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. ;)

Some Short Tales

Hey peeps! A little under the weather today, so be warned that the blog post might not be up to par. :)

That said, I haven't much pictures to share this week, but I do have some kitty tales, so I hope you won't be overly disappointed with the lack of pictures!

~~~

Maxie likes, as most cats do, to laze around just sleeping. Last week, she was sleeping on the bed during the afternoon as per normal, when I had the sudden urge to pounce on her. So I did. Kitty woke with a start but found herself entangled in my arms as I crooned to her and blocked her exit. She squirmed and finally managed to reverse herself out from my arms, ruffling her fur the wrong way in the process. She shot me a dirty look and retired to her box in a huff. The words "Leave me alone!" hung unsaid in the air.

I chuckled and went back to what I was doing, satisfied with myself. Now, before you condemn me for bullying my cat, hear what I say. She got her back later that night.

Revenge is a dish best served cold, as they say. Maxie waited for me to forget about the pouncing incident until later that night, when I was busy chatting online. She strolled into my room, sat at the mat beside my computer chair in an upright position, and started to stare at the ceiling. Normally, this means there was prey on the ceiling for her, ranging from lizards to random insects. I glanced at her when she first walked in, and then noticed she was still sitting there 5 minutes later without uttering a sound, which was unlike her.

"Hey, what are you looking at, baby?" I asked, using my petname for her. She ignored me, just staring upwards. I followed her gaze and looked for something that might've caught her interest, all in vain.

"What WERE you looking at?" I asked again, looking down, but she was no longer there! She had walked out when I was looking at the ceiling and had a smug look on her face as she draped herself comfortably on the floor outside my bedroom door.

"Gotcha!" her eyes read, before looking casually away into the living room, dismissing me from her thoughts.

Grrr! She certainly outplayed me, alright!

~~~

The next trick she pulled to get back at me was to meow incessantly at me in the morning while I was trying to do something. She'd perch herself on the bed and meow loudly and imperiously. I was at a loss as to what she wanted, until I finally figured out she wanted to get under the covers, in her "Assisted Sleep" position.

Pay attention to me!

I complied, anything to shut her up. She went in, curled up, and slept. I thought that was the end of that. I have never been more wrong. 20 minutes later, the bundle of fur would start to shift under the covers and Maxie would extricate herself from the bed. She'd lap at the water bowl twice, walked out of the room, bat her toys around for a minute or two, and then back on the bed, meowing demandingly to be let under the blanket. This continued for two days, she'd verbally order me around when I was at home until I finally begged her for forgiveness for pouncing on her. I groveled and I cajoled, and Her Highness finally condescended to forgive me after much anchovies.

