One thing that interests me is the history of pets through the centuries. Everyone knows the Ancient Egyptians revered cats, but not much is heard of how cats were regarded in other countries. I was pleased to find this picture (on Wikipedia.com) of cats playing in a garden in 12th century China. This is such a sweet picture – it must have been made by an artist who truly enjoyed cats.
Cats and Kittens in a Garden
Here is what Wikipedia has to say: “Cats that were favored pets during the Chinese Song Dynasty were long-haired cats for catching rats and cats with yellow-and-white fur called ‘lion-cats’, who were valued simply as cute pets. Cats could be pampered with items bought from the market such as ‘cat-nests’, and were often fed fish that were advertised in the market specifically for cats.”
Cats don’t seem to enjoy the same fond regard in China today. All you have to do is Google “cats in China” to find dozens of horror stories of the mistreatment of cats. The long-haired variety are kept as pets so I suppose short-hairs are just out of luck.
Sleeping arrangements with three cats can be a challenge, especially when two of the three don’t get along. In my house, Lapsang and Pippin cannot really be described as close friends. Or friends. Or buddies. Or anything. In fact, they really can’t stand each other.
So night-time can be difficult when all three cats want to snuggle. Over the years, we’ve worked out sleeping positions that seem to be generally accepted by all three cats and both humans. Pippin sleeps on my husband’s side of the bed. We call that area “Pippinville.” The two Siamese sleep on my side. We call that “Siamesetown.” A mountain rises between the two towns in the form of an extra blanket and provides a physical security barrier for the feuding felines. Sometimes raids into enemy territory occur. I used to keep a spray bottle of water on hand for these unfortunate occasions, but there were too many civilian casualties so now I rely on lightning quick timing to administer a swat to any furry butt within reach. (Well, except my husband’s.)
This system has been in place for some years now and, on the whole, seems to work for us and the kitties. Now, if I could just get my husband to stop snoring…
My cat Pippin is a very sweet and loving cat but sometimes he can be a little bit too pushy with the snuggly stuff. He jumps onto a lap and starts purring and headbutting. We start petting him. He is happy. So far, so good.
But then things start to go horribly wrong. He repeatedly scrapes his cold wet nose across any exposed skin. This is super annoying so we usually dump him back on the ground at that point. But he jumps back up immediately. He puts his paws on our chests and snuggles his head under our chins, giving us a slimy swipe with his nose in the process. We pin him down on our laps until he gives in and stays still. We take our hand away. He starts rolling around on his back, sticking his feet into the air. Then he stands up and starts headbutting all over again.
This funny Simon’s Cat cartoon is a perfect depiction of our cat Pippin in action.
I work at home in front of the computer all day. This can lead to some strained and stiff muscles and butt ache. Luckily for me, my three cats demand to be let in and out of the house at least five times each. At five times each for three cats, I’m getting up out of my seat and interrupting my work flow 15 times per day.
Each cat has his own way of letting me know he is ready to go in or out: Lapsang meows loudly, Pippin scratches on the door with his paws and makes a tiny little mewing sound, and Tigger just waits patiently by the door, sometimes for hours, until one of the other cats makes enough noise to get a response.
The whole in and out experience is cleverly illustrated in this video that I found on YouTube:
Fortunately, my cats can’t lift garden gnomes and smash them against the glass like this fella can but Pippin has been known to rip up a screen or two. I suppose I should be thankful that the cats are getting me up out of my seat every so often as it keeps my blood flowing. Too bad I have to walk through the kitchen to get to the back door. A snack usually jumps into my mouth as I pass the fridge. Hmm, maybe I need more cats so I can make more trips and burn more calories.
I thought the first post on TheLitterBoxx.com should be about–what else–litter boxes! Cleaning the litter box is an evil but necessary chore. I do it several times a week. We have three cats and three litter boxes, one for each cat. But the cats are not assigned to a specific box; rather, they pee in one and poop in the other two. I’m not quite sure how they figured out this system but it seems to work for them. A general rule of thumb is one box per cat plus one extra. Obviously, we are not following that guideline, with our one box per cat set-up, but one of our cats spends most of his time outside so presumably he does most of his business elsewhere.
We’ve never had any accidents around the house (although Lapsang will spray around the house but this is a different matter altogether). Once I had a Siamese cat named Simmy who, if the litter box wasn’t sparkling clean, would climb on top of my chest in bed, stare straight into my eyes, and pee on my comforter. Talk about a message! But the current set of cats will use the litter boxes even if I let them get a little nasty. Lucky for me, since my busy life sometimes does not include scooping on a regular basis.
It is important to keep the litter boxes clean, though. Cats have a sense of smell that is 14 times better than that of humans so what may be an occasional sour odor for you can be an olfactory tidal wave for them. A stinky litter box may drive your cat to start eliminating on piles of laundry, on your gym bag, or in a corner of your house. Nobody wants that.
The new clumping litters are really great. They soak up all the urine into a compact ball that you can then just scoop out. Poops get coated with the litter and odor is contained quickly. The only problem I’ve had with the clumping litter is that, since it is much smaller than the original litter, it sometimes gets stuck to the cat’s paws and gets tracked around the house. This can be alleviated somewhat by placing litter trapping pads and rugs around the boxes. Or you could just vacuum a lot.
Anyway, cleaning the litter boxes can be a nuisance, but it makes your cat happy and prevents behavioral problems.
