Maxie's Idiosyncracies...

I've been telling people about how weird/adorable my cat can be, so I guess this is the time to provide some evidence as well as some elaboration.

Like most cats, Maxie is attracted by the sound of cans opening. She has also refined this skill to identifying when the cans are actually cat food! Now if you've been following my blog, you'd know that she's a bit of a tsundere cat, which means she doesn't show affection, or shows it via extreme disdain. However, can opening times are one of the rare moments when she shows her affection to me via shin rubs and purrs.

Is that cat food?

Hurry hurry, open the can!

It does seem to me, sometimes, that the highlight of meal times for her is all in the opening of the can. Why do I say this? Read on!

Regular serving, half a can of tuna.

Om nom nom nom! This is so yum!

After eating....

Look at the amount of leftovers! Omg -_-"

She ALWAYS does this! Finish off just a bit of it and leave the rest untouched...It doesn't matter if I trimmed the serving size down, she'll nibble a bit and leave most of it for "later" anyway. Never mind the fact that she's the one who badgered me into opening a can in the first place.

Ah...so nice to be full...

What do you mean there's leftover catfood? I'm full!

I've learnt, through experience, to just ignore her and leave the food where it was. Eventually, the bowl will empty itself when Her Highness says it's time, never before.

Hours later...

Another of Maxie's weird habits which also involves her being affectionate to me is when it's time to wake up. In the mornings, I'm not allowed to sleep in. If I sleep past 9am, or if I snooze my alarm clock too often, she will climb onto the bed and start meowing. If this fails, she starts walking all over me, at the same time yelling loudly for me to wake up. This usually does the trick, cos I'm tempted to pet and snuggle her and once I'm up from the bed, she's done. Tsundere mode back on.

Last week, however, kitty found a new trick. I had wanted to take a nap in the afternoon so I could stay up to watch the Germany-France match in the World Cup. I set my alarm to give me 2 hours of sleep. 30 minutes into the nap...kitty did the full wake up routine. I ignored her and tried to stay asleep. That's when she decided my alarm needed to start ringing. And if it didn't, she will improvise by sitting on the bedside desk where my alarm is and....role-play as my alarm clock:

Wake up wake up wake up wake up wake up wake up!

I couldn't resist actually waking up to snap this pic (pity I couldn't catch her mid-meow). Since I'm up anyway, I asked her what she wanted.

What do you want, kitty?

Just wanted to let you know I'm going to sleep, so don't disturb me, human.

Oooookay. That was, annoying.

And the last tale of her idiosyncracies...People have told me that animals can be jealous too. I firmly believe this, of course. What caught me off-guard is that Maxie is never jealous when I come home smelling of cats. If I were to play with any stray cats along the way and came home, she'd give me a quick sniff and behave normally.

Now, if I were to play with a dog, however...I get a kitty stalker who insisted on sticking her nose to me wherever there's a doggy smell. Since I volunteer at a dog shelter, you can imagine the dance routine we go through everytime I come home from the shelter. Take a step, kitty nose stick. Take another, kitty nose stick.

Dog!

Where've you been seeing dogs behind my back?

Don't you walk away when I'm talking to you!

I can SMELL her perfume!

Right here, a dog peed on you right here!

This continues the whole time I'm home from the shelter. Entry, open door, free kitty...nose stick-step, nose stick-step, while I put the dirty clothes in the laundry, place my mobile and keys where they belong, sweep litter sand, into bedroom to grab a shower. Right after shower though, I'd get one final sniff before she's satisfied there's nothing canine about me, and kitty will go find a place to nap.

Ah, my cat...the salt of my life.