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Monkey Business

When Miss Jeanne brought Cupcake to live with us, one of the things she brought to accompany her on the trip was a stuffed monkey. Monkey has been her companion ever since.

black and white tuxedo kitten sits next to plush monkey

In the past month, Cupcake’s relationship with Monkey has gotten more complicated. Instead of happily wrestling with Monkey on the chair, she takes Monkey various places around the house.

Monkey has ended up in random cardboard boxes, and he even made an appearance in the laundry basket with the dirty clothes.

black and white tuxedo cat carries plush monkey toy

Over the weekend, Monkey’s travels took another turn. Cupcake carried her friend to the water bowl and tried to drown him.

black and white tuxedo cat carries plush monkey toy toward water dish

When I took Monkey away and dried him off, I discovered he had a squeaker inside. He has been here since June, and I never knew that! He’s looking a bit worse for wear these days, especially after his swim.

plush monkey

I gave Monkey back, and she took him right back to the water bowl in the living room.

black and white tuxedo cat drops plush monkey into water bowl

Once he was dried off again, she carried him into the water bowl in the bedroom and dunked him again. Then, in the ultimate act of teenage cat rebellion, she grabbed soaked Monkey and jumped up onto the bed with him.

Maybe Monkey needs a vacation.

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January 10, 2018 Filed Under: Cats, Life With Cats Tagged With: Cupcake 24 Comments

Cupcake is a Cat Going Places

If you follow us on social media, you got a preview of this news last week: Cupcake is one of the stars of a new web site, Cats Going Places. This new web site is a growing resource for people who want to learn more about taking their cats with them around the city or suburbs.

black and white tuxedo kitten lounges on cobblestones

We all know that Cupcake is already a pro at running errands and visiting friends around town, and now she can share some of her adventures and the lessons that she and the humans around her are learning in a centralized place.

So far, you can read more about Cupcake and get to know more about her story. This site isn’t just going to be about Cupcake, so you can also read about Chanel, Cupcake’s sister, who lives in Ohio.

black and white tuxedo cat looks at fish in pet store

Photo courtesy Random Felines

You can also get tips about how to be a polite visitor to pet-friendly places. There’s a lot to remember, but cats visiting pet-friendly establishments are the first ambassadors of their kind, so it’s important that they make a good impression so that other cats are welcome later.

black and white tuxedo kitten sits on shelf among art supplies

There is even information about the kind of harness Cupcake wears.

black and white tuxedo kitten wearing pink roman harness

Stay tuned at Cats Going Places for a new article weekly featuring information for cats on the go from Cupcake, Chanel, and other cats on the go.

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December 29, 2017 Filed Under: Life With Cats Tagged With: Cupcake 17 Comments

Your Cat isn’t a Jerk

You’ve probably seen the memes or video clips on the internet about cats being jerks. They usually feature a cat pawing at an object on a table, desk or shelf until the object falls off. In our social media driven world, the most popular ones feature things being knocked down that either splatter or break.

orange tabby cat

“I was framed.”

Does this mean cats are jerks?

Merriam-Webster’s dictionary defines a jerk as

  • an annoyingly stupid or foolish person
  • an unlikable person, especially one who is cruel, rude or small-minded

Most people who live with their cats agree with their cats are clever, not stupid or foolish. It’s true cats are literally small-minded. A human’s brain is about 50 times bigger than a cat’s brain.

The size of their brain gives us one of the insights into whether they are cruel or rude. Those concepts are beyond their ability to grasp, but we are applying them to them because that’s how humans think. Your cat doesn’t know she’s being “a jerk.” She just knows simple cause and effect.

Why does my cat knock things down?

If your kitty doesn’t know she’s being “a jerk,” why is she doing it? Let’s look at it from a cat’s perspective.

gray tabby cat and pen

Kitty encounters a new pen on your desk. Even though the pen is small enough to bite, she is probably not going to grab it with her mouth first thing. Her instinct, honed by generations of cats who survived by their wits, tell her it is safer to touch it first to see how it reacts. So she reaches out with her paw and pats it. The pen moves, which is intriguing, so she pokes it harder with her paw. The pen moves more, maybe it even spins around. Hey, this is fun! She whacks the pen with her paw, and it flies off your desk onto the floor.

