Cat antics

Caring for a pet is a full time job. Caring for two is well...when you forget that you even exist. They capture your existence... especially if they are cats. As they say - "dogs have owners, cats have staff". There is an endless cycle of feeding (canned and dry food separately), cleaning litter boxes, cuddling with them, playing and breaking their fights and guerrilla attacks from behind the couch or suddenly from above. You learn to sleep with one cat walking on your hair or sleep through sudden nips on your big toe. You stop fretting about brushing your black jacket before going to a fancy dinner (as they all have layers of cat hair) and definitely believe that "everything tastes better with cat hair in it".  You learn to live in their reign.

It's a wonderful (cat's) life

Kitty parents know what cat antics are. All cats have strong individuality but even then there are some idiosyncrasies common to the felines. The funniest one I think is scratching and pulling down toilet paper rolls. Someone aptly called it a kitty treadmill. I don't know how all of them found out that this particular thing in a human household can be so fantastic! I am sure they set and break kitty records on how fast they can pull a roll down. 

Hide and seek

Stringy things or feathers attached to wands are another plaything they love. My friend's furry boy and girl (Vinny and Kitty) were raving over one such "bird". Vinny being a teenager was jumping probably three feet high and showing amazing back flips! We bought the same wand for Mota and May and Mota has started hunting that "bird" now too. May would just bat at it and leave it, but Mota pounces on it like a little hunter and doesn't let go! I can spend hours and watch them at their hunting... 

Peanut Butter is a catnip fan. I mean most cats are, but PB is the GREATEST catnip fan I have seen so far. We gave him many different catnip toys - a slug shaped one, a cigar like one and a turtle-shaped one were his most favorites. He went crazy over them and chewed and played and kicked and rolled over until the catnip came out. Then he licked that and went to sleep. 

"I'll let mommy read. I better take a nap."

That's one mamma's boy :)

Sometimes, just like little babies, they are scared of random stuff. We had always thought that May is a tough girl but then, as Arnab was cleaning the garage, he had to bring our telescope inside (with the tripod and all) in the hall. God knows what May is thinking it to be, but she is so scared even to look at the three-legged monster. I admit that it is big, well HUGE compared to May, but it is after all just a telescope. It doesn't move around, nor does it make any noise like the dryer and I can never imagine that anyone ever chased May around with a huge telescope in hand!! Whatever it is, she is just plain scared. Yesterday when I came home and Mota came to greet me, May didn't. I asked Mota "where's your sister" and I heard May replying in a squeaky voice from underneath the dining table. She clearly meant, "Mom, I'm here. I can't go over there, the monster is standing there." The hungry little girl ran up to the telescope and then promptly turned back totally ignoring her food dish that Arnab was taking upstairs! Later when I was carrying her upstairs, she kept on tightly hugging me just like a human baby as we passed the telescope!

Latest score of Telescope vs. May is :

Telescope - 2

May - 0

PS: For a good read on cat antics, click here.