Cats Archives - Page 50 of 429

Who Said Cats Don’t Like Water?

You hear all the time that cats don’t like the water. It would be more accurate to say that most cats don’t like the water. Cupcake thinks the water is fascinating.

black and white tuxeco kitten looks at water in sink

As soon as anyone turns on the water in the bathroom sink, she stops whatever she is doing to run into the bathroom. She will even stop eating in the middle of eating a meal if she hears the water running.

This happens so often that the humans in the house have to be careful when going about normal sink-related activities. Like any cat, Cupcake moves quickly, and she can show up when you aren’t expecting her. So far, no one has spit a mouthful of toothpaste on her, but there have been some near misses.

black and white tuxeco kitten plays with water in sink

She seems totally unconcerned that she gets her ears and head wet while she is hunting the stream of water. Water splashes off of her head as she dives into the sink after her elusive prey, and she continues swatting at the droplets.

Wouldn’t you like to know what she’s thinking? Sometimes it seems she thinks she needs to stop the water from going down the drain. You can see in the photo below she is grabbing the pop-up sink stopper. We came home the other day to find she had pulled it all the way out while the sink was dry and we were away.

black and white tuxeco kitten plays with water in sink

Other times it seems she is just interested in grabbing the water as it splashes down into the basin of the sink. She prefers a steady stream of water that creates a ripple of water against the bottom of the sink basin. That seems to be the most fun to put her paws in.

black and white tuxeco kitten plays with water in sink

For now, this is her favorite entertainment in the house, and she follows the humans into the bathroom, watching to see if they will turn on the water for her. She watches so intently we are a little worried that she is trying to figure out how to turn the sink faucet knobs!

You can see Cupcake in action below. If the video doesn’t display in your browser, you can view it directly on YouTube.

As you can see, Cupcake is happy to do her own cleanup after playing in the sink. Her preferred level of tidying up didn’t keep her from making wet footprints all over the house, so we try to dry her off after sink time is over.

She acts alarmed if you try to enfold her in one of those big bath sheets, so she has her own, smaller towel hanging in the bathroom. It is always ready so she can have her paws and head dried off before she romps off to make trouble elsewhere in the house.

Do you know any cats who like to play in the water?

Catnip Follies

Back when Miss Jeanne was here to visit, she bought us some catnip rolls, and the head peep kept them hidden until recently. Some nonsense about us having so many toys out already. This week, we finally got our paws on those catnip rolls.

Pierre: Did someone say catnip? Give it here!

gray tabby cat plays with purple catnip toy

Pierre: There’s nothing like some catnip all to myself.

gray tabby cat plays with purple catnip toy

Pierre: Yum! The best part is this toy all mine. There’s way too much sharing happening around here these days.

gray tabby cat plays with purple catnip toy

Newton: You look really silly, Pierre.

orange tabby cat looks at gray tabby cat with catnip toy

Pierre: What? I’m not silly. I’m just enjoying this toy.

Pierre: I see your underneath. You only show that off when you get catnip.

Orange tabby cat looks at gray tabby cat with catnip toy

Pierre: Oops. Would you mind passing that back here?

Newton: I thought that meant it was my turn.

Orange tabby cat looks at gray tabby cat with catnip toy

Pierre: You wouldn’t want it anyhow. I drooled all over it already.

gray tabby cat plays with purple catnip toy

Favorite Spot

Cupcake: When I go to the coffee shop on the weekend, my favorite spot isn’t the table where the humans want to sit. It’s this part.

The jungle has lizards, if I can find them.

Do you see it? It’s a jungle lizard!

And look what else is in the jungle! The humans call this a fountain.

Do you think the lizard might live in here?

The humans say I shouldn’t jump into the fountain to look for lizards, so I’m just going to wait right here for them to come out.

black and white tuxedo kitten looks down into fountain basin

Do you think I should jump in to look for the lizards if the humans all look away?

A Solution for Cats Knocking Stuff Down

I got a camera to watch my cats when I was out of the house, but to get it to reliably trigger when they walk across the floor, I needed to put it at the edge of the shelf.

black and white tuxedo kitten and Canary camera

That posed a problem. Not only is the edge of the shelf a dangerous place to put a camera, it is also right above one of the cat water bowls.

Canary camera and water bowl

It’s not like that shelf is a low-traffic location, either. It’s a key access point to one of the only windows in the house that faces west. That window features some good bird watching, too, so it has always been a regular hangout for all of the cats.

one-eyed brown tabby cat looks out vertical blinds

I remembered reading about a special, removable putty you could use to hold objects in place, so I did a few searches and found Quake Hold museum putty. Maybe everyone in California already knows about this, but those of us in Florida never got the memo about this stuff.

Quakehold and Canary Camera

So for folks who never heard of museum putty, it’s inexpensive stuff used by museums and I guess people who live in earthquake-prone areas to keep knickknacks from falling down. It isn’t much to look at. It’s an off-white putty you work with your fingers to soften.

quakehold sample

You can work it to whatever shape you need to fit under the base of your breakable object, then smush the object you want to stay put down onto it and let it cure for 24 hours. That’s pretty much it.

Quakehold holding Canary camera in place

For my camera, instead of round dots of the putty, I made a little putty snake and fit it around the base of the camera before smushing the camera down into it. I was worried that there might not be enough surface area of the camera in contact with the putty, but it has stayed put for a month now.

Closeup of Quakehold holding Canary camera in place

Since the putty started helping keep the camera in place, the camera has seen a lot of traffic, especially from Ashton. Video taken from the camera shows her jumping up and down directly next to the camera, often close enough that you can hear her rub against the camera as she jumps. It also captures her sitting directly next to the camera, pressing against it in ways that would have dislodged it if it hadn’t been secured.

Ashton isn’t shy at all about leaning on the camera, even when she knows she is being watched. If it wasn’t held in place somehow, I’m sure the camera would have toppled by now, probably while I was taking this photo.

one-eyed brown tabby cat leans against web camera

Thank goodness for Quake Hold! It costs under five dollars, and I can’t believe it has taken me this long to find out about it. Hopefully some of you reading will break a few less knickknacks or other valuables now that you know about it, too.

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