Mac Steals Pepe’s Box (Again!)

Maybe it’s a tuxedo cat thing?

Nah, it’s a pure brat cat move by the Merkitty.

Fortunately, Pepe eventually recovered his property.

(c) Copyright 2023, PeggyMalnati. All rights reserved. Images my own.

Kitten Avoidance Strategy (KAS)

The Tiger Babies have yet to be brave enough to climb up onto the big bed despite having explored (and wrecked havoc) on nearly every other area of the house. Still, while the Terrible Twins don’t venture here, The Foursome is taking advantage and getting some shuteye.

(c) Copyright 2022, PeggyMalnati. All rights reserved. Images my own.

Tiger Babies Settle in

The tiger babies are settling in and even have names now. The male is Shah Jahan and the female is Mumtaz Mahal. Although you see only one face, this image shows both kitties in one of the kitty beds. That’s Jahan looking very grumpy. He looks remarkably like Caesar, who also made faces at the human to show his displeasure.

Fortunately, while Mac and Pepe still occasionally hiss when the babies run up to them and try to make friends, no blood has been shed, no limbs have been shorn off, and a great amount of silliness has ensued. In the nearly 30 years the human has lived here, there have been no kittens, at least none this young and energetic. Winter promises to be a lot of fun this year.

Copyright 2022, PeggyMalnati. All rights reserved. Images my own.

The Evilness of Humans – Part 2

A feral female started bringing her 3 kittens by this spring. She’d eat, nurse them, rest, and then the whole crew would depart. After a few weeks, she started leaving the kittens to play on the deck all day. They scrambled up the human’s plant stands knocking pots off all over the place, then shimmied up the trunk of the ficus tree and cuffed each other. They pulled clotheslines down and dragged them into the yard (including into poison ivy, which the human is very sensitive to), and they gladly chased toys in which the indoor kitties had never shown interest. By early summer, the mother abandoned her kittens, who have spent the time growing fat and silly on the deck outside.

The human waged a slow and patient campaign to tame the kittens so she could capture them and find them a new home. Unfortunately, she got rather attached to the two that remain, and they had gotten fairly comfortable with her, nuzzling her hand, letting her pet them, and even venturing inside the kitchen. Three of the 4 inside kitties had come nose-to-nose with the interlopers. After several unsuccessful attempts, the human finally captured them 3 days before they were due to go to the vets for their checkup, initial shots, and bloodwork to check that they were kitty AIDs and leukemia free. They were. They have since been mixing with the foursome, who cannot understand what the crazy human was thinking about bringing babies into this household.

(c) Copyright 2022, PeggyMalnati. All rights reserved. Images my own.

Oh Human, What have You Done?

(c) Copyright 2022, PeggyMalnati. All rights reserved. Images my own.

Return of the Bag Babies

The kitties had eaten their own breakfast and the human was eating hers. She noticed a takeout bag within reach and tossed it on the floor. Sure enough, Corky and Pepe came over to investigate. Pepe made it to the bag first and stuck his nose inside. <<<Potentially roomy enough to investigate.>>>

Initially Corky was also headed straight toward the bag, but got side tracked by Pepe’s bowl of breakfast. Of course, as soon as Corky paid attention to his food bowl, Pepe suddenly lost interest in the bag and prepared to move over and claim his property. <<<What’s mine is mine and what’s yours is mine. You have a problem with that?>>>

(c) Copyright 2022, PeggyMalnati. All rights reserved. Images my own.

When Box Inspection becomes a Family Affair

Sometimes, box inspection isn’t a solitary activity — even when it starts out that way.

Often, other cats wander over and decide to insert themselves into the middle of the action. Pepe rarely approves. <<<Amateurs!>>>

Of course, not every cat is as well trained and as professional about the inspection process. Some just take up space and don’t seem to know what to do. <<<Dilettantes!>>> Others have short attention spans and wander away. <<<Good riddance!>>>

Box inspection is always best left to the professionals.

(c) Copyright 2022, PeggyMalnati. All rights reserved. Images my own.

Red Dot Fun

Fireball was visiting the human downstairs so, after a snack, she led him out to the pile of papers and the laser pointer. (Note the green mouse the kitties had dragged out and played with the night before.)

After pointing the red dot on the floor near the Copper Kitty’s feet, he saw it and started attacking the floor, pouncing and spinning around and generally having a good time.

Soon, the human heard a pair of kitty feet coming down the stairs and Corky appeared.

Once she ran the laser dot over by his feet, he too started chasing the moving object.

Pretty soon, both cats were dashing this way and that.

Fortunately, they were paying attention to each other, so there were no collisions.

(c) Copyright 2022, PeggyMalnati. All rights reserved. Images my own.

‘Stache

The human walked by the bed, glancing in to see if anyone was in the big pink puff. Mac and Fireball were there.

From the angle the human first glanced at the cats, it looked like the ginger tabby had grown a black mustache.

Alas, it was just Mac’s whip-thin and long tail wrapped up, around, and front of the Little Red Bee’s face.

<<<The real questions is, what is the human going to do about it and do I need to prepare to make a hasty retreat?>>>

(c) Copyright 2022, PeggyMalnati. All rights reserved. Images my own.

What Do You Think these Two are Up to?

