You Just Find the Strangest Things in this House!

This sight greeted the human this morning.  Now, granted, the 2-legged is used to seeing toy mice dropped next to litter boxes or even occasionally sitting in food bowls. However, this is the first time in recent memory that a toy mouse was found floating in a water bowl. Given that it spent the night there, the mouse is pretty much toast. What do you suppose they were thinking about when they made this move? 

 

 

(c) Copyright 2018, PeggyMalnati. All rights reserved. Photos my own.

New Motorized Toys

The human, ever in search of interesting toys to entertain and engage the felines, ran across 2 different motorized gadgets on clearance at her favorite pet-food store this weekend. The toys are supposed to keep cats mentally agile and give them some exercise. So far, so good! One is a motorized mouse (left) operated by a second “mouse” that works like a computer mouse and remotely moves the wheeled mouse back and forth and in circles. It also recharges the motorized mouse — a 3-minute recharge is supposed to give you 15 minutes of play time. The cats had a great time with it until it stopped recharging. The human must investigate the problem, which may well be that the NiCad battery in the motorized mouse has gone bad or the new battery in the remote control mouse has been drained. The other toy is egg-shaped (right) with a cap sporting felt pads that spin around (not shown). Much like a Weeble, the egg spins, rolls, and wobbles across the floor while the cap with felt pads also spins, stops, reverses, and so forth. At first the human had a hard time getting the cap with pads to stay on the egg, but once she did, the cats have been having a grand time with it.

 

 

(c) Copyright 2018, PeggyMalnati. All rights reserved. Photos my own.

Surprise!

The human was minding her own business having lunch and taking notes. All of a sudden, her foot nudged the chair next to her’s and out popped the Pepster, who had been sleeping on the chair hidden by the fall of the tablecloth.  The nudge scared the Pepster and his popping out from under the tablecloth scared the human. That made them even.

 

 

(c) Copyright 2018, PeggyMalnati. All rights reserved. Photos my own.

Sleepy Bears

The human walked through the living room only to see Mac and Caesar, rump to head, sitting on one of the couches.  They looked so cute cuddled up together.  Of course, in stopping to snap pictures, the human woke up Mac. That prompted Caesar to turn around so he was head-to-head with Mac. It’s so nice to see such good kitty friends spending time together. And, for a change, the little minx wasn’t piled on top of the poor Emperor kitty.

 

(c) Copyright 2018, PeggyMalnati. All rights reserved. Photos my own.

Sassy-Faced Sissy Bird

The human got scolded roundly today.  All 5 of the meows took turns mobbing her in her office demanding food. Mind you, the human was on the phone and there was food upstairs — just not to their liking — plus the human had given most of them snacks 15 minutes earlier (although clearly not enough). When the 2-legged took a break and walked out into the living room, Macaroni started sassing loudly and frequently. Unfortunately, it wasn’t bright enough for the camera’s lens to capture the Smirking One in full oral complaint.  By the time the image was shot, that little upturned face with wide-open mouth was facing down again. Nonetheless, this will give you an inkling of the 10 minutes of sass the human heard and saw from that kitty.

 

 

 

(c) Copyright 2018, PeggyMalnati. All rights reserved. Photos my own.

Mr. Sparkles

Corky and Pepe are each sporting new kitty collars.  The human keeps both boys in collars with bells so Fireball has a bit of warning that they’re after him.  The Trio, who still are somewhat afraid of tiny bells, opt out. The new break-away collars are extra sparkly and even sport a “diamond” at the clasp. Unfortunately, Corky’s jewel fell out the first week he wore it, so he’s a bit less sparkly than his big brother.

 

(c) Copyright 2018, PeggyMalnati. All rights reserved. Photos my own.

Tuxedos Meet New Kitty Carrier

The human found a nice soft-sided kitty carrier the other day.  She brought it home and decided to open up both ends so the kitties could explore.  As luck would have it, the two tuxedos were in the kitchen at the time and they decided to check it out. First Pepe stuck his head into each end and had a sniff.  He actually followed some pen caps he and Mac had been chasing to the edge of the carrier and cuffed them around.  Next Mac went in the proper “door” and walked through the carrier and out the “window.”  For some reason, that got Pepe all jazzed up.  He returned to the carrier and looked out the window. Meanwhile, Mac was checking out the side pocket and a second larger “window.” He wisely understood that squeezing out the “window” would be a tight fit. (So much for this being a “big” carrier.) He backed out and hunkered down beside the carrier and peered at Mac, who was gazing off without interest.  Next, he prepared to pounce on her, but she was having none of this and got up and moved. This jockeying for attention went on for about 10 minutes.  Then all the cats disappeared and the human was left to pick everything up. Such is the entertainment found in this house most mornings.

