Monday, August 4, 2014: I am the Tommy (Cat) Whisperer

Someone woke up in a crabby mood. Tommy woke up several times during the night. I think it had something to do with the HVAC unit. We haven’t used the air conditioning much, but last night was very humid, so I closed all the windows and turned the AC on.  Since I was going to have some alone time, I worked in the study for a while.

Later I learned the error of my ways. Tommy didn’t appreciate being left alone and spent a good portion of the early morning shunning my futile attempts at giving her affection. She spent quite some time on my pile of shorts on the table and I left her there until I needed to iron them while it was still cool inside the condo.

Tommy has a sixth sense. When I got out the ironing board she got off the shorts and moved to the dining room chair that she sometimes occupies. I finished the ironing and took a break. During that time Tommy would come up to me and want some petting and attention, but after a few minutes she would get into biting mode again.  I didn’t know what to do.

For some reason I just started whispering to her instead of my usual soft voice when I pet her. Her paws/claws drew closer together and she calmed down and didn’t want to bite me; she just let me pet her chest, neck, back, and head. Since I was on a roll, I decided to go all out and vacuum the condo.

Tommy usually sees the vacuum and heads for under the bed until I move the vacuum into the bedroom and then she heads for the living room. Today she stayed in the entrance to the bedroom and watched me toil away.  When I got within about six feet she finally headed to the bedroom.  When I brought the vacuum into the bedroom (turned off, of course) she wasn’t leaving from under the bed.  No amount of coaxing worked until I put both sides of the dust ruffle up and whispered that it was time to move. Off she went to the living room and I was able to finish.

The rest of the afternoon Tommy spent near me. I think she could tell that I was going to be leaving again for a while.  We played for quite a while with her fleece strip teaser. She then played with her mouse and rat while I got ready to go to a birthday celebration.

When I returned, of course I was scolded, but it didn’t last very long. I petted Tommy and talked to her. Then we played and headed for the bedroom to watch the news and go to bed.  All in all, it was a good day. I can’t believe that tomorrow it will be one month since Tommy came to live with me.

Sunday, August 3, 2014: A Pleasant Day

The day begins well before sunrise. Tommy wakes me and tries to get me to engage, but it’s still dark out and I go back to sleep. Next time when I wake up Tommy is over looking out the window. It’s around 6:00 A.M. and I finally give up around 6:30 and decide to start the day.

After completing the normal morning activities, tommy and I work on the Sunday Sudoku online. At one point she rolls onto the keyboard and suddenly all incomplete squares have the small possible numbers showing. I take this as a hint that she’s bored and wants me to be spending my time doing my number one task, petting her.

We spend quite some time making her feel happy and then she jumps off the desk to explore. When she sits by the screen door (and appears to be in a good mood) I figure now would be a good time to try the harness again.  After one poor attempt, Tommy lets me put the harness over her head, but she’s not ready for the clips to be attached. We try again and although she tries to bite my hand when it’s clipping the harness together I talk to her calmly and amazingly she lets me attach everything. I give her a treat and we’re ready to head out to the balcony.

Tommy gets to the screen door, but when I open it she doesn’t head out to the balcony. I sit out there for a little while and hope that she’ll make an attempt. Even putting a treat just outside the balcony entrance doesn’t work. We’ve made some progress and I’m happy about that. I come in, unhook her, and give her a treat.

I wasn’t sure how she would be after the harness incident, so I bring out her new toy, the fabric on the wand. We play together with it for over 20 minutes until she no longer seems interested. We start the laundry, but Tommy can’t figure out what happened to her other toy (the roll of toilet paper) in the guest bathroom.  She becomes bored with the laundry and heads back out to the living room.

While she’s by the dining room table I realize that there’s been a problem recently with the mother-in-law’s tongue. Tommy’s been trying to chew the leaves which hadn’t been a problem. I get out the aluminum foil to create a barrier. Tommy hears the crinkling of the foil and heads under the table.  When I finish I let her know that I’m all done and inadvertently whistle. Surprisingly, she comes out from under the table to investigate the sound. I need to remember this for future reference.

We spend the rest of the morning with Tommy lounging and seeking an occasional petting, especially the neck/chest rub that she likes so much. I have time in between pettings to work on laundry and at the computer. I must be slowly working my way out of the doghouse because Tommy is back sitting with me in the living room on her favorite chair.  The last few days she had been sitting in the dining room and wouldn’t venture into the living room area when I was sitting there…another small step!

Later in the day as I’m talking on the phone, Tommy finds a new place to nap. I’d put the shorts that need ironing on the dining room table, and she decided that it was a nice soft place to snooze. I now have a new excuse to put off the ironing.

Later when she wakes up and before we head to bed in about an hour, we play with the fleece strip on the wand and with the laser pointer. Hopefully she gets a good workout and will sleep longer tonight. We both seem to be figuring out each other and don’t seem to have as many missteps. She, at times, lets me work on the computer unaided, and I learn when it’s petting time and when it’s play time. Play time is not a time when I should to put my hands near her mouth. As I type this Tommy comes in to remind me that enough is enough and it’s “Tommy time” before we head to bed.

