Ridiculous things we do for our cats

[RubyDarke]

We adopted our two girls from a local rescue last April. They are very loved - and very spoiled.
Example:

Every morning I make my bed as soon as I wake up, and spread a special purple blanket at the foot (not too close to the end though as our calico girl doesn't always have the best spatial awareness and has rolled off a couple of times.)

I then open the window blinds and draw the curtains back so that there is a small gap of about 1 foot (the width of a cat who 'could easily become tubby' - Vet).

At this point, I usually hear scratching at the door and loud meowing, and I have to let the Empress of Floof into the room. She first spends about 20 minutes chattering at the pigeons in a large oak tree from her special position on the window sill behind the curtain. Note that if the curtains are opened too wide she refuses to jump up and cries until they are adjusted to her required width.

After threatening the pigeons she then jumps onto the bed, makes biscuits on the purple blanket, or rolls around showing off her fluffy belly for me to admire, and eventually settles down for the first of her naps.

She does this every day. On days when I leave early for work, I have to leave the room prepared for her (or she cries according to my adult DD who works from home).

My DH seems to think that this is all ridiculous and that I am indulging her. I think I am merely ensuring that the Empress's needs are met.

But actually he's right and the bloody cat rules the household. While all this is going on, her sister just scampers in and out of the catio chattering at the birds. She is very low maintenance.

Please tell me I am not alone in doing daft things for the family cats?

Our kitten's only been home for two weeks but is already establishing his place as supreme ruler of the household. All doors must be left open, with enough of a gap for him to get through without having push the door at any time. Breakfast is at 0630 Zulu. Only DH may brush him but I am permitted to feed him, play with him and clean out his litter tray. He also uses me as a springboard at night to catapult himself from the floor onto DH's side of the bed.

Despite this clear favouritism, I caught myself the other day driving 10 miles on a special trip to buy quail eggs. The local supermarket only does hen eggs, which are too large for my precious ball of fluff.

I have loved reading all of these.
I am glad it's not just us - if you had asked me a year ago pre-cats whether I would become obsessed with making them happy I would have laughed! I haven't had pets since I was a child and now can't imagine a cat-free house.

Gorgeous cat and I love your neighbours!

Boy cat had his own YouTube playlist of mice and bird videos. He'd scream at the telly until you put it on. Then the inevitable 6kg cat meets telly at speed thing happened.... We now have a new telly, and he's not allowed to watch the mice. He still runs in the room if he hears the noise of the tv clicking through the menu options.

I didn't have cats until September 2020, and I've never looked back! I've got 4 now: aged nearly 5, nearly 4 and nearly 3. They're spoiled!
-own automatic cat feeder each (they're microchip controlled). Two of them have prescription diets, so there is good reason for this!
-two litter robots. And one normal cat litter tray.
-cat fountains.

They have the full run of the house, and the cat flap (also microchip controlled) is set to let them out at certain times of the day only (I don't let them out at night). They have numerous different toys and things that they like to play with. One of the boys (an MC) knows how to open doors, cupboards, drawers and turn on taps - and he's taught the other boy how to turn on taps, so that they can drink fresh running water from the tap. He also loves water and the weirdo jumps in the shower with us. They take over my bed, and my electric blanket, and the sofa, the kids beds etc. The MC's preferred way of relaxing is laying on his back, stretched out. He can easily take up half or more of the sofa doing this, so there is maybe a bit of space for someone to sit at the other end....we sit on the floor so that we don't disturb him.

I have robovacs in the house as they're quieter than my old vacuum cleaner. Also very handy for managing the insane amount of cat hair that comes with four cats (two of which are long haired). The cats like to sit on these sometimes.

I think I must be insane! But we love them, and I'm getting to the point in my life where I prefer their company to being around other people!!

I tape the catflap open for her. In winter. Because she wants to go in and out at her leisure, but she won't push it.

We live in a ground floor flat in a sort of court where the main bedroom looks onto the communal gardens so the catflap is in the bedroom window.

Meanwhile, senior lady doesn't like the cold, so she just gets the radiator blasting in the next room and all the thickest, warmest blankets.

Absolutely insane. They geniunely live better than most humans. Senior girl has been with me a very long time, pretty much all my adult life, and we're extremely bonded so she's earned every luxury. I don't know what the little one's excuse is. I'm just ridiculous.

I also pay for cat sitters when I have to go away for work so they never have to go to a cattery. The little one loves all humans, she has a great time, barely even notices I'm gone. I think senior girl does miss me, but she's infinitely happier than she would be being moved and she does accept fuss and love from her sitters.

Another one here who ties the cat flap into the catio open in all weathers so that she who must be obeyed can avoid the indignity of having to open her own door.
She has a little step in front of it which I had made for her to make the flap into the optimum height as a comfy look out spot for bird watching.

My front room looks onto the street and I kept my blinds all but closed for privacy. Except when I had my late little love. I put the bottom few slats horizontal so he could look out, even checked from his eye level in his favourite chair to make sure he had a good view. Though he also used the table

He Who Must Be Obeyed is a lenient overlord. I am, of course, Chief Door Butler and he prefers I do this rather than use his cat flap. When he wants to go through a door, he actually lifts his paw up and knocks on the door .

