Another blind kitty needs a good home

The folks at FOCAS have another lovely, blind cat waiting to be adopted. If you think you could provide a good home for her, please see the link below for further information:

Sweetheart the blind cat

Kitty librarian

Tulip kitty has a new habit of sitting in the bookshelf. I can't imagine what she thinks she's up to, but she gets in there quite often.

"Hey! Where are all the braille books?"

Observations

Tulip kitty is an interesting character to live with. We've been together for a few months now. She tolerates us pretty well. Although sometimes it feels a bit like she's just tolerating us. She's very sweet and affectionate, in her own way. She comes by and rubs up against us and lets out a little chirp when she feels like a pet. However, she doesn't like to be petted a lot. I pick her up and hug her every day, which she hates but puts up with. She likes to play. She doesn't really like to sleep with us, but she does it once in a while. Mostly she likes to sleep alone, then come visit when the alarm goes off. She likes to sit close by, but doesn't want to be touched. She's SO independent!

I wonder how different things would be if she could see us. I wonder if she thinks my hand is some other creature touching her, and that's why she sometimes attacks. I wonder how much more we could communicate with her if we could look into each other's eyes.

She's a great cat. She seems to be happy. She's definitely well taken care of (or spoiled as the case may be). I'm glad we found each other. Even if she is a little punk! =^..^=

Mama's home

Last night when I got home from work, I opened the garage door. Eve said that she and Tulip kitty were in the office, which is right above the garage. She said that Tulip felt the vibration of the garage door opening and started sniffing the floor. Then she felt the door close, so she let out a squeal and trotted over to the stairs. When I opened the door, she was there to greet me. Now that's sweet. I came in and scooped her up to give her a kiss. Then she bit me. Now that's my Tulip kitty.

Kitty punk

Here's my sweet angel, Tulip kitty, messing with me. I was just minding my business, flipping through a magazine when she started in. Eve grabbed the camera and caught the best of it on video. Man, it's a tough crowd around here! It's a good thing I have a sense of humor.

And now, When Punks Attack...

Splish splash I was making a mess

Last night Eve could hear splashing in the kitchen. She went out there and caught Tulip kitty playing in her water bowl. There was water on the walls, the floor, kitty's place mat, everywhere. She was reaching in there with her paws and flinging water all over the place. Punk!

This morning while I was in the shower I could hear bowls clanking together. Eve caught her at it again. This time she spilled her water bowl all over the floor. Kitty needs a birdbath now?

Nails on the chalkboard

Tulip kitty has a really weird, new habit. She walks right up to the wall, reaches up, and drags her claws lightly across it. It sounds just like fingernails on a chalkboard.

I know. I just got the chills too.

I have no idea why she likes to do this, but she does it all the time now. This started maybe a couple of months ago. The funny thing is that she’ll do it really quickly and sneaky-like. She’ll be walking down the hallway and suddenly reach up and make a quick screech on the wall, then keep going like nothing happened. Or she’ll be sitting close to the wall with her back turned to it, then suddenly reach over and SCREEEECH. Then she sits there looking innocent. It’s kind of cute, in a sick sort of way. I think she’s doing it just to mess with us.

Darn fan!

Our house has been blazing hot, but neither of us really care for air-conditioning. We usually run the ceiling fans instead. Last night we had the ceiling fans going as well as a window fan, so the air was blowing around in every direction.

In the middle of the night, Tulip kitty decided to come up on the bed. She came over to me, got some pets, then laid down with her back up against me. Then she noticed the air blowing on her. She seems to be really confused by the fans. She feels something touching her, but can't find what it is. She kept reaching out with her paw, swatting at the air. It was driving her crazy. She finally settled down after I rested my hand on her.

When she woke up this morning, the fans were ticking her off again. She started in with the swatting, and got herself so worked up that she bit me. Why am I always the target of her frustration? Punk!

Kitty soccer video

Here's a poorly mashed together video of Tulip kitty playing with her catnip ball. As I mentioned in yesterday's post, there is a cute moment (at right about the 1 minute mark) where Tulip is playing, then suddenly notices that the plant is missing. Subtle, but cute. At about the mid-way mark we are playing kitty soccer, but she loses interest, so we give up. The rest is basically Eve and I trying to get her to ignore the camera and play.

Bob's missing!

It's amazing how observant Tulip kitty is, even though she doesn't have any eyes. If anything around our house changes, she finds it. We have a ficus tree named Bob in our bedroom. Yesterday Eve took Bob outside for some sun and a thorough watering. Tulip was making her way around the house and noticed that Bob was missing:



"Hey guys! Someone stole Bob!"