Saturday, August 2, 2014: I’m AWOL and learn the consequences

The day begins rather late and I have to rush around in order to get to rehearsal at 10 o’clock. Tommy is figuring out my routine and knows that I’m leaving, so she keeps running out of the bedroom.

After rehearsal I pick up litter, hairball remedy “gel” and a couple toys. When I return I find out that Tommy doesn’t like the hairball stuff even though people I talked to said she’d love it. I called my sister for a solution. Sure enough, one of her cats has the same problem. She tells me to put it on one of Tommy’s front paws. It works, Tommy licks it off, but I can see that she’s not happy with me.

I present toy #1, a ball on a spring on a platform. She investigates, but doesn’t seem to care. I’ll keep it out and hope that she becomes curious later. Toy #2 is a long piece of fabric on a wand. She loves this one and we spend lots of time playing with it.  This looks like it has the possibility of becoming Tommy’s toy of choice (for now).

I have to leave to attend a law school graduation/bar exam party, so it’s back to the master suite for Tommy. When I return a couple hours later, I give tommy her treat. I later find that she has spit it out on the bedroom floor. I’m not sure if she had a problem with the treat or with me.

I get the cold shoulder for the rest of the night. Tommy stays on her dining room chair and refuses all my offers of petting, play etc. When we head for bed and she heads under the bed.  Hopefully she’ll come out later in the evening when she feels better.

Friday, August 1, 2014:

My wake-up call came at 6:00 today. I assume that Tommy felt that since we had rested all day yesterday, we could get up a little earlier today. We both were well rested and in good moods. After the morning rubdown (petting) I was able to close my eyes for a few more minutes, but Tommy’s fore paw was always in contact with my arm, so I couldn’t bolt.

At 7:00 Tommy was napping, so I left to make coffee and catch up on banking (first of the month stuff).  I left the bedroom door open so she could come and investigate whenever she woke up.  I was wrong, when she woke up and noticed I wasn’t there she just started “calling” to me quite frantically.  I came running to see what the problem was as she came out of the bedroom. We almost collided, but once she saw that everything was okay, she let me know how upset she was that I had snuck out. She also let me know that I owed her another neck/chest rubbing.

I headed back to the study to finish my paperwork and also opened the window. Tommy had snuck up on me and I hadn’t noticed. When I moved away from the window, part of my foot stopped on her paw.  She went flying into the living room while yelling at/for me.  You guess it…round three of petting!

When everyone (meaning Tommy) was finally calmed down and happy, I headed back one more time to finally finish.  I was mistaken. As I was typing, she joined me on the desk and let me know that I was behind on neck/chest rubs, so round 4.  I don’t know how I fell behind since we hadn’t even been awake for two hours yet! Of course, my boss must have figured that I needed to work overtime for slacking off yesterday.

I finished all the paperwork, watered the plants and was finally able to sit down with a cup of coffee and the daily puzzles. Of course I barely got into the living room where my mistress was patiently (?) waiting and she let me know that it was time for round five!

As we were sitting in the living room. I noticed a large tent next to the lagoon in the park. As we went to investigate at the screen door, we found that there was a water ski show being held. We could sit on the balcony and watch all day if we wanted. I held Tommy up to the screen door so she could see the boat and skier. When she saw them she started growling. My brave kitty was protecting her turf. (As if they could get up here and she’s always brave when I’m holding her!) She proceeded to spend the rest of the morning either sitting in her favorite box in the study or on her throne, aka dining room chair, overseeing her subject (Me).

Missing Tommy saves my car.  After lunch with a friend, a car appointment, and running errands, I decided to skip my last errand and head for home. Had I done that errand I would have been in the parking lot in St. Francis that got flooded ruining several cars where I would have parked.

When the thunderstorm hits, we head for the closet and this time I bring Tommy’s food and water dishes with us. During some of the lower claps of thunder, Tommy is eating her crunchy food and hardly notices the noise. At one point I practice the songs I need to learn for choir. Tommy actually tries to open the closet door and escape. I guess I won’t be singing her any lullabies at night.

The rest of the evening is spent quietly. Tommy spends most of the time either under the dining room table or near the window in the study while I’m typing. She does, of course, allow me to pet her occasionally.

Tommy does show me that she can also use the scratching post in the living room to scratch not just sit on top. I also change out Tommy’s little mouse for a new one when I see that it is splitting open. She’s starting to play with more of her toys to keep herself amused when I’m gone or busy.

It’s time for bed and off we go, but who is reclining right in the middle of the bed? Tommy; I guess I’ll be sleeping on one of the sides for a change.

Thursday, July 31, 2014: A Day of Rest

Neither of us slept well and we both woke up cranky and I had a headache.  Tommy may have had one too, but she didn't tell me.  We spent most of the day just relaxing and trying not to get each other upset. Tommy stationed herself on a dining room chair where she could still oversee my movements and I stayed on the sofa.

