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?
