The human took a break from working in her office one afternoon and found not one, but two toys had been left outside the door for her entertainment. Such thoughtful cats!
(c) Copyright 2021, PeggyMalnati. All rights reserved. Images my own.
<<<That human needs to be closely watched every minute.>>>
<<<Did you see how crooked that cut was?>>>
<<<And just look at the way she tied off the fringe in that spot. Honestly, what would she do if I wasn’t here to give her lots of advice?>>>
(c) Copyright 2021, PeggyMalnati. All rights reserved. Images my own.
Hard as it is to believe that 9 years have gone by so quickly, today’s the anniversary of the arrival of Caesar, Macaroni, and Fireball.
The Tiger Boys are still a bit spooky, and the girly girl still loves to be in the middle of all the action, but they’ve remained a tightly bonded trio. The human is so glad that she adopted all three and kept them together. They are too.
(c) Copyright 2021, PeggyMalnati. All rights reserved. Images my own.
<<<Complaints from the peanut gallery will not even be considered today.>>>
(c) Copyright 2021, PeggyMalnati. All rights reserved. Images my own.
Caesar, being the polite and thoughtful cat he is, likes to bring his human little toy mice as gifts several times per day. In the early morning hours, he hopes his gift will encourage the lazy human to exit the kitty nest and get going with her day (and the feeding of the meows). During the afternoon, when the human is often on conference calls, he likes to bring toys to the edge of her office in the hopes of getting her to wind up her day and feed the meows their dinner. The fact that his gifts are usually preceded by loud moaning sounds just adds to the interesting things that humans on the other end of the call get to hear.
(c) Copyright 2021, PeggyMalnati. All rights reserved. Images my own.
<<<Just my sister and I having a nice little snooze. Although, I was first in this bed, so why has she pushed me out onto the lip and taken all the soft blankets in the middle?>>>
(c) Copyright 2021, PeggyMalnati. All rights reserved. Images my own.
<<<Hello, my pretty. Where did you come from?>>>
<<<Ah, a California box. You’ve traveled far.>>>
<<<What secrets do you hold?>>>
<<<Now, don’t move. Let me have another sniff.>>>
<<<Yes, a particularly nice size for a box too.>>>
<<<And I’m the first of my kind to conquer it. Hooorahhhh!>>>
(c) Copyright 2021, PeggyMalnati. All rights reserved. Images my own.
<<<Don’t say it. In fact, don’t even think it!>>>
(c) Copyright 2021, PeggyMalnati. All rights reserved. Images my own.
Caesar was stumped. Macaroni was flipping back and forth on top of the sheet of crackly paper with limbs akimbo. Her coat was coated with catnip. She was insensible to reason.
<<<Such a lack of dignity…and with the human watching….>>>
(c) Copyright 2021, PeggyMalnati. All rights reserved. Images my own.
The human walked into the bedroom only to find Caesar and Pepe cuddled up on the bed, enjoying the far-infrared heat, flannel, and fleece.
Pepe had been doing some blanket sculpting and had worked his way between several layers of blankets and sheets, essentially getting much closer to the heat source. He looked very comfy.
Caesar, who was on top of the blanket pile and not in one of the fleece-lined kitty beds. Still, he looked both regal and content.
Pepe looked away and went back to his musings. As cold as it is outside, it’s nice to find the kitties enjoying the warmth and soft blankets.
(c) Copyright 2021, PeggyMalnati. All rights reserved. Images my own.
Caesar Tiger Bear is very big and dignified kitty. (He’s not overweight, he’s just huge.) He’s the household peacemaker, when other cats have a dust up, but he’s equally judicious at administering paw bops when he thinks either four-legged or two-legged people aren’t behaving properly. In short, he’s the epitome of decorum and he rules the household with a velvet paw (but one equipped with sharp claws). The Big Guy must be feeling really good of late because he’s regularly been stepping out of character and acting positively silly. It’s like he’s enjoying his second kittenhood.
For instance, the human often gets out the laser pointer and runs the red dot around on the floor and up the walls in colder, darker weather when the dot shows up better. Caesar has sometimes stopped to sniff the dot, but in 8 years he’s never given it any more than a passing glance. However, a few months back, he actually chased it around on the floor and up the wall…several times. As big and powerful as he is, he’s kind of a scary dude when he gets moving fast like that.
And while Corky and Pepe love sliding around on crackly sheets of paper (repurposed packaging materials that get more play time than actual purchased cat toys), Caesar has never shown much interest.
Mac and Corky are real catnip enthusiasts and Fireball and Pepe can be talked into imbibing from time to time. While Caesar will happily eat a leaf of fresh catnip, and has been known to take a trip if the human sprinkles dried nippy on a rug, not so long ago he rolled around on a catnip-dusted sheet of crackly paper. He made a ton of noise and put a big rip down the length of the paper while flipping back and forth chasing an imaginary object. Even the other cats are careful not to get too close when the Big Guy is all wound up.
(c) Copyright 2021, PeggyMalnati. All rights reserved. Images my own.
