Friday Cat Blogging

The Hooligans and Their Kitty Kondo Condo
What an unfortunate name the manufacturer gave this piece of cat furniture. Being a bit of a language purist (when I change a word it is for my desired effect, not some ignorant sounding stupidity imposed on me by an advertising person!), I simply refuse to use it. Here we have Pippin, otherwise called Sweetie and "you soft black devil" or "Oh, NO you don't" curled up in his Cuties box. Both cats love curling up in slightly confining spaces and this box is a great favorite. At the moment I think it is under my desk, having been pushed there by Merry. Come December, I will need to buy another box of clementines so that they each have a box. (They did at one time, but my cleaning help threw one away thinking it was garbage.) See what pretty eyes Pippin has. What with him being black, that's about the only facial feature you can see when I take his picture from the front.

Here is Pippin getting some exercise. I drilled holes in the bottom of the "tiger ledge" and screwed in hooks to hang things from. I rotate various items onto these hooks and the Hooligans have a playground that they don't get bored with. Notice the wonderful sisal wrap around the scratching post -- actually I found this when I was in the pet store looking for a taller sisal post, because as you can see my boys had outgrown the scratching post a friend had given them when they were little kittens. The shop didn't have a taller sisal post and we couldn't find one in their catalogue, but there was this wonderful thing, and other than its silly name, I have been perfectly satisfied with it. Anyway, it allows for stretching and claw sharpening.

And here we have Merry getting ready to spring at the toy. Merry is also called Sweet Face and "Will you move your ass so I can feed you?" and "Bite my foot one more time and I'm throwing you out on the mountain and changing your name to Bear Bait!" That last is the name I am calling him even as I write this.

Merry is the larger of the two -- he was an ounce larger when I got them and now weighs two pounds more than Pippin. He is taller and has bigger bones. Pippin is the smarter of the two (as measured by being able to figure out how to get into more places I thought were secure [which is why all my cupboards have child proof catches on them and I store a box of Raisin Bran in the oven] and make more messes) and, because of being just that much smaller, can jump higher. Merry was the first to get up onto the tops of my kitchen cupboards, where he got stuck and had to be helped down. Pippin wasn't big enough for about six weeks after that, and although he had to be helped down the first time, he goes up and down at will now. Merry hasn't been back up.

Both, as with all of the tomcats I've ever known, are very affectionate. They love to cuddle with me and with each other. When they were very little, they would both curl up on my breast and the purring was very loud and comforting. They make a good team, tackling things together. My favorite time they did that, they were about eight weeks old and I was tying the bow in my draw string jeans while they climbed my pants' legs, batting at the strings. It is moments like that when I wish there was someone around with a camera, because it was very funny.

I got them about a month after Missy died. The apartment had become too lonely without her, and their antics, particularly when they were in the jumping-flea stage, made me laugh so much they reduced my blood pressure. I named them for Tolkein characters, and other than the fact that people hear Mary instead of Merry and think he is a girl, they are perfect names for them. Pippin is, as was his namesake, always into things and curious about things best left alone and Merry has a sunny disposition and gets into less trouble.