Friday, July 27, 2012

Photo Friday: Mr. Personal Space

Penwiper always thinks there's room for two.

Penwiper Squeezing onto the Billy-occupied Laundry Basket

However, while I've lost more pounds than they weigh together, I refuse to carry a laundry basket that loaded upstairs.  Katherine's not exactly keen on the idea, either.

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

A Nip of a Sip

Monday, July 23, 2012

Photo Monday Special: Happy Birthday, Penwiper

On this day in 2010, Penwiper was born.   Here's a picture of Penwiper doing what he does naturally, being in the center of trouble for his tiger housemates.

Penwiper, The Center of It All

Thursday, July 5, 2012

There's No Crying in Baseball

One of the rules in baseball is that you don't talk about a no hitter in progress, especially to the guy pitching it, lest you cause the gem to be broken up.

Likewise, my streak with no hands direction of Penwiper into the lavatory seems over now that I advertised it.   He declined to go into the room on mere verbal direction for his last two meals.  It was not unexpected, because he started to mutter unhappy meows before entering the last couple of times he did listen to me.

So it's back to picking him up or tossing a few kitty treats around.

Wednesday, July 4, 2012

The Cat Whisperer Strikes Again

Left unrecorded in these entries is that by the middle of May, Penwiper had become a discipline problem before meals.  All the boys get excited as we dish up their kibble, but Penwiper somehow feels excessive nervousness, and now swats at his housemates as he waits to be served.    This tends to stress his housemates.

We tried misting him, but it didn't slow him down enough to make a difference.  So we went to plan B around end of May, namely putting Penwiper in the lavatory off the kitchen until his kibble was served.  There are two ways to do this.
  • Katherine's method is to pick up him and set him in there; slightly stressful, but quick.
  • My method is a page out of The Way of Cats, in that I get Penwiper's attention by calling him and getting eye contact, go the door, and keep the other cats out of the bathroom while I wait for him come over and go in with my encouragement.  Since PW is a cat and not a dog, this requires that there are no distractions, and that he can generally feel he's part of the plan rather than a victim of it. 
When my method doesn't work, I revert to Katherine's system, but I actually have an excellent batting average.

In either case, we open the door to let him out as soon the bowls are down for Oscar and Penwiper.    It's like opening the gate at the Kentucky Derby -- Penwiper sprints across the hardwood floor, weaves past the kitchen island, powerslides around the end of breakfast counter into the dining room, and circles the dinner table to reach his bowl on the far side.

Now, I think he'd get there sooner using the shorter path with better traction on the rug through the living room, but I don't want to screw up his routine.  As I replied to Katherine this morning when she said that the Cat Whisperer strikes again:
Cat Whisperers do not "strike". We don't even extend ki. We merely allow the feline overlord to choose his own best path [via the bathroom] for his prompt feeding.
If the second half of his best path is losing traction on the hardwood, who am I to argue?