I Love My Brother!

The Tiger Boys enjoyed a little love fest as the sun was rising.Caesar was busy washing his little tiger-boy brother’s fur. Per usual, you can see that he is washing against the way the fur grows, giving the Little Red Bee some “cowlicks.”Fireball, who still acts quite “kittenish,” always loves to be groomed by his big brother as well as to follow him around.And Caesar never met a kitty fur coat that didn’t need a good scrubbing. He often grabs on with one of his huge paws and holds the kitty whom he’s grooming. Sometimes he grabs a bit too hard, and that leads to scuffles.Fortunately, there weren’t any scuffles this time. Just some love giving and love accepting by the Tiger Boys.

 

(c) Copyright 2017, PeggyMalnati. All rights reserved. Photos my own.

Happy 5th Anniversary Trio!

Hard as it is to believe, today is the 5th anniversary of the arrival of Caesar, Macaroni, and Fireball. This year, the human wanted to honor foster humans everywhere. If it wasn’t for Foster Mom Kim and her family, the Trio would not have come to this home.Thank goodness Kim insisted the 2-legged adopt Fireball and then Macaroni when the human initially planned only to adopt the Big Guy.  It’s astounding to think of all the laughs, tears, and cuddles the human would have gone without. In fact, with a mellower group of furry friends, this blog never would have gotten started.

So here’s a shout out to those selfless rescue organizations and foster humans who help scared and abused animals learn to trust 2-leggeds again. You’re among the best examples of what our species can be.

 

 

(c) Copyright 2017, PeggyMalnati. All rights reserved. Photos my own.

 

Finding Your Own Entertainment…

The cats have been unhappy with their toy selection of late…well, all except the Merkitty and the round scratching disc featuring the ball that races around the outside.  No surprise, at least one of the kitties has decided to find his own entertainment. The human was sorting through mail and eating her breakfast recently. She’d crumpled up several small pieces of paper into a little ball and pushed it to the side as she worked on other things. The plan was to put it in the recycle bag as soon as she stood up from the table. Of course, the Table Thief immediately struck and cuffed the small paper ball onto the chair and then the floor. Off he ran scooting it around on the floor like a forward chasing a soccer ball down the field. Ooops, he scooped the ball up and it landed inside one of the human’s slippers. Well, that was inconvenient. Never one to give up on opportunities to play, Pepe first tried cuffing the ball out of the slipper. When that didn’t work and he just drove the ball deeper into the toe box, he adapted quickly and started cuffing the whole slipper around on the floor.
Admittedly, the slipper lacked the speed and maneuverability of the ball of paper. However, sometimes you just have to make do when the human doesn’t provide any better entertainment opportunities.




(c) Copyright 2017, PeggyMalnati. All rights reserved. Photos my own.

 

 

 

 

 

Clearance Toys = Bad Toys

The human was shopping when she came across the cutest little clearance holiday cat toy. It’s a little roll of fabric (soft on the outside, crackly on the inside) stuffed with soft fluff and likely catnip. It’s the perfect size and texture and weight to be carried around in little kitty mouths.  Better yet, it cost 70 cents!

Of course, as soon as the excited human got it home and presented it to her overlords, the real games began. Caesar did come over and sniff it, but did little else. When none of the other felines gave it so much as a cuff, the discouraged human picked it up and brought it upstairs figuring she’d put it in Caesar’s kitty bed.

The toy disappeared for a few days, then reappeared. So far no one seems to be claiming credit for that. Clearly, clearance toys = bad toys.  On the other hand, paying good money for toys doesn’t seem to improve their odds of being used either.  Maybe they just have too many toys.  Or maybe they just like to mess with the human’s head.



(c) Copyright 2017, PeggyMalnati. All rights reserved. Photos my own.

Bad Crunchies Again

Well, the human is back in the dog house. She found a bag of crunchies on sale that she’d really wanted to try. They are only partially dehydrated, so in consistency they fall somewhere between a soft treat and the usual hard crunchy.  They also are grain free and didn’t have any undesirable ingredients other than a bit of potato. She nabbed a bag (now 1/3 off) and took it home to her kitties. Sad to say, the new crunchies didn’t go over well, as you can see from above.

The human’s theory is that the reason the whole feeding station is upended is that the kitties were trying to find some of the “acceptable” crunchies that inevitably fall underneath the rack and bowls. (They are very messy eaters!) In trying to pull the absorbent pad with the good crunchies on it closer to their mouths, the tray and bowls that were sitting on the pad flipped over in the other direction. This has all the earmarks of the Merkitty, who has been fairly mellow these last few months…as long as the human was supplying acceptable crunchies. Mess up in that critical department and there is always hell to pay.  Such a Merkitty!

By the way, if anyone can figure out what constitutes an acceptable and a not-acceptable crunchy, please let the human know. She’s sick and tired of paying good money for ultra-premium pet food that the overlords won’t eat. Maybe they need a week of Friskies and 9-Lives to recall that they get pretty good chow in this house.

 

(c) Copyright 2017, PeggyMalnati. All rights reserved. Photos my own.

Shell Game

The clumsy human knocked a small bottle off on the floor this morning while moving a box in search of some more shampoo before showering. Of course, the bottle went down between the wall and a cabinet, necessitating that she get down on hands and knees, move some items out of the way, and search for the bottle.  And what did she find on the floor besides the dropped bottle?  Why a whole collection of shells that normally sit in an iridescent bowl on top of the counter by the sink.  What were those shells doing out of the bowl and on the floor?  The human’s theory is that the Table Thief (aka Pepe) has moved operations and has been cuffing them out of the bowl.  They certainly LOOK like they’d be ideal for chasing around on the floor. He must have been so frustrated when he lobbed them over the edge of the counter and lost them between two cupboards. Actually, it’s a wonder they didn’t shatter when hitting the ceramic tile. Cats!By the way, happy Valentine’s day to 2- and 4-leggeds all.

 

(c) Copyright 2017, PeggyMalnati. All rights reserved. Photos my own.