Kitty Bribery

Whoopsies, missed a day as I had an extended weekend :X

Anyway, since this is my "Monday" *snickers*, I'm not "really" late now, am I? ^^

I've had a bit of an emotional upheaval in my life, and to cut the long story short, I seem to have acquired a new lady friend with whom I could share the nitty gritty of my daily grind with! Blessed be!

So, when Fiona got the chance to have a layover, she had to brave the gauntlet that was Maxie.

Surprisingly, kitty didn't run scampering into her safety cave when we greeted her. In fact, she was downright nonchalant about the whole thing. I suspect that Maxie was getting bored with the constant parade of new people entering and leaving my house, hehehehe.

Can you spot Maxie trying to burrow into the bag?

I officially introduced Fiona to Maxie...using the correct and government-approved method of bribery!

Let's play a game together!

Caught between wanting to play and wanting to run away, Maxie did a weird combination of "bat the toy playfully and back off before running forward to beat the crap out of the toy again". I wonder if I've been watching too many army flicks that Maxie has learnt how to fight a delaying rearguard action. Hmm....

Anyway, we left her alone to get settled down, and Maxie broke all the house rules I ever taught her when she sniffed something that most girls like...

Oooh flowers!

They smell so good!!!

So pretty....

So tasty....

Wait, what? I was willing to forgive her jumping up on the dining table (a HUGE no no) in the interests of keeping the peace...but no flower munching allowed! I quickly shooed her off the table, but all night long she'd shoot longing glances at the bouquet. Silly kitty.

As a further bribe, Fiona actually brought a gift for Maxie, a nice luxurious, fluffy, soft bed! Without further ado, I spread it out for Her Highness....

"It's too thick, I don't like it!"

"Maxie! I thought I taught you better manners than that!" I admonished her in embarassment. She eyed me steadily without responding, subtly practicing her mind control powers.

"Ah...that's better!"

Not too shabby!

Yeah, well, I seem to have a really fussy cat. I think I've made her into a monster with my pampering. Oh well.

The days went by quickly, and it was astonishing to me to see how quickly Maxie accepted Fiona's addition to the household. Not 24 hours after their first meeting, Maxie was treating Fiona to the same "Go away, I don't want to see you and I don't want you to hug me" treatment that she subjects me to daily.

Kitty wasn't running away to hide when this new person approached her, rather, she would wait til she was closer, then stalk off haughtily with tail in the air, as if to say, "I only let you THINK you could pet me, human!"

It wasn't long before a show-down happened between the two females...Fiona decided to clean Maxie's stuff!

"What are you doing? How dare you? I'm going to tell my daddy!"

After divesting Maxie's favourite beds of their abundant cat fur, the cat was allowed to inspect her belongings.

"Omg, what have you done?

"This doesn't smell like me anymore!"

"Waaaaaa, you even cleaned my box!!!"

"I am going to kill you," Maxie swore, in silent revenge.

"I'll accept your peace offering, but less you forget my superiority, here's my evil look so you'll always remember."

All was well with the administration of kitty treats...and we soon bade Fiona goodbye. Maxie happily reclaimed the house as her unassailable castle. However, this morning she did ask me, "Daddy, when are you bringing back my other slave? She gives me treats often, unlike you. You're stingy!"

Well, I guess someone approves of Fiona...even if it was MY treats that she was fed with! -_-"

Sneaky Cat Training...

Hey peeps!

How's your Monday going? I'm sick (yes, again! What the heck?), so bear with me. Been a busy week, with limited material since I hadn't any time to spare.

I said goodbye to Nameless last week, returning her to her foster parents. Keith has voiced his suspicions about her being in heat, based on the ruckus she's been kicking up. I hope for his sake that she's not, cos a cat in heat can drive a daddy nuts! Hehehehe.

Nameless has been to the vet, I'm not sure what the full prognosis is yet, but she IS recovering at least, just not fully yet.

After vs Before (yes, in that order)

Maxie looks like she's gotten used to the new tenant. Just this morning, I was late getting out due to being ill and she was lounging in her box, when the tenant woke up and came out from his room.

Lounging kitty

"Oh, it's you."

