Catscapades

Sorry dear readers, but I guess we missed this important day. I had it written down on my calendar as being June 4, when in reality it was back in April. Why do we need an awareness day to celebrate those slimy wads of fur the cat urfs up on our carpets every once in a while? Aren’t you curious to know more about why cats do this?

Here’s something that maybe you didn’t know—cats aren’t the only animals that hack up hairballs. All grooming animals do so—including rabbits, llamas, and cattle. And the hairball itself isn’t just a hairball. It has a technical name: trichobezoar. There you go.

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You’re ready for the next trivia contest in your neighborhood.

What’s normal for a cat? One veterinarian says no more than two hairballs per year. More could indicate a problem. Some cats do not regurgitate hairballs—their system just passes swallowed fur through the system and into the litterbox.

There are ways to prevent hairballs—more frequent brushing, offering a regular petroleum-based treat, making sure cat is drinking enough water (an interesting fountain can help with this), and some cat foods are designed to improve skin and fur, thus reduce shedding. Also an active cat is less likely to groom out of boredom. Your busy furball is less likely to hack up those icky hairballs. For more information check out: https://www.petmd.com/cat/grooming/evr_ct_cat_hairballs

We love our cats, admire them, baby them, become frustrated with them, and sometimes don’t understand them at all. But if we pay attention, there’s actually a lot we can learn from our cats. Even the things they do that we perceive as naughty or destructive or downright exasperating, are often simply the way of the cat—things that make the cat so interesting and endearing. Mimic some of the cats’ natural abilities and activities, and who knows how far you could soar in your career or craft or just in the way you live life.

• Can you imagine having the focus and patience of a cat when you’re facing a challenging project?
• The world could be yours if you could adopt the cats’ way of persuasion.
• And when it comes to taking care of oneself, the cat is king (or queen). On those days when you need me time, just follow the cats’ lead. Find the perfect place to hide until you’re ready to be found and respond to no one and nothing.
• When you want to win an argument or simply get your way, borrow some of the cat’s charming ploys, and you could certainly become a winner. Cats show us how to claim what’s not theirs and get away with it—not by force, but by their coy and cunning ploys.
• When you’ve come to the end of the road on a project or a challenge, think of the way your cat would handle things—yeah, she wouldn’t quit. She’d examine the situation from angles you might not even think of and find a way to success.

Just imagine the person you could be if you followed the cat’s way.

Actually I want to talk about the materializing cat—the cat who just seems to appear out of nowhere. Do you have such a cat? We do. Her name is Olivia. She has the ability to move from here to there without being seen. As a skittish kitten we would watch her scoot under a dresser to hide from us and while we’re on our hands and knees trying to coax her out, she’d appear behind us.

Last week we took her to the vet for her rabies shot. That was a nightmare of an experience. Olivia is an in-your-face, cuddly, snuggly, I want to be near you cat, until you want to catch her for some important reason. Then she becomes Jell-0 in your hands, a wad of that slime children play with, only with claws—well-honed claws. The chase down and capture was brutal. And I think we could have played it better. It was what it was and we had a battle on our hands.

At one point we saw her go under a bed. I’m on one side of it, and he’s on the other. “She’s coming your way,” I said.

“I don’t see her.”

“She should be right there in front of you.”

Nope—we found her hiding in a closet several feet away. How she got from here to there we don’t know. Then he saw her run into another room. We searched in there for several minutes, eventually finding her down the hall. She appears and she vanishes. We did finally get her to the veterinarian and the rest of the ordeal was peaceful and successful. But oh the guilt.

It isn’t just in situations like this that we’ve noticed Olivia’s ability to materialize. Whether we’re playing, looking for her at feeding time or to give her a treat, or just to check on where she is to make sure she’s safe—like you do with a cat who tends to find trouble, she does a crazy disappearing and reappearing act.

She’s nowhere to be found, then you turn around or look where you’ve already looked for her and there she is. It’s eerie and pretty much unexplainable.

Do you have a cat that materializes out of thin air? What’s your explanation?

What silly things does your cat do? Just about every cat I’ve known brought something new and different to the household, and I’d say that all of those cats had a silly bone. Be in a cat’s presence for long enough and pay attention, and you will see evidence of that silly bone.

Of course you’ve heard of the funny bone, which isn’t a bone at all, but when you knock against something in that area of your arm or knee, you sure get a funny feeling. A silly bone isn’t a bone either, it’s my quirky term for that part of a cat that inspires him or her do those crazy things that make us crack up—you know, laugh out loud. You may see it in his sleeping positions or the way she approaches a bug or what he seems to think is a bug. Have you ever watched your cat when he ultra cautiously sneaks up on something and swats at it as if he thinks it’s going to eat him alive. Funny!

Cats have accidents—you know, those oopsies that don’t hurt anyone, they’re just clumsy and funny—not funny to the cat, perhaps. Kittens especially have oopsies, but adult cats do too. I opened the closet the other day to look for something to wear and found Olivia hanging by a claw from a pair of my jeans. I thought it was rather funny. I’m sure glad I found her before something catastrophic happened.

I’ve written about how Olivia lives on the edge. She has rolled off tables, and the back of the sofa more than once. But the fall that tickled my funny bone most was when she rolled off my desk into the trash can. She was fine, only surprised and maybe embarrassed. It was hilarious but she would not repeat it so I could get a video. Oh! Olivia.

