That's my spot

Our cats are lucky enough to have their own penthouse in our home. It's like a granny flat, but for cats.

They have a "cat gym" in said penthouse.



Every so often we need to clean out their room. This involves removing all the toys, bed, litter trays, mats and other cat accoutrements to give it a good mop and tidy up.

As it's been unseasonably warm lately, we put the stuff outside this time.

Natalie didn't see any reason to change her usual sleeping spot.



Once she got her head the fact that all of her familiar possessions were in a different place she was quite happy:



And did what she usually does in her spot. She went to sleep.

How to cook with Nathan

Firstly, notice that one of your humans is standing at the kitchen counter. Assume the begging position;



Stretch up for a closer look:



On realising there are meat based food products mere inches from one's face, commence the assent:



When human attempts to remove you to another room, attempt ascent of human:



Rinse and repeat

Of cats and creatures

No posts from me for a while. There hasn't been much to say about the cats lately, and I've been a bit busy to do a couple of posts that are about wider issues around cat ownership.

All there is to say about the cats is a) they are being very naughty and b) they keep bringing things in.

On Thursday Natalie brought a mouse in for me. It wasn't dead, ran across the room towards me, inducing me to produce a blood-curdling screamm that made Rob think I was being attacked. Oops. But it was a mouse! IN THE HOUSE! She went out with it, but then came back in to play with it in their room, growling extensively at Nathan when he tried to get a paw in.

Then she ate it. Cats are such delights.

This morning, Natalie was on our bed, having a very companionable lie-in when I heard the cat flap going and the familiar "thud thud" of a cat tossing some poor unfortunate creature around. It was Nathan with a bird, and I had foolishly left my bag down there, creating a bird-my handbag interaction. Not impressed.

Natalie and I went down to shoo him out, which made him growl at her and they had a bit of a standoff, which I broke. It was scary though, as I didn't know if he'd go for me, bird and all.

Oh, and as they're on a diet, they've turned into velociraptors. Last night I ate my dinner and they actually did a pincer movement on me (after opening the door!) one going in front of me and my plate, and the other behind. I ended up barricading the door with my handweights to keep them out! Who knows what they'll do next.

Pictures soon...

Cat toys

You know how you buy a kid a present and all it wants to do is play with the box? Yeah, cats are like that too. People laugh at us when they come to our house as there are so many cat toys lying around, unloved and not played with. It's a bit like Toy Story 2.

And then there are the things the cats do like to play with. This ranges from curtain hooks and rolls of sellotape to the night that Nathan chewed up and swallowed a polystyrene packing bead. That was...interesting.

A pen falls from the bed, and two cats are present:

"Mai pen!"
"Really, brother? I think it may be MY pen!"



"MAI PEN!"
"...Well, if you're sure..."



"Iz mai pen. I ritez to hoomins wiv pen. Asks for more foodz. Yes."



(sorry they are so blurry!)

Off the roof

This morning we let the cats out on to the roof again, because it's funny.

Being cats, they didn't do what they did before, oh no.

Natalie set off for the neighbours':



She came back quite promptly, because she's a good girl. Sometimes. (I really don't live in a forest, really.)

They had a good look around, exploring the boundaries:



But what are boundaries to a cat? Note Nathan having a bloody good look over the edge of the roof;



A very good look over the edge:


No, of *course* he won't go over the edge, we thought, and went about our morning business.

Except, he disappeared. He wasn't on our roof, and he wasn't on the neighbour's roof. He wasn't on the floor outside the window (and I was concerned about splattage. Not nice.) Where had he gone?

Feeling a bit worried, I fed Natalie and Nathan would usually run like the clappers at the merest hint there was a human in the kitchen, let alone that cat food was being issued.

But he did not return.

I took the food up to the bedroom and put it on the windowsill.

No cat.
No Nathan.
Where could he be?

I guess the next exercise will be to let them out and then watch from the outside where they go. In a world where it stops raining. But he did come back, crying for his breakfast.

Naughty cat.

Kitchen pests

The cats are on a diet, because they are too fat. I almost wish someone would control my food in a similar way and then maybe my clothes would fit.

Sadly, I am in charge, and eat far too much rubbish, and if I wasn't in control, I'd probably behave a little like the cats do at the moment.

Because they are cats, and have very small brains, they are capable of association but not much else. They understand that kitchen means food, but not much more than that. They come and beg, much like a dog, regardless of what you're doing. Nathan is particularly bad for it, often rushing in from outside on the off-chance he'll get some chicken.

He does this at first, staring up at you:



Then he stretches up, to get a better view. When I took this picture, I was chopping up garlic, surely not his favourite?



(Do you like my slippers?)
We shout "down" at him and he gets down, for about 30 seconds and then he's up again. It's quite sweet, but also a bit dangerous when you don't notice him and I kicked Natalie in the face when she was doing this last week. I felt a bit bad about that.

Sometimes, I accidentally drop or throw them a piece of food just to prove to them that they won't like the melon/carrot/cup of tea that I'm preparing.

It doesn't always work:

I dropped one tortello (of tortellini, I think) which had gorgonzola and walnut in it. Far too strong for a cat, thought I, of course she'll ignore it. Of course she didn't. She gobbled it up!



Natalie is also the cat that does naughty things, but in a very "what, me?" sort of way. Nathan will jump down when you shout. Natalie just looks at you in a "Problem? Keep the noise down, please" kind of way.

Up she jumps, to have an investigate:



(Yeah, our kitchen isn't finished. You stop noticing after a few weeks)
You shout "DOWN!" and she just...carries on...



Anything for food. Greedy gutses.

Up on the roof

We like to think we are considerate cat owners, feeding the cats properly, keeping their litter clean, trying to make sure they don't go out on to the road. Stuff like that.

But more and more, I think that life with two cats is much like life with a toddler. They will seek out danger wherever they can.

It's been warm on and off the last couple of weeks and we've been sleeping with the bedroom window open by varying degrees. One morning it was very hot in our room and so I flung the window open wide before going out to work.

Now, as we have previously seen, the cats quite enjoy sitting on a windowsill looking out, and particularly looking out of the window from our room which is directly opposite a tree where sparrows live. I forgot about this before I went out.

Turns out, the cats were just waiting for their opportunity to explore the other side of this particular window and R managed to get these shots of them checking out some high-rise living:



Natalie's all like, what? Why are you *always* taking pictures of me? Yes, my little feet are sloping away from under me. What's the beef?



It makes you feel great when your cat appears to be assessing whether to make the jump from a first floor roof. Don't do it Natalie!



I got this set of photos through via email at work and when my colleague heard my sharp intake of breath she said, "What's wrong, has someone died?!"