She hasn't demanded to be let under the covers since then. Phew!

~~~

Unforgivably, I had ran out of her favourite canned cat food! The shops that sold them were a little distant and I hadn't time to go until a few days later.

In a desperate bid to buy time, I bought some generic brand to tide us by until I had time to visit the pet shop. Kitty let me know in no uncertain terms that that was unacceptable!

"What is this? This isn't cat food! This is just..." her complaint trailed off as she failed to find a suitably offensive word to name her temporary food. In my defence, it was a good brand, without the typical gelatinous mass that some canned cat foods have. But, as she had made abundantly clear, it wasn't her usual.

Before her canned food had run out, Maxie had started picking at her tuna. Frequently I'd find at least half of what I gave her remaining that I'd have to make her eat before bed time.

Maxie sniffed at her temporary food and only had one or two bites of it. The rest went to the strays downstairs. Everyday, at 7pm, she'd start complaining.

"I want tuna! Gimme my tuna!" she'd wail, stalking around the apartment.

I'd open a can of something for my own dinner, and kitty would come scurrying to me. "Tuna? Is it tuna? Where's my tuna?" she'd go, while trying to see what I had in my hands. It was beans. She stalked off in high dudgeon.

It took me 4 days before I had time to go to the pet shop for her food. 4 days of intense guilt-tripping from Maxie. Every night when I sat down to have my own dinner, she'd sit within sight, staring at me balefully. Making every bite taste like cardboard from the intensity of her glare.

Why you get to eat but not me? Why?

The day finally came when I brought her cat food home. "Maxie! Guess what I got for you?" I called.

She gave me a look and if cats could roll her eyes, I swear she would have. "What, more beans for yourself and nothing for me?"

I cheerfully popped a can open, and Maxie did a credible impression of The Flash. One moment she was lying in bed sulking, the next she was at my feet purring, barely before the jingle of her collar bell reached my ears.

I served her half a can, her usual portion. It was gone in 10 minutes. Wow, guess somebody had really missed her food, and wanted more. She finished a full can in one sitting for the first time since her adolescence. Licking her chops daintily, she regarded at me in approval.

"That's much better. It took you long enough!" she purred.

That night, she slept curled up right next to me, something that happens maybe once every 3rd blue moon. I woke up with a horrible backache, but it was worth it. Pity, it didn't last though, my adorable tsundere cat was back in tsundere mode the next day...and back to her half portion of tuna. 

PS: I don't actually starve my cat, she gets her fair share of kibbles every day and is happy with that (she eats ANY kibbles, but is picky with wet food lol - weird cat), but she does enjoy the wet food treat every other day. In case somebody out there thinks I would neglect feeding my princess .

Kitty on Rampage, or Something Like That

It's another week! In an attempt to get Maxie out of her funk, I brought out my secret weapon, the cat wand!

Kitty's pupils were fully dilated as she started mrowling loudly in anticipation.

Maxie stirring from her slumber, watching the wand alertly

"Gimmeh, gimmeh, gimmeh!" she seemed to say. As a tease, I walked around with the cat wand in my hands but not giving it to her. Maxie followed me around the apartment like a dog learning how to heel. Hmmm...this bears promise, but perhaps in the future.

All her long-unused wingchun moves came back as she batted the wand furiously. "Die, you weird, pink-feathered thing!"

Predictably, I got tired a lot sooner than she did, and Maxie was giving me indignant meows to keep her adversary moving. We evolved a new game from it though.

"Where is it?"

Propping the wand against her food bin, Maxie was a little nonplussed at the start. She soon cottoned on to things..

*sniff sniff*

*bat bat bat*

"This foe is slain, next!"

We engaged in another merry-go-round the house with her pouncing on my ankles and my knees in an attempt to wrest the pink fiend from me.

"Ah ha!"

"Bite"

"Come here, you!"

With the repeated vanquishing of the same(?) foe, yours truly soon got tired of the game. Not so for Maxie though. While I sat upon my chair working on the computer, she sat at my feet (sigh, if only it was on my lap) waiting for the next round of fun to start. Occasionally I'd look down to look at her and she'd give me a plaintive "meow!"

Despite her slave daddy's reluctance, a resourceful kitty always manages to get her way. Mother Nature decided to bless us with a giant fly thingie invasion. I got 2 of those out somehow, but the last eluded me.

"Daddy, what's all that buzzing?"

Maxie was on patrol though. Woe betide any insect or gecko that finds its way past my inefficient defence...

"Don't worry, I've got it!"

"There's nowhere to hide, fly-guy!"

Fortunately, I managed to get rid of it before she could sink her teeth in. She always gets sick after ingesting bugs, but never stops eating them whenever she gets the chance anyway. Silly kitty. I've to be constantly on the lookout or I'd have to deal with this:

Sick kitty: "I promise not to drink eat a bug again!" *puke*

I had to be careful what I wished for, though. As I had wanted my little sleepy princess to stop sleeping all the time, she showed me what a nuisance she can be.

"Oh, you're watching a movie? Hand the control over! I wanna see the bit where Duchess holds tails with Thomas!"*

*Aristocats

I had to push her away and tell her to be patient. The movie's only fun if we watch it in progression, not just skipping to our favourite bits. Kitty sulked and turned her back on me.

The other incident involved me collecting the laundry:

"What is this?"

*wonders if she can use it for kung fu training*

Yup, sure can!

After rescuing a sock, a handkerchief and a t-shirt from kitty soft claws, I finally managed to put my hangers back outside in the laundry area, safe from her ravaging fists...er...paws.

Following all that exertion, it was time for kitty to wind down her activities.

Om nom nom nom!

and finally...

zzz in the 12 o'clock