<<<Can’t be anything good…>>>

(c) Copyright 2022, PeggyMalnati. All rights reserved. Images my own.

Brat Cat Takes all the Nippy for Herself

Mac has been outdoing herself lately. Apparently, she’s not into the generosity of the holiday season and is taking everything she can for herself.

Case in point: the human sprinkled catnip and silvervine on top of a sheet of crackly paper with which the cats had been playing. Mac immediately threw herself down on the sheet and started rolling all over the dried herbs.

Corky and Pepe wanted a sniff for themselves, but with Mac thrashing about with all of her sharp claws out, first Corky departed and then Pepe left. Brat Cat had it all to herself once again. And, no, she showed absolutely no remorse.

(c) Copyright 2021, PeggyMalnati. All rights reserved. Images my own.

Fireball can Only Get this Close to the Giant Puff

You can tell how well the sharing is going. The human woke the other morning to find Mac sleeping all by herself in the giant pink puff and Fireball sleeping in what now seems like a much more diminutive cat bed with his head resting on the side of the puff. Apparently, that’s as close as he’s going to be allowed to it for now. Brat Cat is back!

(c) Copyright 2021, PeggyMalnati. All rights reserved. Images my own.

The Human Spies a Reclining Corky

Even after 6 years of living here, Corky still acts like he’s not supposed to be sitting or laying anywhere when the human pokes her head around the corner. That makes it quite hard to get photos of the little guy, who is cute as can be when he’s not having a meltdown over one or another food issue.

At least this once, the human had the camera in hand and got a couple of shots in before Corky abandoned his comfy bed.

(c) Copyright 2021, PeggyMalnati. All rights reserved. Images my own.

Twinkies

Fireball and Mac were enjoying watching the goings on in the yard. The mean squirrels were chattering at them from the trees. Good things there was glass separating squirrels from cats.

(c) Copyright 2021, PeggyMalnati. All rights reserved. Images my own.

When You Really, Really, Really Don’t Want to Get Out of Bed

Sometimes it’s not easy getting started with your day. The human was stuck because she couldn’t finish making the bed. The Big Guy was determined that he was not going to move.

Making the bed around the big kitty did not seem to change his mind. He just sat there looking cute…and aggrieved.

The human could hardly blame him, as the 2-legged had a hard time getting out of bed herself. The awful heat and humidity had broken briefly and everyone was enjoying a couple of days of blessed cool with low humidity.

(c) Copyright 2021, PeggyMalnati. All rights reserved. Images my own.

Fireball Quite Likes the Pink Puff

Although his big brother and his little sister have tried to prevent Fireball from getting into the pink puff, when it’s empty, and no other cats are around, the Little Red Bee is a big fan of the soft kitty bed.

That is, until the human gets close with her camera.

Mac is clearly losing control of her territory.

(c) Copyright 2021, PeggyMalnati. All rights reserved. Images my own.

Mac Loses Control Over the Pink Puff

It started innocently enough. Mac was off doing Mac things and the pink puff was empty. Caesar jumped up on the bed and hopped in. <<<Oooh, this is so soft and it wraps around me so nicely.>>>

Then Fireball hopped up because, well, he’s never far from his big brother Caesar. He spied Caesar in the pink puff, so moved to join him, although where he was going to manage to fit was still to be seen.

Caesar was really comfortable and the pink puff isn’t that big, so Fireball had to content himself by balancing on the edge of the pink puff while leaning on Caesar’s body. It wasn’t that stable and it wasn’t that comfortable.

Caesar’s strategy of giving no quarter worked and Fireball grew bored and left. That meant the Big Guy had the pink puff all to himself. Soon his body parts were overflowing the puff. <<<Such luxury!>>>

A little later, his nap over, the Emperor Kitty sat up in regal grace and surveyed his realm.

(c) Copyright 2021, PeggyMalnati. All rights reserved. Images my own.

Strategic Utilization of Sunlight

The human walked upstairs in the middle of the afternoon and spied one of the cats strategically positioned to enjoy a spot of sunlight. At first the human wasn’t even sure which cat it was.

As the two-legged drew closer, she thought she saw a pair of little white feet, indicating it was Corky.

Sure enough, it was the little Banu Bear, who appeared to be in a good mood and not intending on moving anywhere anytime soon. <<<Can’t a guy relax and enjoy a little peace in this house?>>>

(c) Copyright 2021, PeggyMalnati. All rights reserved. Images my own.

Mac Among the Plants

The human happened to walk into the living room and spied a little face sticking up among the plants. She was catching some sunrays and enjoying being partially hidden by the couch.

Unfortunately for the Merkitty, the human spied her and started snapping photos.

Which just caused the Smirky one to ignore the 2-legged and pretend that she and her camera weren’t approaching.

(c) Copyright 2021, PeggyMalnati. All rights reserved. Images my own.

Big Boys Enjoy a Snooze

The Big Boys, Pepe (front) and Caesar (back) were enjoying a little snooze in the afternoon sunshine. However, as the camera-wielding human walked closer, both were on guard lest the two-legged try to pet paws and foreheads. Fortunately for them, the human was well behaved this time.

(c) Copyright 2021, PeggyMalnati. All rights reserved. Images my own.