Retreat to Pluto?

Oscar's behavior seems strange this morning.

First off, someone scratched his nose last night. We assume he deserved it, as the boys are not prone to stalking him unbidden. (They are more likely to power wash him!)

But Katherine thinks he acted normal after she saw the scratch.

The scratch did not stop him from pouncing on Billy on the bed in the middle of the night. I peeled him off multiple times, but didn't (I think) really chastise him.

(Side note ... the third time, he came up, and he started cleaning Billy, which he never does. I was considering intervening if it escalated when I was realized it was really Whitey, not Oscar. He curled up with his brother and they slept together nestled up to Katherine. Much better than prowling Oscars kicking Billy off the bed.)

This morning, the first we saw Oscar was that he crawled out from under the bed. He hasn't used that refuge in months.

He had to be coaxed into his suite for breakfast, which normally doesn't require more than a hint we're headed there around the proper time. And most of all, when he walked up the hall to his suite, it wasn't a happy gallop, but more a wary trot.

After breakfast, Oscar was capable of cuddled-lying-on-my-chest-purring mode, so hopefully he'll recover his general good cheer. (Hoping he'll lay off stalking the boys is wishful thinking.)

Update: Katherine came up with a good theory. We turned on the furnace last night, which mostly just runs after 6 AM in this weather, and he doesn't like it. This would be similar to how he was nervous about ceiling fans when he first moved in to the kitten farm.

Further update: Yep, it's the furnace. And even within 24 hours, he is noticeably less upset by it. He'll be fine.

We'll Never Forget What's His Name

It was a year ago today that The Grey Mouser retired as self-propelled cat toy for Billy and Whitey in order to take up his position as Kageneko, the most important kitty in the world. Our thanks to his new valets for providing the update on his status, not to mention the love and care they have showered on him in the past year.

Meow Spoken There

From the NY Times, a story of kitten rescue in 450 sq feet of NY apartment.

Four Up, Four Across

While moving furniture about in the bedroom, we put a night stand across the bathroom doorway from a moderately high wooden bookshelf. Whitey hopped up on the empty nightstand, looked at the top of the bookshelf ... and Clark Kitty transformed into the one true Spider-Cat.

Katherine and I watched, amazed, as Whitey's focus narrowed to the top of the shelf. He measured, coiled, relaxed, measured again, coiled ... and launched himself across the doorway to the shelf. He only made it by his front claws, but that's not issue for the Spider-Cat -- dangling from the side of the shelf, he pulled himself up to the top of his new conquest.

That was four feet horizontal, four feet vertical, or 68 inches straight line (5 feet 8 inches at a 45 degree angle) that he jumped. We measured.

We moved a cat tower next to the bookshelf to ease his descent, and moved the nightstand out of the room before Spider-Cat could stage an encore at 3 AM.

I wonder what the claw marks in the top of the shelf look like.

A Day Without Cats? I think not.

If you're looking for a day without cats, keep looking.

Billy is in the seven foot tower in Katherine's office.
Whitey is a top the five foot cat tower in my office.
Oscar is a top the similar five foot tower in the library.

Three warm sleepy felines, each in a happy place.

Our departed Emily even has an made appearance, as this half hour's wall paper on my second monitor showing Her Emilyness eating on Katherine's desk.

A day with cats, for sure.

I did, I did taw a puddy tat!

A young cougar has been reported to be roaming Seattle's Discovery Park multiple times in the past week, and they caught him early this morning. The handsome fellow has been released to the wilds north of here.


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