Happiness is...

...clean sheets! Oh, how I love clean sheets!

I shall now be enjoying these for a while...Purrrrrrrrr!

I don't know if you know this, but...

...us cats have a favoured paw, and even a favoured claw, when pouncing.

I have watched daddy, and other humans, when they are eating (in case they drop food) or doing other humany things, and they always seem to use one upper-paw more than the other. Daddy uses his right upper-paw more than his left one.
Cats are similar. Just like daddy, I'm right-pawed. If I swat anything -whether it be a shoelace or a mouse- or if I tap it, to see what it is, I always lead with my right paw first.
If I need to use my left paw (or I've found something to be safe using my right paw) then I use it too.
If I'm really enjoying a game with daddy, by attacking a shoelace or a wire, I will then go for it with both paws and maybe grab at it, to bite it.

When I'm pouncing on things while hunting outside, I'll always use both paws, but lead with my right paw; this is the one that will come down on a mouse, bird, or frog first.

Us cats go one further than this though; we also have a favoured claw (or 'lead') on our favoured paw. This is usually the middle claw, but I prefer my claw just to the right of my middle one.
This claw will be the first one out, as I pounce on something, closely followed by the others.
I make sure that I pay special attention to this claw when I sharpen it on my favourite sharpening tree.

So, there you have it humans, something you might not have known; cats have a favoured paw and claw.
Watch out for your cat next time it pounces and you'll see what I mean ...


*Below is a picture of my 'lead' paw, with a little bit of my back paw showing.

 

Thank you Frederic's daddy!

I've had so much fun this morning that I forgot to have my mid-morning nap!

Frederic's daddy decided to sweep up all of the leaves, in Frederic's garden, into a big pile.

Firstly, the pile was all different colours; red, yellow, purple, brown, orange.
Secondly, it was huge! There could well have been hidden meeces, squirrels, or sparrows under there.

Lulu and Tinkerbell joined me and we started off by running into the bottom of the pile, as far in as we could go, just to see if there were any surprises there.
Then we switched to pouncing practice, on the middle of the pile. I thought I'd found something, and got excited, but it was just Lulu's paw.
After that we tried the biggest possible catty-leaps into the top of the pile. Tinkerbell got stuck, with her bum and tail poking out. Lulu and I found this funny, but Tinkerbell wasn't amused and had to spend quite a while cleaning her face with her paw.
We didn't find any treasure in the pile in the end, but it was great fun looking.
Frederic sat near the pile, and watched us, unamused. He had just been brushed by his mummy, so was not going to venture into the leaves with us.

When I got home, daddy picked me up and tried to cuddle me, even though he knows I don't like this. He made a sound like 'poo, you smell funny... and why are you all wet...'
I squirmed out of his arms, then miaowed loudly until he fed me.
Then I purred for a bit and caught up on my napping.

Loud Noises

That time has come again, when humans have lots of fiery things in their gardens; the things that make really loud noises and hurt my sensitive catty-ears :(

I was outside for quite a while last night, as daddy wasn't home, and kept having to run from garden to garden when I heard the noises. My catty-instinct always tells me to run, as it might be a big scary animal chasing me.
I did try hiding under lots of things, but could still hear all of the bangs and whistles, so that didn't help. It made my ears twitch so much that they started to itch and I had to scratch them with my back legs.

By the time daddy got home I was very upset, and miaowed at the door as loud as I could to be let in. Luckily daddy heard me above all of the bangs.
Daddy put some food out for me, which made me happier, but I still kept jumping while eating as the noises could still be heard indoors :(

After I'd eaten I went to curl up next to daddy, on the sofa, as he was warm and I knew I'd get some attention.
I tried to sleep, but my catty-senses were on full alert, with all of the noises outside, and my catty-ears were twitching and turning like mad. I did fall asleep here and there, but kept getting woken up, with a jump.
Daddy tried to keep me calm and didn't even get angry when I accidentally ate some of his dinner.

I hope these fiery things aren't around for too long. I really don't like them.
Think I might stay in tonight.

