It's a Cold, Cold Cat-World

I'm convinced my three cats are affected by the cold temperatures we're having. And they are all coping in their own ways.

First, Rusty, the oldest cat. All he's doing is eating. And eating. And eating. I can't keep dry food in the cats' dishes because he will eat every morsel, then sit there licking the bowl for any miniscule particles that might be clinging to the bowl itself. I'm surprised the bowls don't have skid marks in them from his constant licking.

And don't think he eats just cat food. If Gracie doesn't eat her food, then Rusty's face is in that bowl as well. And how he can crunch down on that dog food is just beyond me. That cat is 12 years old so his teeth can't be as sharp as Gracie's. Right now, I'm waiting for a call-back from our vet. Maybe he can tell me what I can do before Rusty eats his way to beachball-size. Right now, he's about the diameter of a soccer ball.

Then there's AngelBoy. My prissy little blue-eyed cat who isn't happy with the cold because he can't sit out underneath the azaelas and watch the birds. He'll go out in the backyard first thing in the morning and stay there for maybe ten minutes, till his little whiskers feel the frost. (And there has been frost out there on these cold mornings.)

When he gets too cold out there, AngelBoy will mew pitifully by the screen-porch door. When I let him in, he'll run through the porch, then run into the breakfast room. After munching daintily on a few morsels of cat food, he'll walk into the TV room and curl up in the recliner that's closest to the windows. He will rest his chin on the arm of the chair and you'll hear him sigh as he looks out the window. Sometimes there are birds out there in the bushes, but usually, the birds stay in the backyard at the feeders. I'll hear AngelBoy sighing a few times till he realizes that the birds aren't going to sit by that window for him. Pitiful, pitiful sound, that little mew.

Then the youngest cat, ShadowBaby. He hates, hates, hates to be cold. He'll curl up under my chin at night, or curl up next to my back and pin me underneath the blankets so I can't move a muscle. Unless, of course, I get out of the bed by scrunching up to the head of the bed and practically sitting on my pillows to get out. (Which I've done many times, so as not to disturb ShadowBaby.)

No matter how warm we keep the house during the day, ShadowBaby wants it warmer. He'll curl up in the warm corners of furniture, or on top of the dryer when I'm doing laundry. This morning, as I was pulling warm towels out of the dryer, ShadowBaby jumped down from his spot on top of the dryer and landed on the warm door of the appliance. When I got all the towels out of there, ShadowBaby decided that inside the dryer was the place to be, and that's where he curled up. Of course, I left the door open so he could stay in there till it cooled down.

And I knew exactly when it cooled down, because I heard an aggravated mee-ooooow from the laundry room when ShadowBaby jumped out of the dryer. That cat found me in my sitting room and he sat here right in front of me, his eyes wide open with a look that seemed to say "Can't you turn on that dryer again?"

I am praying that our warm weather comes back. These cats need time out on the screen-porch before they drive me nuts. This weather makes me wish we had enclosed that porch with glass and added heat and air-conditioning, instead of just putting up screens. Hmmm..... now that's an idea. No, we're not going to do it. That's all I'd have to do. My neighbor V is convinced that we screened-in the porch for the cats, not for us. No matter how much I tell her that we use the porch, she insists we would've left it all open if we didn't have the cats.

Now honestly... how could she think that my cats are that spoiled.... =^..^=