Kitten Love

Even though we've been together for 3 months, Rasputin still finds ways to amuse and amaze me. The way he is able to hang upside down on his cat condo to attack a toy. How he watches TV with me. Or when he starts channeling a parrot by sitting on my shoulder while I type on my computer. The intent way he meows in my face when he wants to sleep on me. His tail is the best barometer of moods.

The day starts with him pawing my face or licking my nose around 6:00 AM. He has developed another wake up maneuver too. Lately he starts digging at my down comforter like I'm buried under a pile of sand that keeps me asleep. He doesn't use his claws but gets into it to the point where he is completely standing on his hind legs and both paws are working in unison. It's a good massage for me but it wipes him out. That is when he just gives up and lies down next to me on my pillow. He might be lying directly against my nose or snuggled under my chin. For some reason he rests his paws on my face as he nods off. I can't figure out if he's showing affection or trying to block my breathing. It's around now that my alarm goes off.

He hangs out by his food dishes until I make it into the kitchen to feed him. Since I check my email while I eat breakfast, he perches on the back of my chair sometimes leaning over my head with his front paws on my lower neck. Again, excellent massage and good use of pressure points. I leave the window blinds open for him so he can perch and be entertained for the day. He follows me into the bathroom while I wash my face and brush my teeth. He's very stealthy. The only way I know he's in the room with me are his furry paws on the sink while he intently watches what I'm doing.. Getting dressed is another adventure for him. I usually lay out the clothes I will be wearing on my bed and he usually camps out on some item of clothing. If it's s sweater, that's fine but if it's pants with shiny new buttons, he'll start gnawing on them. His behavior determines the way I get dressed in the morning. Once dressed, he has no patience while I put on my make-up. Either he meows at me or paws at my leg to get my attention. For fun, I sometimes let him smell the perfume I will be putting on. The face he makes always cracks me up. Even though he can't understand me, I always leave saying, "Okay buddy, I'm off to work. You have food (I say as I check his bowl) and be good!"

When I get home. He sometimes is sitting in the window and meows when he sees me. Once I'm through the door, he is lying on his back rolling around my collection of shoes purring as loudly as possibly. I don't know why but I always pitch my voice babytalk high as I say hello to him. He goes over to his scratching post as I unload my stuff and kick off my shoes. I do a quick tour of the kitchen to check his food and the hallway with his litter box and when I get back to the livingroom, he's sitting waiting for me so I swoop him up. He gets a little antsy around 6pm. He meows a lot if I'm in another room and if I'm making dinner, he tries to jump on counters or paws at my legs. So I wind up telling him, "No, this is human food." often. If I have time, I try to sit down in the kitchen and play with him. He gets so happy that he winds up just plopping down next to me and showing his belly. WARNING cats aren't like dogs. They don't like their tummies stroked. It looks like an invitation for a petting but if you do you'll have 4 limbs and 20 claws attacking your hand. If he is very quiet during the evening and not in the room with me, he's either getting into mischief or playing in another room. More often than not, it's mischief. He likes to bring his toys to me if he's playing. If I catch him doing something bad, he does his "Oh shit." look and scurries off. I start with a stern no but wind up hooting with laughter as he runs away.

I clean his litter box as part of our going to be ritual. He knows the drill for going to sleep but whether he's ready, depends. Some nights he jumps in bed with me, curls up and goes to sleep. Other nights, I can hear him playing in other rooms and he comes bombing into my bedroom with a toy in his mouth. If I'm awake enough, I like to lie in bed and watch him play. Since I know he's extremely intelligent, I have come to the conclusion that he constantly "loses" squeak toys under my bookcase as a grand plan to set up a toy ambush. Or that area is his toy stash. Last night, I watched him play with 3 different toys that had been stashed there. I love his nonchalant move of walking away which turns into a violent attack. It's like he's saying, "You know what? I just don't care. See? I'm walking away. My mama is a what? OH NO YOU DIDN'T!" If it's that kind of a night, I will be waking up to a bedroom scattered with various cat toys from other rooms. Sometimes I roll over onto a jingle ball or a fur mouse. The toy battle has no boundaries.