Curiosity

Daddy has been out today, and I have been indoors. He doesn't usually leave all doors, to different rooms, open when he goes out, but he did today.
Because of this my curiosity got the better of me and I decided to do a bit of exploring.

Firstly I ran, then slid, into the room where daddy makes his food (I think daddy thinks there's a complicated reason why cats run and slide across floors, but actually we just do it because it's fun).
I jumped up on one surface where there were two clear plastic things, one containing white grains, the other containing black grains. I sniffed the one with white grains in, then licked it.
I recognised it. It was salt. I like things that taste of this. Sometimes daddy eats a bag of flat crunchy things, covered in salt. If he leaves them lying around, and I smell them, then I go over and lick the bag and all of the flat, crunchy things, if I can get to them.
I didn't recognise the black grains in the other clear, plastic container. I sniffed it and it made me catty-choo lots and lots. I didn't like this, so I didn't lick it. Daddy might have to give the container a wipe.
I jumped down from this surface and up onto another one. There was a plant on it with a label that said 'Basil'. I sniffed it and it had a very strong smell. I decided to bite and chew it. It tasted horrible, so I spat it back out.

I went into another room with a long, wooden thing in it that I've heard daddy call a 'table'.
It had some kind of cloth on it. I wanted to see what was on this table, so I jumped up, but as my paws grabbed at the cloth it all slipped off the table, and I fell back to the floor with it.
I wasn't very happy about this, but did a little catty head-shake and was okay.

I thought I'd try a different room, the one with a bed in (but not the one daddy sleeps in / my bed). There are lots of things piled on this bed, so I had fun sniffing and exploring. There was something that looked like one of the sheep I'd seen in a field, but made of plastic. I swatted it a bit, then it made a 'fsssss' noise and became flat. I didn't understand this, so turned my attention to some wires, sticking out of a box, which I practiced pouncing on.
After a while I spotted a shelf that I hadn't been on before. It had a really good view of the garden and any birds that might be outside. I spotted some Sparrows and started catty-chattering at them. I got very excited and my tail started swishing. This made me knock some things off the shelf which smashed on the floor. The smashing sound made me jump, in fright, and knock more things off of the shelf.
I ran onto my usual bed, a bit scared, licked my paws, then fell asleep.

When daddy came in he seemed unhappy and shouted 'Bruce', so I just pretended to be really deep in sleep.



*??

 
 

A lazy day

I have lots of thoughts going round my head at the moment, and was going to tell you them, but i have decided that I have some vital napping to do today....

Reasons to be thankful

Humans seem to like having cats and/or dogs as pets. Some humans love cats, some love dogs (strange), some love both. Obviously I know which animal is best.

Some dogs can be ok; mainly for sleeping on, as they're warm, or for winding up.
However, I am thankful, every day, that I am a cat and not a dog, and here's why;


When dogs get wet they smell; cats don't.



Cats can bathe themselves. Dogs have to be given a bath by humans.



 Dogs are too silly to go out for a walk on their own; humans have to take them. Cats can go out when they want.


 Cats only ever eat things considered to be food. Dogs eat food, stones, socks remote controls...


                 
Doggy-slobber is messier than catty-dribble.


                 

Cat's claws are retractable, a much better design than dog's, which aren't.




Doggy-breath smells much worse than catty-breath.




Cats know not to have sex with random objects or human legs.




Cats realise the futility of playing 'fetch' and watch on in amusement when dogs do this.



Cats have flaps dedicated to them. Dogs don't.




Cats have the decency to bury their poo. Dogs, shamelessly poo anywhere, and leave it for humans to pick up.



Cats can gracefully leap onto high things. Dogs try, but fail.




Dogs chase their own tails. Cats are smart enough to realise that their tail is part of their body.



Dogs get bum-ache from wagging their tail when they're happy/excited. Cats use their tails to balance and to show that they are in pounce-mode.



In my opinion, cats are cuter than dogs.



I think there are more possibly reasons than this, so if any humans or cats want to add to this list, please let me know.