The unbridled energy a cat unleashes when playing is humorous—the way she focuses on an object of play and gets excited when it hides from her and she has to dig to recover it from a couch cushion or from under a throw rug. We should learn to be as focused when we face a challenge or task. In fact there’s a lot we could learn from watching a cat, but that’s for another post—maybe next week.

Can cats predict the future? Many cats have been accused of it. Is this a supernatural fete, a myth, or can cats actually foresee things that are about to happen? Here’s a site featuring seven things cats are known to predict or notice or point out. How do they do it? Experts believe it’s simply that cats pay attention to and use senses that we may ignore in ourselves.

Along with birds, dogs, and other animals, cats have been known to signal a pending earthquake, hurricane, and other natural disasters. It’s not clear as to whether they feel or sense a change in the atmosphere or, in the case of earthquakes, their ultra sensitive paw pads feel the tremors before we do, but a cat will often react by becoming restless or even hiding just before disaster strikes.

Cats can detect illness. In my Klepto Cat Mystery stories, Rags has helped pinpoint the cause of an illness or a pending illness in children and other animals. It’s true, that cats have been known to detect cancer in humans, and they seem to be able to foresee a diabetes or epileptic seizure before it occurs.

Those of us with cats believe they react to our moods. They seem to understand and even feed off our mood. They instinctively know when to stay out of your way and when to comfort you. If your cat is stressed, you might check your own level of stress—he could be feeding off of your current mood.

And there are cats that predict death. Oscar is probably one of the most well-known cat in this category. He lived in a nursing home in Rhode Island and is credited with helping 25 patients pass. Everyone knew when a patient was close, as Oscar would wander into their room and sit with them until they passed.

Here’s an interesting site that discusses this topic.

https://www.animalwised.com/7-things-that-cats-can-predict-2482.html

I wonder if a cat can also predict the weather by his behavior—on days when it is going to be cold out, does he hunker down in his bed next to the fireplace waiting for someone to light it or linger hunkered down under the covers that morning? If it is going to be a bright, sunny, and warm day, does the cat stretch out comfortably where the sun puddles will appear later that morning?

If your household is like ours, you’re probably constantly making concessions for your cats. Just now, I stopped working on this blog post for several minutes while Olivia stood on my lap (in the way of my keyboard) insisting (in her sweet way) that I use both hands to pet, scratch, rub, and love on her. Of course I accepted the invitation. Cats can be ultra charming.

Do you sit someplace else when your cat takes your seat? Of course she takes your seat. It’s what cats do—they get in your way when you’re busy and they take over your space when you’re not looking.

How often during the day do you stop what you’re doing to play with your cats or sit and watch them play or to just admire them? I’ll sometimes just watch a cat sleep.

Do you stay in one position in bed, sometimes until it hurts so as not to disturb the cat? I sit at the computer with Olivia on my lap sometimes for longer than I should be sitting. Olivia seems to sense when I should be up and moving around instead of sitting still for any longer. She’ll come into my office and become very vocal. I don’t speak cat-ese, but she makes it clear what she wants—a wild and crazy play session. I usually can’t resist—I mean who can work with a constant MEOW MEOW in the background? And I’m always glad I was swayed by Olivia because we do have a lot of fun playing together and it’s good for my back and shoulders to get up and move around several times throughout my work day.

I marvel at my writer friends who can actually produce readable and salable work with small children in the house or even a needy husband constantly wanting to chat or go out to eat or… But those of us with cats—and that’s a whole lot of us—also have distractions. I might complain once in a while and call out, “Oh! Olivia, you drive me crazy,” but boy do I love that cat and yes, I express it in many ways.

We’ve started the socialization of Olivia—who was born in May of 2020 and has lived in isolation with us ever since. She knows other people only through the window, and she prefers them at a distance. A figure at the door is still quite terrifying for her.

Well, we’re ready to get out of the house. In fact, we’re starting to leave Olivia and her support cat, Sophie, for longer periods of time while we go out for groceries, meet someone for an outdoor lunch, etc. There are even some overnight trips in our future, and we want to prepare Olivia for our absence, so we’ve started a program of socialization. We’ve begun to coordinate visits from family members and neighbors in order to help Olivia begin to feel comfortable around people other than just us.

We started the process yesterday and it went smashingly well. A neighbor (our usual cat feeder) came over yesterday with treats and an interactive toy Olivia has never seen—something new! Nancy sat on the floor at Olivia’s level. Olivia came into the room cautiously and stayed because we didn’t put her under any stress through expectations. We just let her be in the room with us as Nancy and I chatted.

Occasionally Nancy would toss her a treat or speak to her. Olivia kept a suspicious eye on Nancy, but she’d move forward and eat the treat. Nancy continually wriggled the toy, which had Olivia’s eye. As Olivia became more relaxed, she moved closer—slowly closer, finally engaging in play with Nancy. We didn’t push Olivia. We let her establish her comfort level, and Nancy left on a high note—while Olivia was still interested in playing. Very well done, I’d say and a good model for our next visitor. Nancy will be back and continue to have good experiences with Olivia. In fact, Olivia jumped up onto her window perch to watch Nancy walk back around to her house.

A few days later, nine-year-old Emy came to play with Olivia and, as you can see, she was fairly cordial and curious.

So far so good in the socialization of Olivia.