 

 

 

(c) Copyright 2018, PeggyMalnati. All rights reserved. Photos my own.

Scrubber in Chief

This is Caesar, the scrubber in chief of our household.  He never met a fur coat that he felt was sufficiently clean (or dry)….such as Macaroni’s here.Any and all of the other meows must be prepared at any time to submit to a washing administered by The Emperor.  If  they don’t submit willingly, he grabs them with those big Caesar paws and holds them down while he scrubs and scrubs. It’s kind of like meeting the Borg. Resistance is futile. You will be assimilated (or at least thoroughly washed)!

 

 

(c) Copyright 2018, PeggyMalnati. All rights reserved. Photos my own.

When Frustrations Get too High, Eat some Spider Plant

The cats weren’t happy with the human. They’d been letting the 2-legged know for several hours that they wanted their “dinner.” Mind you, breakfast was still upstairs sitting in bowls uneaten.  <<That doesn’t mean a thing. If the human had given us something we liked to eat, we’d have eaten it. Since she didn’t, we were within our rights to ask for something better.>> The human was trying tough love to stretch the schedule out a bit before she had to give in and give them more food. If she feeds them too early, they wake her several times during the night for more food. Corky just can’t stand walking past an empty food bowl.  As frustrations mounted, the two chief harassers — Corky and Mac — decided at the same time to pull some spider babies off the plant stand and eat them. Fortunately, spider plants aren’t poisonous and in fact are mildly hallucinogenic to cats.  The human thought it was a great idea for them to mellow out, so took out the camera and caught the assault on “film.”  <<What fun is it if the human doesn’t get upset?>>

 

(c) Copyright 2018, PeggyMalnati. All rights reserved. Photos my own.

Fireball Cuddles with his Blankets

Here’s Fireball zonked out in the space between his kitty bed and the blankets he’s peeled back.  First, he digs, then he slides under, next he mixes and sings, and last he sleeps. The blankets don’t do him a lot of good most days — at least in terms of staying warm. The human suspects he has another agenda and the blanket pile is a stand-in for his mother’s soft belly. Or perhaps this is the kitty version of a supported Bharadvaja twist.

 

(c) Copyright 2018, PeggyMalnati. All rights reserved. Photos my own.

Tubes

A friend with a business that uses big rolls of fabric asked if the human thought the kitties might like a big cardboard tube to play inside. While Pepe and Corky like paper bags (but never plastic ones) and Mac will occasionally entertain herself in a cardboard box, none of the felines had shown any love for a cute crackly fabric tube the human had bought many years back. Still, why not give it a try, since the cardboard tube could always be recycled. Pepe stuck his head inside both ends but wouldn’t venture further.  Mac also stuck her head in but that was the end of it.

The rest of the cats couldn’t be induced to explore the tube even that much — despite the presence of freeze-dried meat snacks the human tossed in for fun.

Fortunately, while the kitties had no use for the big tube, the human found it was just perfect to hold a bunch of wrapping paper and smaller mailing tubes. Cats…

 

(c) Copyright 2018, PeggyMalnati. All rights reserved. Photos my own.

Soaking up the Sun

The human noticed Mac and Caesar catching a bit of afternoon sun in the living room. They were laying so close that Caesar’s face was practically on Mac’s hip.  (Of course, Mac was engaging in some serious paw dangling.) As she drew closer with the camera, the human realized that Fireball was there as well. So nice to see the sun again after all these cold, dark months!

 

(c) Copyright 2018, PeggyMalnati. All rights reserved. Photos my own.

Sheet Tester

The human tried to make the bed. The cat had to test out the sheets. <<Yes, they have about the right level of tension. No wrinkles here.>> Next, the blankets were up for inspection. <<All the layers are pulled up to the top of the bed, although they are folded very poorly.>> The human received so-so marks at bedmaking.  The cat will counsel her again tomorrow. <<Only through practice and coaching can you hope to improve!>>

 

(c) Copyright 2018, PeggyMalnati. All rights reserved. Photos my own.

Torture Device

What is the most fearsome cat-torture device on the planet?  Just look at the image above!Yes, it was that time of the month when the human had to trim toenails. Mac turned out to be easy this time, but Caesar made the human really work to accomplish her goal. Mind you, both cats have been getting snagged in all kinds of things owing to overly long nails. Nonetheless, the human is in the doghouse today for such heinous behavior.

 

(c) Copyright 2018, PeggyMalnati. All rights reserved. Photos my own.