Day 163: Be careful what you wish for

My Project: 365 Creative Writing Prompts

Day 163: Be careful what you wish for

Many years ago, I asked a Ragdoll forum member if this breed of cats can ‘talk’. “Can they talk,” she replied, “The question is, do they ever shut up!”

Once I had a Ragdoll myself, a rescue we named Gabriel, I was somewhat disappointed that he was a rather quiet cat. Occasionally he would utter a meow, but on the whole Gabriel was too laid back to make a fuss about anything.

A few months after Gabriel passed away, we adopted two more rescues, Halley and Greyson. I hoped and wished that one or both would be ‘talkers’, but for months they remained tight lipped.

Overnight that changed when Greyson found his voice. For the longest time he was a quiet little kitty cat, but no more. Ever since he found out that he can produce a sound, he's been talking non-stop. He cries for food, he cries for attention, he cries when he can't find one of his toys, he cries for everything.

And he's got different kinds of cries. Food has one cry, for attention has another cry, and when he can’t find his spring or toy mouse that’s another cry still. If you were to hear his cry for attention you would agree … it can melt a stone heart. Yes, it’s that pitiful.

In case you’re wondering why he cries for food … I have no idea. Greyson, along with the others get breakfast, for during the day they have dry nibbles, and around 7:00 p.m. they get their dinner. So they never go hungry and there’s really no need to cry.

Neither is there reason to cry for attention, as Charlotte, Holly, Halley and Greyson get plenty of pets and kisses. 

The thing is, when I’m peeling potatoes, Greyson wants to see what I’m doing. If Dieter is doing dishes, he wants to inspect the works, and when the beds are being made, Greyson makes sure the wrinkles are smoothed out (every cat lover will know what I mean by that). If Greyson is kept out of the loop, he cries.

As for crying if he can’t find one of his toys … well , that’s a different story altogether. Greyson’s favorite toy is a spring. When we first adopted him, Jackie (his foster mother) send him off with a packet of 10 springs, we bought an additional packet and later on another packet. That’s 30 springs altogether and he systematically lost them all. He knocks them under chairs, under the washing machine, the fridge, a cabinet … you name it. Every now and then when we clean under the sofa we find a few of those springs, but things are a little more difficult when retrieving them from under the fridge or the washing machine, those things are heavy.

Greyson knows this, where he put his springs I mean, not that the machines are heavy, and wants us to lend him a hand in getting them back. When we tell him no, or that we can’t do it, that’s when the crying starts. So what do I do … no, I don’t move the fridge or washing machine, I’m not Wonder Woman, I go on Amazon and order new springs.

Just goes to show, I wanted a talkative cat and now that I have one ...

The Catmosphere

Just the other day I warned that pet owners should think before they buy a cat toy. But but I don’t exactly practice what I preach. http://connymanero.weebly.com/blog/cat-toys-think-before-you-buy 

It all started with Holly licking her bum. Not once, not twice, but constantly.

When I had a look I noticed that her backside was rather dirty, and the skin around her anus red and swollen. With Dieter’s help, her bum got rinsed with clean lukewarm water. A few days later we repeated the process.

Despite our best efforts, Holly’s bum didn’t get better. She continued to lick so I decided to take her to the vet.

At the vet’s office, Holly’s backside got examined and as it turned out her anal glands were enlarged. She got treated and the doctor said that she should be better within a few days.

However, that was not the end of it. The vet said that Holly was overweight. This was not news to us, we knew Holly is on the heavy side, but we didn’t know what to do about it. She eats a normal amount of food and gets daily exercise.

The vet suggested switching her regular dry food to weight management nibbles, increase the exercise and get her a catmosphere ball. The concept behind the catmosphere ball is simple … instead of giving cats their dry food in a bowl, the catmosphere ball is filled with nibbles, cats slap the ball around and in the process it dispenses food. In other words, cats have to work for their meal.

It sounded like the perfect plan to me and I wasted no time getting Holly (and the rest of my cat family) not one but two such balls. The balls were filled with nibbles, placed on the floor and introduced to the cats.

And what do you think? If you think Mickey, Charlotte, Gabriel and Holly enthusiastically started slapping the ball around, think again. They looked at it, sniffed it and … ran away. And I do mean ‘ran’, they didn’t just walk, they backed away and took off like bats from hell.

Not wanting to give up that easily, I decided to demonstrate to the cats how to use the ball, and what their reward would be, but no, they wanted nothing to do it. I placed the two balls in two different locations, but wherever the ball was, they walked around it in a big circle. Eventually, I had no choice but to fill their regular food bowl with nibbles.

If anyone bought this ball for their cats, whether it’s a failure or a success, please share your experience with me.

www.connymanero.weebly.com

Cute baby owls looking for a home

A few weeks ago, while cleaning up a storage room at work, I came into possession of this baby owl and 499 of his closest friends. I opened a box and there they were, staring up at me with their cute little brown eyes.

I immediately thought of donating the lot to Goodwill. When I called and made inquiries if someone from the organization could pick up the box I was told that they didn’t do pickups. “Can you bring the box?” the woman I spoke to asked. 

Euh no ... it was a big heavy box, how was I going to do that? “Can you take a cab?” was her next question. 

“Will Goodwill pay for the cab?” I asked. 

Negative, a cab ride would be at my own expense.

My next call went to the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto. When I inquired how I would go about donating about 500 owls, the hospital representative asked me “Are the owls individually wrapped?” 

I replied that they were not wrapped at all, but packaged together in a large box. 

“Then don’t bother,” the woman said, “we’re not interested.” When I asked why, she replied “We don’t know what you did to these toys. You might have stuffed drugs, needles or razor blades in them. Goodbye.”
Oh yes, that’s what I do. I go around buying toys and then stuffing them with drugs or sharp objects. Preposterous!!!

So now I either had to throw the owls away or make a plan with them. The choice was easy ... I’m sure there would a lot of children who would be thrilled to have a little baby owl.

Interested? The cost price is only $1 and the proceeds go to The Toronto Cat Rescue (TCR).  An organization where no cat or kitten is turned down or put down. TCR is in need of funding though and every little bit helps. http://torontocatrescue.ca/

To receive your very own baby owl, please leave me a comment and upon payment of $1 this cute toy will be mailed to you at no additional cost.

Happy Birthday Gabriel

It’s been a while, hasn’t it?
With the A/C back on and the cooler temperatures in general, there’s nothing left to moan and groan about. In fact, I was downright cold yesterday. I had goosebumps.
If only the A/C had broken down now, now that we don’t need cooling.

So with nothing left to complain about, let’s concentrate on the cat family. My little boy, Gabriel, turns two tomorrow.
It seems like yesterday that I picked him up. A tiny ball of fluff. He was such a little angel. Hence the name.

Gabriel as a kitten



Gabriel today



For his birthday he got a little present ... a mouse. He plays with the thing so much, biting it, clawing it, throwing it around that this is actually his fourth mouse. Take a look at the before and after shot.