He never miaows but communicates through stares.
There's the Cheese Stare...
Mice on You Tube Stare...
Play With Me Stare...
Accompany Me Into the Garden & Admire Me Stare...
You're Sitting Where I Should Be Stare
...And the very important Food Now Stare

I couldn't possibly tell you what the difference is between all these different stares but somehow they are different & I get the message loud & clear each time.

All the neighbours seem to know him so I guess he has them well trained too.

Another mention of door butler duties has just reminded me that, as well as being a visible security presence for the protection of the Prime Minister and everyone else at 10 Downing Street, an important part of the job appears to be being door butler for Larry the Downing Street cat

https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1AA9JG3jsN/

Little lord Fauntleroy is the newest member of our family and only feline.
i am food boss and nose kisser.
dh is a kind of shoulder parrot perch which must be available whenever little sir wants.
human brother is hunting trainer.
youngest dog must leave his dog bed whenever sir wants it to be vacated (left nice and warm)
old dog is to be avoided. He had a run in with her when he was tiny. He does like to sniff her occasionally though.

Never knew there were so many cats that won't open their own cat flaps before 🤣

My friend has a cat that is very finicky and keeps demanding to be fed then ignoring her food. We were watching TV and she came and demanded, and I said "[cats name], you don't even like food" and my friend said "No, but she likes service"

Why do we do it?

I've gone from 6 selfish bastards down to 4 now. We say that once these are gone, there will be no more.

What do you lot think???
😂😂😂

I do everything you chaps do and more and wouldn't have it any other way.

As of yesterday, DKitten now has a special step to allow him to spy on DH taking a bath.

Ours too! Miss Puss likes to sleep under the duvet, but also to get up multiple times a night for a drink of water, the lolz, etc. She then stands by my face tapping me with her paws until I lift up the duvet in exactly the right way so that she can inspect the position of my legs to see if they are acceptable for sleeping on. Only when she is satisfied will she go under the duvet and arrange herself. If I am not facing the right way, or holding the duvet up in the right way, she will refuse to go in and will walk about the bed poking me with her feet in annoyance.

If the duvet manoeuvre is required but I’ve not woken up swiftly enough, she will poke her whiskers into my face or try to lick my forehead until I wake up in horror and disgust at my face being licked!

We share a yard with our neighbours and when they needed to replace the solid gate he cut a little arch in the bottom of the gate so my cat doesn't have to jump up on the wall to get into their garden. She has gone into their house since she was a kitten and can often be found stretched out in front of their fire. When she hides from us if it is time to go to the vets, one call from our neighbour and she comes running. We are just the slaves that feed her!

DP cut a hole in our fence so the cats could get easy access to the woods that back onto our house.

We also have a hole in the living room door so we can close it in the evening to keep the heat in while still letting the cats come and go as they please. Embarrassingly, we didn't think about this until gas prices rose and it turned out we'd been using about 50% more heating than we needed for years.

When I get out of bed, I don't pull the duvet back flat if I've partly covered a cat up and she looks 'tucked in' and all cosy and warm.

I walk the streets shaking bags of Dreamies when ours have disappeared when it's time to go to the vets.

They hide in the bushes and laugh at me, only returning when they know the vets are closed, or I've called to cancel the appointment.

I leave a really tiny amount of water in the bath (new water that I've rinsed the bath with, not actual bath water) so he can get in and have a drink and a paddle.
I make him boiled chicken which I tear into little bits and keep in some tin foil in the fridge. He knows that as soon as I take the magic foil package from the fridge it's time for chickies 😋

Senior girl is still in great health, she's 14 but the vet says her heart, lungs, teeth, coat are all excellent and she's very fit for her age. But when the day comes I do sense her slowing down, I can honestly see me refusing work travel until she goes. What can I say, we've been together since she fit in the palm of my hand. She now lives a life of absolute luxury and indulgence and will until the end of her days. The only minor inconvenience in her life is the little one, actually. She's doesn't really mind her but she has to reprimand her sometimes, like all young cats she can be rambunctious and likes to do something I call "poking and provoking" with her paws.

During the freezing snap this year I caught them on the bed together with senior girl using little one's extremely long, dense tail as a back and bum warmer though, so she does have her uses!

My cat has decided my office chair is her bed. If she comes in while I'm working and wants to sleep I move to the dining room (with no screen and rubbish chairs). DH thinks I'm being ridiculous. She does have a comfy sofa, various chairs and her own bed but she loves to sleep on this chair!

I have to keep the lid of my laptop, which is connected to a big screen and separate keyboard, closed so one of the cats can sleep on it. But it developed an overheating problem and when the IT tech opened it up as he said that the fan was probably dusty, it was clogged up with cat hair

I call Cat One when I am making the bed because he loves playing in the new sheets and having blankets over him. He usually hears the linen cupboard being opened and comes running, but if he doesn’t I call him.

@Bjorkdidit My dad had this big new American-style fridge he was very proud of. One day it inexplicably stopped working. He tried tinkering with it himself, but no luck. Eventually he got an expensive specialist company engineer to come out to fix it. The engineer took one look at it and said: “Have you got a cat, mate?” The engineer took the vent panel off at the bottom and a load of orange cat fur came out!

It turned out cats like to sit by the fridge vents for the hot air, and then their fur gets sucked in and clogs it up 😁 It was a very expensive visit for the guy just to clean some cat hair out of the vent…

Proper lol at the neighbours and their water feature. 😂😂