am waiting for the cat fountain, hoping that it will get better !



She also has found a new place to rub her chin !


and when the sun is shining she takes a sunbath with Kim.

Arthur too became a maniac ! He had chosen my bed for his naps for a week by now.



and he doesn't like at all when it is already occupied ! In picture n° 1 he thinks for a while, to sleep or not to sleep, in n° 2 he is shocked because Rosie is squatting the bed and hesitates to join her. On n° 3 he finally decides to also sleep on the bed but far away and turning his back !



Only Kim is tolerated, because Kim never bothers anybody neither cats nor humans.



It's cool outside, Rosie choose the radiator for a nap



and Kim likes to sit on the new table cloth, as decoration.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY POOKIE

Pookie was born somewhere in London in September 1998. Nobody knew exactly her birth date. My son lived in London at that time and I was on a visit in November. It was an awful day and I just said "the house seems so empty" when he suddenly got up, disappeared and came back a couple of hours later.



With an adorable little kitten, a basket, litterbox, bowls and kitten food. These are the only pictures I have from Pookie when she was about 6 weeks old. She was for sale in a pet shop and my son had fallen in love with her at the first sight. She lived with him and a year later with Kim in London. Then his office sent him to Amsterdam. He tried to keep the cats in his flat, but Kim got so depressed that he asked me if we could take both cats for 6 months the time he was supposed to work in Amsterdam. In 2003 Pookie and Kim moved into our house and the 6 months are still lasting.



Everything went well and both cats settled in nicely with Arthur but then Rosie arrived. Pookie from the very beginning didn't like her and it hasn't changed until today. When Rosie was a baby she let her sleep besides her not too close, but once grown up, they hissed at each other each time they met. And that hasn't changed ever since.



Over the years Pookie became my favorite model for photo themes. She posed for "T" = Toaster, "R" for remote control, "K" for keys etc. She seemed to be offended when I took pictures of Rosie !



She was the same clever girl as ever until last year, when she started to loose weight although she ate like a horse. It got a little better when her teeth were removed.





Now she is 16 years old and still very clever, but she can't jump anymore she has arthritis in her back. She also became a real chatterbox and meows the whole morning for food or water from the tap ! But otherwise she is still very affectionate and the same efficient mouse hunter and brings us mousie corpses to step on, or even living once which Mr. G. has to catch and set them free in the garden.



For her birthday I bought a cat fountain for her (and for me, not for drinking but for my tranquility) because I became her personal lift to the sink ! I found this one on Internet and hope it will arrive next week and I can stop cat lifting !

CATS ON TUESDAYS

Although I thought I would understand the cat language by now, I realized that it is not always the case ! Pookie started meowing at 6 am, in crescendo ! I finally got up to feed her. An hour later it started again, and more and more. There was also another sound in her voice and she was looking up at th sink. Finally I understood. The poor thing was thirsty and wanted to drink from the tap !



As she can't jump anymore I picked her up and put her besides the tap. And she drank and drank, the poor thing had been so thirsty but didn't want the fresh water from the bowl. After that she stopped meowing and looked for a place to nap. Old ladies are sometimes difficult !

From time to time I have to change the bedsheets, I think. But Arthur has another opinion !



He was deeply sleeping on my bed, when I dared to take the cover away !



He stood up, not happy at all.



That I removed the bedsheet didn't bother him that much



He just lay down on the mattress and continued his nap.



But when I arrived with the vacuum cleaner he started to doubt about staying or not. Finally he gave up, very offended and disappeared somewhere in the house. When the bed was done, he didn't return ! He has his own proud.



Rosie apparently was tired from mice hunting during the night and preferred to watch us from the sofa.

A PEACEFUL PLACE

CATS ON TUESDAY

Ever since I am back from my holidays, I have the impression to live in a 24 h working dormitory ! It rains outside so my cats became philosophes and sleep around the clock waiting for better times.



Sir Arthur dreams on the sofa



Miss Rosie too, but on the top



While Pookie choose for whatever reason the cold tiles !





The only positive thing in this boring environment is the fact that they also act as lap warmers.

Only Arthur moves a bit, he stole chicken pieces from Mr. G's plate when he just turned around and he also walked my neighbor home, together with her canary in the cage, who had spent a week in our guest room. Arthur sneaked in her living room to check if the bird cage was on the right place and wasn't happy at all that we asked him to please leave this place ! Apparently he loves this canary and maybe wanted to sleep on the cage as he had already done before.