Maxie was startled into wakefulness when the door to his room opened. However, when she saw that it was "just" him, she settled back to sleep. Obviously, he has been classified under "harmless" and "not interesting" in her eyes.

My erstwhile tsundere cat had developed a strange behaviour though. She somehow took it into her head that my hand made a good stool while she checked out the side of my computer desk...

So comfy!

Note that I was trying to use my mouse to get an email sent to my supervisor.

I had just returned from visiting mum over the weekend (yeah, I know, the timeline doesn't match since I started posting about this morning), and Maxie decided to pull a "I missed you, but I hate you for leaving you, so I'm going to miss-hate you" thing on me. Something that only a cat can do, it seems.

The moment I opened my door, she stepped out, purring and rubbing my ankles. As I bent to pet her, she walked off. Okay...never mind. Then, while I was unpacking my stuff, she made the "give me attention now!" meow, which I hurried to do. She watched me come closer and closer, and as I was 2 feet away from her, she pranced away into my room to sniff at my bag and bestow upon it loving cheek rubs. Hey...wait a minute...my bag gets more love than I do???

This pattern repeated itself for 30 mins or so, til she finally consented to let me hug her and tell her how much daddy missed his little kitty, for all of 2 seconds.

"I want tuna, feed me now!" came the imperious demand. I complied immediately, of course, as befitting my status of a slave dad.

As she chowed down, I noticed something. She never eats the tuna that gets shoved to the side of her dish, waiting for me to push them back to the middle for her.

"You know, Maxie. I wouldn't have thought it, but Nameless is smarter than you when it comes to eating. When her food gets pushed to the side of the bowl, she would use her paw to nudge it back to the middle so she could eat it. You should learn from her," I remarked.

My little princess gave me a look befitting that of a noble to a gutter whelp. "You have sooooo much to learn," she said, enigmatically.

Her reply threw me. I spent hours puzzling over it, wonder what it was that she could have meant. I mean, it IS obvious, isn't it? Nameless knew how to push her food to where she wants it without needing me to help her. Then it hit me...

Ohmigod! She's trained me to serve her food and even push to adjust its position for her because she disdained getting her paws dirty! And here I was thinking Nameless was smart when Maxie was cunning, manipulative, sly.....and brilliant!

She got a noogie for that realisation. Of course, she didn't appreciate that and gave me the cold shoulder for all of 15 minutes, when the thunder started rumble.

"What was that?"

Maxie is afraid of thunders and fireworks, and her pitiful attempt at being all high-and-mighty backfired on her as the storm started and she was forced to stick to me.



Ah well, one could never stay irked at such a cute cat though. So while the thunderstorm is raging outside, I shall take the chance to snuggle my indolent yet frenetically fearful cat (they are such paradoxes, aren't they?).

"What's that boom?"

Til next week then, take care, readers!

The New Housemate(s), Part 2

Hello again, dear readers!

As a continuation from last week's post, here's more info on our current house setup. :p

The new tenant has settled in, and he's not someone who's easy to catch sight of: in bed when I leave, return when I sleep. I had to collect his laundry one day as he wasn't around and I really needed to wash my load before I ran out of clothes to wear. I placed his clothes on a towel rack...and someone was very excited!

What are you doing with those clothes?

They smell strange!!!

Well, sadly for Maxie, the new tenant wasn't the only new housemate I got last week. My good friend Keith rescued a cat with a shattered (yes, shattered) pelvis who was undergoing rehabilitation with him. Unfortunately, he had to go out of town for 10 days so I was roped in to cat-sit for him.

Pretty kitty!

This cat, who was unnamed so I'll call her Nameless, was a stray that Keith's wife, Clair, found laying on the grass in a lawn near their place before getting veterinary attention. She is a very very friendly kitty, not quite a year old. A little clingy and loves attention. If you are tempted to adopt her, do drop me a PM.

Maxie was blissfully unaware of a second cat in the house the first night I brought Nameless home. The second day, the clingy kitten started caterwauling to high heavens. Poor Maxie was shocked! And honestly, so was I!

Huh?

What's that noise?