What's even funnier is that we have another plant in the living room called Alma. (And yes, Bob and Alma, if you're reading this, our plants are named after you two.) Last night I put Alma out on the deck with Bob. Tulip was playing with her catnip ball when she noticed Alma was missing too. I actually caught her reaction on video. Hopefully I will be able to post that tomorrow if I can find the time to finish editing it today.

Back-talker

This morning I was in the bathroom getting ready for work. I could hear Eve out in the living room talking to Tulip kitty. I couldn't hear what she said, but it sounded like Tulip didn't approve. I could hear her squawking back in reply. She was probably still annoyed from waiting for her breakfast this morning. We pretty much had an instant replay of the other morning's breakfast routine.

I can has my own room?

Tulip kitty apparently thinks that we hog the bed too much. She has decided that the bed in the office is now hers. She gets up there and spreads out like she owns the place. Eve said that when she left the office last night, kitty was all stretched out, snoozing away. Wyatt Bear is in there with her, so she has some company. Quite often she spends the whole night in there. In the morning when the alarm clock goes off, she gets up and comes in to make sure I'm getting up. She's a funny little character.

Kitty HUNGRY!

Quite often I am the first one up in the morning. Tulip and I have a morning routine. I go out and get the coffee started. Once that's going I wash her bowls. Her water bowl gets filled first. She checks that out and turns her nose up at it. Then her food bowl gets filled. I give it a little shake as I put it down so she can find it. She checks that out, then "looks" up and waits for me to put the food container away in the cabinet above her. Once I'm done she starts eating.

This morning Eve got up first. She has quite a different routine. First she starts up her computers. Then she gets the coffee going. Then she reads some email while she waits for the coffee. Notice there's no feed Tulip kitty in there. Well, apparently Tulip was upset about that fact this morning. When she went to the kitchen with Eve and didn't get any satisfaction, she marched back into the bedroom (where I was still sleeping) and screamed at the top of her little kitty lungs. KITTY WANT FOOD NOOOOOW!!! There's really nothing quite like waking up to a Tulip scream. Needless to say I got up and fed her. I guess it's clear who wears the little fuzzy pants around here.

Kitty Stack

I have this plastic drawer organizer, and of course my blind little Tulip Kitty finds it underneath the computer table. She would plop herself on top of there and sit while I work at the desk. Well, she'd leave kitty funk (hair, dirt, and unidentifiable nasties) on there, and so I decided to stack papers and whatnot on top of the organizer to prevent her from getting on there.

It worked. Well, for about a few weeks. Part of that time, I would also work from the dining room table, so I wasn't always in the office. Today, I decided that I'd go back to the office to work. I set my laptops up as I liked and began working. She took a nap on the bed first, and then started walking around the office. I subconsciously noticed her under the desk but didn't think anything of it, since my pile of crap was still on the organizer and I had no fear of my pile being disturbed.

Some time goes by and I hear shifts of movement. Thinking that it was impossible that she'd be on top of the entire pile was ludicrous, so I chock it all up to her just messing around the thing. But out of curiosity and the need to confirm my suspicions, I looked under the desk and beheld a cat at face-level. She had climbed on top of the pile, which only had a 10-inch clearance with the keyboard tray pulled all the way out. Had the tray been pushed in, she would have had almost 4 inches less.

My surprise and disappointment of my foiled plan was quickly replaced with chuckles of disbelief. See the pictures of her contentment as she defiantly sits where she considers to be her spot and there's nothing anyone can do about it!

Late-night soccer match

Earlier today it was pretty hot in here. There were about 200 screaming kids in our swimming pool, so I ended up closing the sliding door to the deck. Without the circulation, everybody was groggy. I was sprawled on the bed studying. Eve was sprawled on the couch napping. Tulip was sprawled on the rug in the hallway snoozing under the breeze from the ceiling fan. Apparently those two are well rested.

Right now I'm trying to do some homework. Eve and Tulip kitty are down the front stairs kicking up a ruckus. They're playing soccer, as Eve has come to call their new game. I just heard her say to Tulip, "Alright Mia Hamm. Is it half time yet?". Tulip's not ready to settle down yet. I can hear her flying up and down the stairs and her little ball bouncing all over the place. I'm sure our neighbors love us.

We seriously need to wire this house with cameras...

Picture from Ray

Here's the picture of Tulip that my brother Ray took the other day when he was visiting. Kitty's always hogging the computer.

Pet now, please

I've noticed that Tulip kitty has a system for when she wants or doesn't want to be petted. When she feels like being petted she comes over, turns around, arches her back and waits to be petted. When she's done being petted, she flops herself over onto her side and bites you if you pet her.

So if you ever come over to visit, just remember:

Pet: |
Don't pet: __