Pets
January 17, 2009
Hours and Hours of Kitty Viewing Pleasure
As I mentioned a month or so ago, I live up high, high enough that the upper branches of old ponderosa pines are what I see when I look out my window. I like this a lot, but it presents certain problems for the creature I share my apartment with: my cat.
Dinah loved the house I sold last summer, because it afforded seasonal fun: during months when the weather was nice, she could hang out on its awesome screened-in porch--she could sit at the door and watch bunnies hop across the lawn and birds hunt for bugs; and when she got tired of that, she could always retire to the couch and just look really cute. When it was cold, there was a stairway perfect for games of cat-and-toy-mouse (I'd throw them and she'd swat them away like baseballs if she felt like making me do most of the work; other times, she'd attack them fiercely).
But this apartment has no porch for her to go out on, and the windows aren't even very kitty-friendly, because the screens are on the inside, which is annoying in a bunch of ways: it means that I have to open the screen, then open the window, then close the screen--two extra steps--every time I want to open a window. Second, it means that the sill a cat would normally hang out on is behind the screen. Dinah was often very bored and I didn't know what to do about it--until recently.
Given that there are all these tall trees around me, I figured there should be birds on the branches. I wished I had a bird feeder to attract them, but I wouldn't know how to hang it from a tree 100 feet in the air. So eventually, I decided just to scatter bird seed on the very wide ledges on the outside of my windows. I went to a pet supply store and bought mixed bird seed guaranteed to attract a variety of song birds.
Except it didn't. Oh, a few birds would show up, but not reliably. And, as I noticed one day when I inspected my window ledges, they seemed to eat the sunflower seeds and leave everything else.
So I went and bought a big bag of sunflower seeds, spread them on the ledges, and waited.
Well! Suddenly there were birds, and birds, and birds--mostly different kinds of sparrows, which weren't all that thrilling for me, but I didn't do this so I could engage in birdwatching; I did this so my cat would be entertained. And my oh my, has it worked.
She'll sit for hours on the other side of whatever window the birds are at, her tail twitching in whatever cats feel while they're imagining killing a bird they can't get to. Her ears go back, and she crouches low enough that she can see the birds but they can't see her. If it's warm enough I open a window, and her nostrils flare as she evaluates some birdy scent I can't detect.
In this photo, you can see the birds on the ledge. Notice how she's trying to hide.
Here she is on the table where I set my laptop to work. This window ledge is my favorite one to spread bird seed on, because then I watch the birds and Dinah myself. But if I really want to get something done, I use a different ledge.
Here she is being all Cheshire-catish--notice the curled tail.
Here she is being Cheshire-catish and cute and looking at me instead of the birds because I was clicking a camera and distracting her.
When I see her sitting like this, utterly rapt and entertained, for the better part of an hour, I feel I am fulfilling an obligation as a pet owner as important as giving her adequate food and water. It makes me happy--as does the fact that she's not crouched at my chair, meowing plaintively because she's bored.
Posted by holly at 12:48 PM | Comments (3)
July 14, 2008
Ape Language
A few weeks ago, I took Dinah to the vet. While we waited in the aptly named waiting room, I looked at a book on photos of cats, and couldn't help cooing out loud in pleasure over photos like this one or this one of Koko the Gorilla and her various kittens. I came home and googled Koko, and learned that she asked repeatedly for a kitten and, when she got it, named it "All Ball" because it curled up.
I went looking for info on ape language after that, and found this fascinating video, which I hope you will enjoy.
Posted by holly at 10:54 AM | Comments (0)
February 13, 2008
He's the One Everyone Wants
A friend just sent me a link to this video. I watched it grinning like an idiot, and when it ended, I cheered and clapped. Human beings and dogs are both amazing creatures.
The dog's name is Rookie, by the way, and Rookie's companion is named Carolyn Scott.
Posted by holly at 1:18 PM | Comments (0)
July 27, 2007
For Whom the Cat Bell Tolls
I completely ripped off that title from this story about a cat who can tell when a hospice patient is about to die, and curls up with them for the last several hours of their lives. It's quite remarkable.
Posted by holly at 10:19 AM | Comments (2)
July 7, 2007
Bad Pet Humor
What might erupt in your face if you jiggle or upset it?
Dinah might!
(OK, I know that's a terrible pun, but really, I couldn't resist.)
Posted by holly at 9:56 AM | Comments (6)
January 24, 2007
What to Do with a Bored Cat
The other day a visitor said to me, as my cat sauntered by, "At least cats don't get bored, do they."
This person has a dog, not a cat. Obviously. Because anyone with a cat knows they do indeed get really bored--and a bored cat is a nasty, nasty creature to be around.
My cat is pretty damn bored right now. She's not an outdoor cat, though I'm lucky enough to have a screened porch she likes to hang out on--in the summer. I can't coax her outside at all right now, and she seems to blame me for the fact that it's snowing outside.
To keep her from going out of her mind with boredom and driving me out of my mind in the process, I play this game with her, where I throw cat toys up or down the stairs, and she chases them. Here she is waiting for me to throw a cat toy for her to chase.
But sometimes she gets tired of running up and down the stairs, and decides she just wants to let me throw them to her so she can bat them away, in which case she adopts this pose:
And sometimes I'll throw them too far, so she'll have to reach behind her, like this:
And sometimes, she'll catch the toy and attack it fiercely, in which case she looks like this!
Posted by holly at 7:52 PM | Comments (6)
September 3, 2006
Dinah
I finally get around to teaching myself to use the camera I got for Christmas, and what's the first image I post on my blog? That's right:
a picture of my cat.
Posted by holly at 9:17 AM | Comments (7)