Nameless kept yowling and yowling until I went into her room to give her some attention. It's a pity I didn't have time to give her all my attention, and she had to be kept in cage rest (I do let her out for 10 mins a few times a day) so she doesn't jump and jostle her healing pelvis. Maxie took to hiding in our room cos she was no longer sure of this house which was getting inundated with strangers, or so it must have felt to her. Poor kitty.

I don't wanna go out

You go on out, I'll guard your laundry here.

Playing under my chair instead of the living room

Maxie was pretty displeased with the way that the home was overrun. She avoided me and stayed in the room as much as she could, ignoring me unless I had treats in my hands. She still said goodbye to me when I have to go out, but will ignore me when I come home, forgoing her customary ankle rub and sniff routine.

The situation at home was getting rather tense, and understandably, Maxie was at the end of her tether. When I finally, with the help of the rent from the tenant, decided to have broadband installed; the arrival of the technician proved to be the last straw...

Just how many more people do you want to let move into our house? Oi you, get out!

She actually ran out of the room to go and look at the technician. Fearing some mishap, I rushed out and grabbed her before she sank her claws into the poor innocent man. Okay, so I'm exaggerating a bit. Maxie was upset though, but calmed down and quit struggling in my arms as I explained that the technician was NOT staying. 

"Oh, I knew that," she replied arrogantly, and went to curl up in bed, content.

I wiped the sweat off my brow in relief.

Days later, she finally got to meet the new tenant. Surprisingly, she didn't scamper away as I had predicted! I guess she must have gotten so used to his smell that when she finally saw him, it must've been a bit of an anti-climax. She just sat there, tail swishing as he talked to me over something or another, watching us.

"Oh, so THIS is what you look like. Pfft, you don't look so tough," she seemed to say, while flexing her wingchun tail muscles.

Ah peace, at last! Soon Nameless will leave us to be reunited with her foster daddy, and perhaps Maxie will then relax enough to lounge in the living room again.

Til the next entry, have a great week, readers!

Edit- PS: Nameless can walk now, if that wasn't clear. Young cats seem to be blessedly fast in healing bone wounds, thankfully! Reminds me of my Garfield, but his was just a fracture.

The New Housemate

Greetings, readers!

After a few days' hiatus due to bad internet and tough work times, here's this week's installment, at long last! It will be a short post, as I'll be posting again next week. Enjoy :)

Well, I finally got a new tenant at my humble abode, after a year's wait. We've settled pretty much into a routine, Maxie and I, just the two of us. You can imagine what a shock it was for her that someone new moved into the house all of a sudden.

The night he moved in, I woke up in the middle of the night to espy Maxie crouched at the bedroom door, peering beneath the gap between door and floor, desperately trying to glimpse the intruder.

In the morning, I let Maxie out of the room as per our morning routine, and she couldn't take her eyes off the previous "guestroom".

I smell somebody new!

Is it safe?

"Baby, leave the door alone," I chided.

But daddy, there's someone THERE!

"Yes, yes. I know. I just let someone move in with us yesterday, Maxie. You'll just have to get used to it," I said impatiently.

Someone, MOVED IN?

Her consternation evident, Maxie prowled around the house uneasily. Always returning to watch his room.

8am

9 am

10am

I left home and locked her up in my room as usual. When I returned that night, the new tenant was out, so my guardian kitty wasn't overly fussed with his room. HOWEVER, apparently he had spent some time on the couch, for Maxie started a furious sniffing session at the place where I usually sat.

"Baby, what are you doing?" I asked, amused.

"Somebody was HERE! He sat on YOUR COUCH! I can SMELL him! We need to be on our guard always, daddy!" she mrowled.

"I know, I told you, someone moved in!" I reiterated.

She shot me an annoyed glare.

"I hate you for letting someone move in. You had to spoil a good thing, didn't you? Now I have to be on guard all the time so he won't steal my tuna. Hmmph!" she sulked in a corner.

I was soon back in kitty's good books, however, thanks to the sound of her canned food being opened. She spent the next two nights peering under the door gap, then, having decided that the new tenant wasn't apparently going to invade our bedroom, was soon back in her corner in bed again.

Ah...silly kitty. She still hasn't actually met him though. That would be interesting. ;)