Described here. Though she’s not quite as creative. Generally, she sleeps on the desk by the monitor, and when she wants food, she walks over the keyboard, sits on the edge, and reaches out to tap me on the face with a paw. Also, I’ve noticed that she doesn’t want food so much as attention and service. She’ll complain, even when there’s still food in the bowl, and demand that I add more. I don’t have to add a lot more, but I have to go through the motions.
21 thoughts on “My Life With Jessica”
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I bet simply stirring the food with your hand would suffice, in fact.
Well, I’d use the fork that I serve the food with.
Our cats are supposed to be mousers and live in the barn, but this actually describes them very well.
Reminds me of my wife for some reason….
I don’t have a cat, but my dog is the same way with her food dish. There’s a whole song-and-dance I need to do to satisfy her. And she’ll only drink from her indoor water dish if I put my fingers in it first.
I think you’ve answered the question of who’s in charge around there.
I think you’ve answered the question of who’s in charge around there.
I don’t think the issue has ever been in doubt.
My Kira has trained me to heel. At mealtimes (after bugging me for an hour), when I finally get up to head to the kitchen she walks ahead of me, constantly looking back to see if I’m behind her. She pauses at the top of the stairs and doesn’t start down unless she’s sure I’m following her.
In our house the distinction between cats and staff is clearly drawn.
Didn’t you know? Felines ARE the master race! Its amazing how well-trained we humans are.
Yup, that’s our Russian Blue… except he’ll take your arm off if you try to pet his tummy…
Your Jessica sounds enchanting. That soft tap against the face is such a sweet gesture, I think.
When Meggie, who is very small for a middle-aged cat, wants a few between-meal crunchies sprinkled into her dish, she plants herself between my arms in front of the keyboard very close to my face. She gives me the big eyes for a moment, then opens her mouth wide and breathes out a totally silent meow, demonstrating how quickly and dangerously a cat is weakened when it discovers that its snack dish is empty.
Because they both make you spend all your spare cash on toys for them, move away whenever you try to touch them, and leave hair everywhere? 😉
I always tell people that the principal difference between my ex-wife and my cat is that my ex-wife never threw up hairballs on the bed.
Your Jessica sounds enchanting.
She’s not so enchanting when she pees on the kitchen floor.
Not so much, no. There’s probably a message in that. Hope that secret decoder ring arrives before long….
My cat skips all that and just lies down between me and my keyboard when I’m at the desktop. But when I’m using my laptop (as I am now) I’m sitting on my couch, and she will sometimes do this: jump up and meow at me and rub her head on me and stare and in general do everything except the whole rigmarole with the charts and pointers but that’s because I hid all the markers and stuff. Yeah.
I also have to make sure her food bowl is full at all times (if she sees the bottom of the bowl she gets frantic, certain all the food is running out and she will starve), though sometimes I can fool her if I just stir her food around with my hand. Also she used to get upset if I slept too long and she’d punch me in the nose to wake me up. (No light taps there!) She hasn’t done that lately — I’ve been trained so that now all she has to do is sit next to my head and stare at me until I open my eyes. What is that virus again they say cats transmit to people? Oh wait I don’t think I was supposed to mention that here she come
Not so much, no. There’s probably a message in that.
As far as I can tell, she’s upset because she’s been locked out of the second (guest) bedroom and bath, which were her previous preferred places. She is sufficiently perverse as to stand next to her litter box (in the newly tiled hallway from which we removed carpet and tiled for exactly this issue) and pees on the wall.
We’ve given up, because we can’t afford a cat psychiatrist.
You might try this:
http://www.amazon.com/Precious-Cat-Attract-Problem-Training/dp/B0009X49IC/ref=pd_sbs_k_4
Rand, usually when a cat won’t use the box its a sign of other problems. Have you had her checked for a urinary tract infection? Or has she always done this?
Also try changing brands of kitty litter. Unscented works best.
A few years ago I needed to have some work done in the room where I normally keep the litter boxes. I temporarily moved them into the kitchen and closed the door leading to the room were the workmen were.
That night when I got home, I found that Kira had crapped on the floor right in front of the litter box. I had a suspicion that it was deliberate.
The next night, the crap was in the hallway in front of the bedroom door.
Luckily the workmen were finished and I was able to put the litter boxes back where they belonged. I had little doubt that if it had gone on another day, the next time it would have been in the bed.
Cats have a way of getting their point across. She’s never done anything like that since.
On a more serious note, cats “going” outside the litter box can be a sign of a health problem. A few months ago my other cat, Reggie, started urinating in the bed. He did it about three times over the span of a few days, then I noticed that he was acting listless and had no appetite. I took him to the vet and she said he had acute kidney failure. She immediately admitted him to the animal hospital and he spent four days on an IV.
That was six months ago and he’s been fine ever since. He’s only three years old, so the vet thought he had been poisoned somehow. But he’s an indoor cat and I can’t figure out what he might have gotten into. I’ve always been careful about keeping medicines and cleaning products closed up and out of their reach. We even had his food tested and that came back negative. It’s still a mystery.