Of course there were some P & P times…petting and play, but mostly we just napped all day. When it was time for bed, Tommy came bolting over on to the top of the sofa and kept staring at the wall. I looked up and noticed a bug crawling up the wall.  I got rid of it and Tommy got an extra treat for her vigilance.

We headed for bed, but of course Tommy now wanted to play. This time she was on her own and she did quite well amusing herself with her scratching post, rat, mouse, and ball. I fell asleep knowing that someone would be on the bed in the morning with my wake up call. 

Wednesday, July 30, 2014: An Unsettling Day

The morning starts out well, but Tommy calls out to me and goes to her scratching post in the bedroom.  I can’t figure out what she wants and we do this little dance a few times.  Then I realize that when she uses the scratching post and I notice, she gets a treat. She probably wants a treat but hasn’t realized why she gets one. She knows that it has something to do with the scratching post.

I go to the kitchen to get a seafood treat, but when I get there Tommy tries to bite my ankle, which is something she hasn’t done before.  I have a dilemma, do I give her a treat (that she hadn’t really earned) right after she did something inappropriate? I decide not to give her the treat, but we instead spend more time together. We play for a short amount of time because it doesn’t hold her interest. I try petting her, but every time we get to the neck and chest, I can tell that she’s not in petting mode, but play mode. This means that she may try biting again, so I go back to petting her head and ears.

The rest of the day goes well. I tried to give Tommy some chewable hairball treats, but she doesn’t care for them. When I mash them up with a turkey treat she does eat a couple. I’m not sure if it’s worth the bother. I also put some catnip on her scratching post, but instead of scratching to get it, she just vigorously licks the post.

Later when I’m working on the computer Tommy becomes quite agitated and I get up to investigate. She goes into the bedroom and sits on the scratching post and yells and yells. It appears that my little girl loves catnip and wants me to become her supplier.  I get her to come up on the bed and spend quite a bit of time calming her down. One of the things I enjoy is when I’m petting her chest and neck, sometimes she’ll take one of her fore paws and move it over on top of my arm that’s not doing the petting. It’s like she’s letting me know how connected we are.

I leave to do a couple errands and get in a walk. When I return and open the bedroom door, Tommy isn’t sitting at the door. She’s still on the bed, but does come down and let me know how she feels about me leaving her. I’m glad that she’s starting to get used to not having me around 24-7 (just most of the time).

I leave for a fund raiser event and as I’m saying good-bye, I notice that the end of Tommy’s tail is beating on the bed just like someone tapping a foot. She knows I’m leaving, but since I won’t be gone “too long,” with any luck she’ll be sleeping when I return/sneak back in.

When I return she’s awake and not very happy to see me. Try as I might, there’s no winning her over tonight. I’m not in the best of moods either, so we call a truce and turn off the lights.

Tuesday, July 29, 2014: A Frustrating Morning

The day didn’t start out well. Sometime during the night my hand and Tommy’s face connected. It wasn’t very hard and of course it was an accident, but Tommy didn’t see it that way. No matter how much I apologized and petted her in a soothing contrite voice, she would have none of it. She just yelled and tried to bite every time my hand came near. We slept the rest of the night, but I think both of us were unsettled by the situation.

In the morning nothing was changed. Tommy was still very upset and didn’t want to have anything to do with me. I decided to stay out of her way and proceeded to do some cleaning. While I worked on our bathroom, she would occasionally check on my progress, but still kept her distance.

During the rest of the morning, she would sometimes approach me and appear to want my attention. I petted her and spoke in a very quiet tone. Everything seemed to be progressing well, when suddenly she’d again try to bite me. This continued throughout the morning. At one point when I was dusting in the bedroom, I thought that she was under the bed, so to check I opened the closet door. Tommy didn’t come running and that was the first time that had happened.

After finishing the cleaning in the bathroom and bedroom, I decided to move to the study to work. Tommy came in and just kept yelling at me. I went over to her near the window and just reclined on the floor. She seemed to calm down and again we went through the petting ritual that again ended in a biting attempt.

After lunch I settled on the bed to watch some television and was joined by Tommy. She had a little “episode” which I think was a little hairball. A friend had mentioned petroleum jelly for hairball issues and I tried to get Tommy to lick some off my finger, but she didn’t want to have anything to do with licking my finger. I took out a couple small treats and coated them in petroleum jelly and Tommy licked and then ate the treats.

It seemed like after that episode we were on better terms. Tommy let me pet her and didn’t try to bite me. We settled in for a nap and I made sure my hands weren’t even close to her.  When we woke up Tommy was ready for her usual chest/neck rub and went back to sleep. Finally it appeared we were back to normal.

While Tommy slept I decided to try to catch up with some computer work. I was able to work for about 15-20 minutes before Tommy woke up and found me. I got my usual scolding, but was happy that the routine was back. She seems to be okay when I type, but doesn’t enjoy my transcribing. I’m not sure if it’s the headphones and microphone that bother her or that fact that I’m talking to nobody (which means “not her and nobody else is around).

I head out for a cookout and movie with friends. When I return, we have a little play time and one-on-one time before heading to bed. The day ended much better than how it started.