If You Give A Kitty Food . . .

Hi All!

I am happy to report that my "naughty knees" are starting to behave themselves. This morning when I woke up they hardly hurt at all! YEAH! Now I can get back to a better attitude!

I was just thinking of the "If You Give A Mouse A Cookie" book. Have you seen it? It is a kids book and came out many years ago. It also has a bunch of "sequel" books like "If You Give A Moose a Muffin" etc. Anyway - the book is sort of a compounding story. If you give the mouse a cookie he will want a glass of milk. If you give him a glass of milk he will want a napkin. If you give him a napkin he will want something else (I don't have the book here and don't have it memorized but - you get the idea!).

Why was I thinking of that particular book this fine morning? Well, I decided that Skor is sort of like that.

Normally, Hubby and I get up no later than 6:30 and the kitties get their food around that time. On the weekends, we would both prefer to sleep in an hour or so but the kitties . . . . they are on a "regular" schedule and want that food at 6:30. So - if there is no sign of movement in our bedroom at around 6:00, Miss Cleo leads the charge. She stealthily creeps onto the bed and begins her "nudge campaign."

For those of you who don't own cats, the "nudge campaign" is when a cat - a pretty little animal compared to a human adult - curls up on the bed next to you. And then starts to move over closer to you. Then the cat nudges you and - being asleep - you move over. Then the cat moves over. And then nudges you - and again - you move over. This continues for a while until you finally realize that you and your significant other (or possibly the other side of the bed if you don't have a significant other) is remarkably close to your face.

You sort of wake up - look at the cat and then do the by-pass move. Because the cat is now significantly away from the edge of the bed you can move back and slide under the covers between the cat and the edge of the bed. Victory!

But now you are sort of awake.

That is the time for phase two of the kitty charge. This time Skor takes over. He leaps up onto the bed and lands on you - usually on your stomach or head. You might be able to ignore him from having lots of practice with cats on your head. Then he steps it up. He starts putting that cold, wet, little nose in your face along with the shockingly long whiskers which manage to get up your nose. You turn over. He heads to Hubby and gives him the same treatment. Of course, Hubby can sleep through anything so Skor is frustrated in that attempt.

Back to you. He starts trying to burrow under the covers and manages to scratch your shoulder in the process. No go. Then he begins to attack imaginary things which, apparently, are hiding all over your body. He jumps and tumbles and kicks. Still, you manage to ignore him (personally, I have had a LOT of practice ignoring kitties). Finally, Skor brings in the BIG GUNS.

He takes the leather "fishing pole" toy out of the water dish where it has spent the last several minutes (or hours) and is totally soaked. He drags the toy across the house and into the bedroom. He leaps with it up onto the bed. Then - in a move worthy of any strategist - he drops the cold, wet leather onto any exposed flesh he can find.

Now, I can ignore a lot but the shock of that cold, wet leather - Oh boy! - it got me moving.

I decided that enough was enough and got up to feed the cats. They were soooooo happy! I read the paper while monitoring them. If you don't watch, Miss Cleo (who needs to loose a bit of weight and eats weight control adult food) will switch dishes with Skor (who eats kitten food which is higher in fats and stuff like that because he is a growing boy!).

After they feast and finish cleaning themselves, it begins. The reason I thought of the book.

If you give the kitties food, they will want fresh water. If you give the kitties fresh water, they will want to play with the sopping wet leather "fishing pole" toy you removed when you changed the water. If you play with the "fishing pole" toy, they will never want to stop. If you stop, they will want to play with the string. If you play with the string, they will want you to run up and down and all around entertaining them. If you stop playing with the string . . . they will follow you around the house whining for you to play again.

See the similarity?

Interesting, isn't it?

Trisha

Voice Update: Still doing well. My neck is a bit tight from the whole "naughty knee" week but I am working on getting it loosened up!