My Life As A Cat Lady

Someone is coming down the stairs

I wonder where the whole personna of the spinster woman with a room full of cats and newspapers originated. I saw a picture on Pinterest the other day from the 1920's of a spinster - they literally used that term in the original caption - who had built a little wagon to carry her cat through the streets of New York. Obviously the concept isn't new. I'm not sure if I qualify as a spinster - divorcee is probably more acurrate - but I'm certainly deserving of the Cat Lady moniker. And proud of it.

Little Trouble Kitty is very in tune with my schedule. He's also extremely OCD. If anything is out of place - such as a book on the nightstand - he will move it if he can or stand beside it and meow in his tiny little whisper of a voice until someone acknowledges that something has changed if he can't handle it himself. Things must not be moved. He's so OCD that if I happen to be sleeping on "his side" of the bed he will walk on me until I move. Once I move, he curls up in his spot and purrs like he is being paid to do it. He loves to sleep with his head on the pillow and his body under the covers, just like me. When I get up during the night to go to the bathroom I have to slip out of the other side of the bed so as not to disturb His Highness.

He gets upset when I take a shower. He can't stand to be in the room - he's scared of the water - but he sits outside the bathroom door and puts his paws under the door and cries until I turn off the water and let him in. I suffer that blast of cold air that comes with opening the door just to calm him down after my shower. He follows my whole glam routine. He starts getting concerned if I put on makeup because that means I might be leaving the house. He gets further upset if I put on shoes. Socks are ok but shoes mean leaving.

Little Kitty has always let me hold him like a baby that you're trying to burp. He loves to be high up and look out the sliding glass door. I go through a whole list of potential things that might be outside, "are there fish in the lake? are there birds in the trees?..." and so on. Sometimes I take a step out onto the patio with him and his heart starts to race. He's curious about what happens outside but he's not comfortable being out there. He was born to be a house cat. A fluffy, spoiled, adored little house cat. He really loves being held by me and Austin. Austin plays a little rougher with him, holding him upside down and such. I'd intervene but Trouble purrs the loudest when Austin is playing with him. He loves his boy.

When Austin steps outside (as he does frequently) Little Kitty waits at the door for him and meows his loudest when Austin comes back in. Little Kitty runs to get to the top shelf playhouse so that Austin will play with him there. His favorite game is to peek out of the holes in the box to try to grab straws or whatever we hold up for him to get. If Austin ignores him, Trouble follows him to his bedroom door complaining.

Every day Trouble takes a tour of the house to make sure everything and everybody is in their place. He anticipates our behavior. Yesterday Pop mentioned getting dressed and Little Kitty was waiting for him in his closet. Maybe it's coincidence. I choose to believe that he's just the smartest cat EVER! He waits by the door when the dogs go out to do their business. If Eddie Cat tries to sneak out the door Trouble blocks him. He knows that cats live inside. If the door to the utility room is open - the room where he can access the ceiling AND HE LOVES to climb up in the drop ceiling and explore - if the door is open he will meow until he gets my attention so that I can shut the door. He knows that it's a "bad place".

When I go upstairs he follows me. If I'm in the kitchen fixing something to eat he is right beside me. His name should have been Shadow but we already have a Shadow Kitty in the family - my brother in New York has a much adored cat named Shadow. Once I finish upstairs and start back down the stairs I say, "I'm faster than you, Little Kitty... I'm going to get there before you do..." and wherever he is, he dashes past the animal gate (that we use to keep Lily from going downstairs) and bounds down the stairs ahead of me and lounges at the bottom like he's been there all along. It's really funny to watch him.

When I go to the bathroom I say, "do you want to come with me?" and he follows me right into the bathroom. He checks out the water bowl I leave in there for the cats. He checks the shower to see if anyone has used it lately. He points out anything out of place. He supervises me on the toilet. If I have a candle burning he sniffs it. He had a little bead that he used to play soccer with while I was in the potty but it hit noisily against Austin's bedroom wall ONE TOO MANY times so Austin chunked it into the lake and replaced it with a rubber ball that Little Kitty doesn't enjoy as much. He does love to bat empty toilet paper rolls around.

The minute my laptop is put away and I pick up a book or my nook instead he takes advantage of my empty lap and jumps right up and curls into a ball for a nap. If I'm eating, he's right beside me tapping my arm with his paw, begging for nibbles. I give him the tiniest, itty bitty bites of what I'm eating. He prefers chicken above everything else. There is literally nothing I do during the day that he doesn't involve himself in... he's really my baby.

His favorite thing in all the world is his straw collection. He prefers the long green straws from Starbucks. We call them his "tings" (for "things"). He keeps them stored in his playhouse on top of the shelf where the other cats can't reach. Austin will take the straws down and throw them across the room to watch Trouble frantically chase after them and try to keep the other cats from getting them. He's very selfish with his tings. Yesterday he and Stubby were sitting side by side on the couch and Trouble was chewing his straw. The end was pointing toward Stubby so Stubby very stealthily stuck his declawed paw in there and slipped the straw away from Trouble. It was hilarious!

Stubby also bogarted Troubles treats last night. When I get the packet of treats down Trouble and Stubby line up for theirs and wherever he is in the house Eddie the Fat Cat will come bounding down the stairs to get his. Trouble won't start eating his until both Stubby and Eddie have theirs. Last night Oscar the dachshund followed Eddie down the stairs and while Trouble was watching Oscar to see if he was going to get a treat, Stubby slipped his paw in front of Trouble and snuck a few of his treats away from him.

Every morning the sun comes in through the sliding glass doors in my living room. The cats pick out a spot and sunbathe until the light goes away. It really doesn't take much to keep cats happy - a warm lap, a sunny spot, a few treats and some Starbucks straws.

In other news... there is no other news. It's all cats, all the time around here. Upstairs it's all dogs all the time.

Hope you're having a wonderful Thursday. Another week has zipped past us. Love and hugs, y'all!