Your cat used her instinct to explore her environment with her paws. That led to her hunting instinct kicking in when the object moved, so she engaged in play. She wasn’t being a jerk. She was being a cat!

But now my cat knocks things down all night!

What happens when kitty knocks that pen off your desk or remote control off your table? You probably pick it up. If you are in another room and hear something fall, you probably enter the room to make sure everything is OK.

What does this teach your cat? Knocking things down means you will stop what you are doing and pay attention to her. Score! Human attention.

One-eyed brown cat is petted by a man's hand

Kitty has just trained you. Big brains may not matter so much after all!

One way kitty may use this newfound knowledge is at night, when humans are sleeping. From a cat’s perspective, sleeping humans are not interactive, and that’s not much fun. A restless cat may learn that knocking your glasses off your bedside table will make you much more interactive, and it might even get her a midnight snack when you try to distract her so you can go back to sleep.

How do I make my cat less of a jerk?

There are a few things you can do to help make your cat less likely to knock things down, especially at night when you are trying to sleep.

Tidy up

If you don’t want to embrace a minimalist decorating style, try putting loose items away. Tucking pens or eyeglasses into a drawer can keep temptation away.

If you don’t have drawers, consider decorative boxes or containers. If you are concerned that your cat will knock the container down, you can use a nonmarking adhesive intended for preventing objects from falling during earthquakes to secure the container in place.

Encourage play

Make sure your cat is getting plenty of play time. A rousing game of chase with the wand toy before bedtime will help keep your cat from being restless during the night and looking for objects that could become toys on your bedside table.

black and white tuxedo kitten plays with blue boa wand toy

Be sure your cat has toys available that keep her interested. This may mean rotating toys so they aren’t out all the time and seem “new” when they reappear. If your cat is especially active at night, look for toys that are quiet and don’t have bells or other loud features.

Don’t react

Your reaction when your cat knocks things down is what turns a cat’s playful fun into attention-seeking behavior. It’s hard not to get up and feed Kitty when she knocks down a book, but if she discovers it doesn’t work, she will stop doing it to get your attention.


Research and further reading:

Trends in Cognitive Sciences, Evolution of the brain and intelligence

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November 1, 2017 Filed Under: Life With Cats 15 Comments

10 Things to Carry for a Cat About Town

When Cupcake goes out, I always have a bag with me with things for her. I recently picked up a pink backpack from a local outlet store to hold her stuff when we go out.

black and white tuxedo kitten with backpack behind her

I added many of the items to the bag’s inventory after experiences that made me wish I had the things on hand, so I thought you might be interested in what’s inside Cupcake’s bag.

contents of cat bag

First Aid Kit

You can buy first aid kits for cats, but since Cupcake’s adventures are in the city and not in urban areas where there aren’t vets nearby, I bought an empty first aid kit bag and put some simple first aid items in it that would help with immediate first aid before I could get her to a vet:

  • Vet wrap (bandaging tape that adheres to itself but not to fur)
  • Gauze
  • Pressure bandage
  • Tube of clotting gel
  • Key for removing ticks
  • Bandage shears

The first aid kit also includes a photocopy of Cupcake’s rabies vaccination certificate and a list of contact phone numbers, including her vet, the local emergency vet, and the microchip company her chip is registered with.

Towel

Cupcake isn’t afraid to get a little wet.

black and white tuxedo kitten steps into shallow fountain

She likes to play in shallow water, and she has even stepped down into a mostly-drained fountain. So I keep a small towel in the bag to dry her paws  or whatever other part of her gets wet.