The human walked in to say goodnight to Pepe, who was reclining on one of the fake fur blankets. The 2-legged noticed a shadow in the tent-like kitty bed and flipped on the light to see if another cat was inside.
Sure enough, the human saw what she thought was Mac’s face peeking out.
As the human approached, snapping pics, the Smirky One just sat there looking sardonic.
<<<Much ado about nothing, that human!>>>
(c) Copyright 2021, PeggyMalnati. All rights reserved. Images my own.
Corky and Macaroni have a new “thing.” They cannot possibly eat out of a bowl of crunchies once a small section of the bottom of the bowl starts to show. No, it doesn’t matter how many crunchies are scattered all around the sides (as can be seen above). That bowl is now absolutely off limits, which means the human is in trouble and both cats are going to act out.
Interestingly, if the human just shakes the bowl and redistributes the contents so the bottom no longer shows, then the bowl is quite fine and the bad behavior stops — at least for a short time, until a small part of the bottom of the bowl shows again. Clearly, the human does not understand the need for such panic, so Corky and Mac amp up the mischief until the human can be persuaded to refill the bowl again.
(c) Copyright 2021, PeggyMalnati. All rights reserved. Images my own.
Caesar was extending legs and tail out of one of the kitty beds while covered up with a bevy of blankets. The human crept forward, snapping photos as she went.
The Big Guy, realizing the perilous position of his paws, quickly pulled his body parts in and under the blankets so the human couldn’t pet them. She snapped a few more pictures and then walked away.
<<<Whew! It worked this time. Can’t a guy get any sleep around this place?>>>
(c) Copyright 2021, PeggyMalnati. All rights reserved. Images my own.
<<<The human’s idea of quality control is definitely not up to par.>>>
(c) Copyright 2021, PeggyMalnati. All rights reserved. Images my own.
When new boxes arrive at the house, the human usually empties them out and puts them down for the kitties to explore.
Quite often, the cat who hops in and claims the box is quite predictable: Pepe or Corky (who is walking past on the right (above) and hoping that the box will empty out so he can get into it).
However, sometimes the cat you’d least expect is the one who hops in. That was the case when Macaroni claimed this big box.
(c) Copyright 2021, PeggyMalnati. All rights reserved. Images my own.
Fireball is a mellow little dude…until he’s not.
The other night, the human walked in to find the Little Red Bee all curled up on the bed, enjoying a snooze on the flannel and fleece. The two-legged picked up a couple of toy mice from another kitty bed and gave them to the ginger tabby, but he soon got up and headed for the now-refilled crunchy bowl.
After chores, the human was reclining in bed reading. The baby comet hopped up for some pets and some attention a couple of times, but soon left.
Not long after, big brother Caesar came in and all of a sudden the copper kitty got all jazzed up. He tore up the side of the kitty condo, hopped over onto the bed, then did a series of short runs, followed by abrupt stops, and sudden pivots in another direction, followed by short runs all across the bed.
All the time, his tail was flipping one way and then the other.
He picked up one after another of the toy mice the human had brought him and started tossing them in the air and cuffing them around on the bed. It was so funny to watch that the human grabbed the camera and started shooting pics.
Not long after, the Big Guy got wound up himself and went racing under the bed. His feet make the funniest sound when he’s silly — almost like he’s running on tip toes.
As Caesar came racing out from under the bed, Fireball, alerted to his brother’s imminent departure from the bedroom, barreled down off the tall bed and went running after his big brother, whom he shadows all over the house. The human marveled at how charged up the kitties were.
Next morning, when she opened drapes and shades from the night before, she saw a new batch of snow on the ground and understood that they’d all had snow sillies the night before.
(c) Copyright 2021, PeggyMalnati. All rights reserved. Images my own.
Only the cruelest of humans would bother a kitty in such a vulnerable position while sound asleep…
<<<Oh, but his paws are so velvety and his tummy is so soft.>>>
(c) Copyright 2021, PeggyMalnati. All rights reserved. Images my own.
Corky was flummoxed. The human had once again failed to do his bidding. The bottom of the crunchy bowl was showing. That meant that no matter how many crunchies remained in the bowl, it was no longer possible to eat anything out of that bowl. And Corky was hungry…hangry even. The fact that the human shook the bowl and redistributed the contents, hiding the bottom, did not solve the problem that the bowl’s contents were getting dangerously low.
(c) Copyright 2021, PeggyMalnati. All rights reserved. Images my own.
Another blanket that benefited from Pepe’s beneficence was a lovely lavender and purple one for Jule’.
<<<I’d like to meet the person who invented pin cushions. They are way more entertaining than the toys our human buys us. Why can’t she be creative like that?>>>
Fortunately, the human’s friends are tolerant of receiving gifts with bits of cat fur on them.
<<<We need to talk about the quality of your work. You consider that a straight cut? That’s the best you can do with a template? What would this blanket look like if I weren’t keeping watch?>>>
(c) Copyright 2021, PeggyMalnati. All rights reserved. Images my own.
Living with Carnivores 