Bad table manners!
Thought for the dayEven for a cat, that’s bad manners…
I’m nt sure whether he thinks the food will escape or what, but Stephen seems to have decided that his food bowl requries pinning down…

I’ve seen kittens do this before, because they can’t quite get to the food. In Stephen’s case he weighs more than the plate does, resulting – when he puts a paw wrong – in the effect we have dubbed the Food-a-pult. Luckily he’s standing right where the food goes, so it goes all over him, not the room. I sincerely hope this is not his new version of the catfood takeaway.
He’s bopped himself on the head with the plate a couple of times doing this, so we’re looking into ways to fasten it down. Otherwise we’ll have to switch to paper plates until this phase passes or accept a concussed cat.
Kibble Ball part 2
Dear Stephen,We went to the trouble of getting you a kibble ball for “environmental enrichment” and, let’s be blunt, exercise. The idea is that we put kibble in it and you roll it to get the kibble. You weren’t supposed to look at the kibble that fell out, trot across to your empty kibble dish and raise a furry eyebrow at us.
Attempt two with catnip treats worked well. However, pushing it slowly with your nose while holding your mouth open so the food just drops in is rather reminscent of Garfield, and does rather defeat the “exercise” part of the plan. Working out how to eat and avoid excercise at the same time is very clever but unless you want to turn back into the couch-kitty you were when you came to us, you’re going to have to get some exercise.
Regards,
Your staff
Roomba-kitty?
I’m beginning to think to cats think the roomba is another round, rather thick, not furry, cat.It broke a while back, right as the warranty ran out, so we went back to hoovering. The cats hated it: hiding, attacking the vacuum, hissing at it, attacking the person using it…it was not pleasant. Then I found […]
Christmas Chicken
It’s Christmas, and Christmas means poultry – in our case chicken as we were having a small christmas this year. This meant fending off the cats and, as anyone who has encountered two little furry faces staring fixedly at the oven door knows, they can be quite determined.Christmas Day went off without a hitch, but […]
That’s not a cat!
Thought for the DayIs it really do hard to believe Stephen is a cat?I’ve mentioned the little girl on the bus who took one look in the carrier and said “Look mum, a bear!”, but we’ve just had another one.I probably should have expecting it, after all I was discussing Stephen around Halloween, with a […]
Bird food? That’s not good for you…
Thought for the dayThe only cat who would raid a bird table for the food, and not the birds…We’d been wondering why Stephen kept being sick. A few weeks ago, we’d brought in the fat balls we had hung out for the birds through summer. They were in a closed box with other gardening bits. […]
Confuzzlement
Thought for the dayHe’s not you, honestA group of new cats moved into the neighbourhood over summer, two kittens and an adolescent. They also tried to move onto Stephen’s turf, the garden, since they are small enough to climb in using tree branches which won’t hold him if he tries to get out.Two of them, […]
Starving Stephen
Stephen got rushed to the vet yesterday night. On Monday he was sick several times. One Tuesday it looked as if he couldn’t keep anything down.We were worried: worms? Kidney failure?No. While the vet did shave a small patch and take blood samples, as well as giving us an extra worming tablet, it is something […]
Cats and Thumbs
Thought for the day…No, I’m serious, he really does have thumbsFor the last shot of Stephen’s thumbs I got accused of using Photoshop. I’m not sure why: polydactyl cats aren’t exactly rare. Look at the Hemmingway cats.So here’s another shot: showing him lying down with one of his back paws stretched out and the thumb […]
Stephen and Shoes
Thought for the day…I thought only dogs liked chew toysIf a picture’s worth a thousand words, here’s four thousand and the fate of my poor shoes: thoroughly chewed, sniffed and slept on.