Blanket

We use a small, fleece blanket to put down on surfaces for Cupcake to sit on. Not only does it help her feel comfortable about sitting in strange places because the blanket smells familiar, it protects her from the underlying surface.

black and white tuxedo kitten lounges on table

I always check before letting Cupcake sit on a table whether the surface is hot, but the black-painted metal tables outside the coffee shop heat up quickly in the Florida sun. Cupcake’s small, thick blanket ensures her delicate paw pads are protected.

Cat-Safe Wipes

On one of Cupcake’s early outings, she stepped into the edge of some ground cover and stepped right into some dog waste. I didn’t have anything with me to get the foul-smelling stuff off of her paws, and I learned a lesson: You never know when you might need cat-safe wipes.

More recently, the cat-safe wipes are most often used when Cupcake puts her face all the way in the bottom of a cup and ends up with whipped cream in the fur above her eyes. And in her whiskers. And on her cheeks. And… well, you get the idea.

black and white tuxedo kitten with whipped cream in whiskers and eyebrows

Cleaning Wipes

One of the regulars at the coffee shop doesn’t like it that Cupcake gets up on the table, even though she sits on her blanket. I assured him I would clean the table before we left, and I clean it every time.

I could use cat-safe wipes for this task. In fact, I started out cleaning the table with cat-safe wipes, since that was in my bag at the time. But general-purpose cleaning wipes are a lot less expensive than cat-safe wipes. Now I carry both in Cupcake’s bag.

Cellophane Tape

Cupcake is a pretty brave cat, but certain things frighten her. One of the worst frights she has had was from a trash bag.

For hurricane Irma, the plaza where our regular coffee shop is located removed the lids from their big trash cans. During our first visit to the coffee shop after the hurricane, it was still breezy, and the empty plastic trash bag closest to where we sat suddenly blew inside out. From Cupcake’s point of view, this must have looked like a huge, rustling ghost arising five feet away. She was terrified.

Now, when the end of the trash bag is not secured and it flaps in the wind, Cupcake stops enjoying her visit to the coffee shop and starts showing signs of stress.

rustling trash bag

To keep Cupcake’s stress level down, I twist the end of the bag into a tail and then wrap cellophane tape around it to keep it secure. No flapping bag end means a happier Cupcake during visits to the coffee shop on breezy days.

trash bag fix

Pencil Case and Notebook

Humans need stuff, too. Since I don’t carry a purse, I use the pencil case for things I would otherwise keep in one, like:

  • Pens
  • Lip balm
  • Band-aids
  • Antibacterial gel
  • Business cards

You never know when you’ll need to jot down a note, so I keep a notebook in Cupcake’s bag, too.

black and white tuxedo kitten sits on edge of cement fountain

Umbrella

Here in Florida, it rains nearly every afternoon on warm days. I always make sure there’s an umbrella in her bag in case Cupcake and I are caught out of the house when the rain starts. I prefer the umbrellas that not only open with the touch of a button but close with one, too. This may seem like an extravagance, but when you’re trying to take care of a cat in a carrier, you don’t have a hand to spare for playing with an umbrella. Single-handed operation is a huge help.

Poop Bags

Dog poop bags are good for more than poop! You never know when you might need a plastic bag, and dog poop bags on their little rolls an easy way to make sure I have some handy.  Besides, the day may come when Cupcake figures out she doesn’t have to hold it until she gets home to the litter box. If that happens, I’ll be very glad to have a bag handy. Until then, I can use them when I have other kinds of litter I need to collect.

For a while, I kept little poop bag dispenser attached to her carrier, since I don’t always carry the bag with me when I go inside a store. I finally tore off a couple bags and put them in the outside pocket of her carrier, and the rest are in the little dispenser attached to her bag.

Collapsible Bowl

I also use one of the pockets on the outside of Cupcake’s carrier to carry a collapsible bowl. This makes it easy to ensure she has access to fresh water when we are out on an adventure.

black and white tuxedo cat with collapsible water bowl

With her bag packed, Cupcake is ready for anything when she goes out adventuring.

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October 23, 2017 Filed Under: Life With Cats Tagged With: Cupcake 20 Comments

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