I have heard rumours that a few of my more sceptical readers wonder if I am able to stand on my own four paws as you usually see me sitting or lying down. Well to scotch that concern, I thought we would have a bit of role reversal this month. You tend to see Ruari in more active postures than me but even he has to subside from time to time- and he can sleep a long time, especially in the summer when he goes out a lot at night. After breakfast we hardly see him until early evening as he is stretched out his full length on a bed somewhere in the house. He doesn’t even stir for lunch, which I find incomprehensible! He says that he doesn’t need lunch and cats aren’t really built to have that meal. What a silly, juvenile idea! I tell him he will grow out of that false notion when his digestion becomes as delicate as mine. He stretches, yawns, and turns over but I can see the thought bubble coming out of his head...
Well, isn’t this a nice picture of me pausing very briefly in my favourite activity just for you to see me bright eyed, bushy tailed and on my four paws (although you can see only 3!). I am looking meaningfully at Sandra telling her to hurry up as I have not finished yet. The dish is one of my favourites. A designer piece, bought for me from the Cat Shelter when I was adopted so it is a souvenir of the help and care I received there. Eating is a very serious business and requires intense concentration, particularly when you have no teeth. I prefer mashed to liquidised food as it has more texture and tastes better to me. It needs to be as close to real meat or fish as possible – and even better be real, even if I have to have it mixed with my diet-sensitive packet food and drops of Zantac. Getting older is not for cissies- it is hard work.
It has also to be done carefully. Recently, I was snoozing in the garden hidden under a shady plant, when a crust of bread landed on me. No sooner had the bread landed and woke me up, then Ruari also landed on top of me and sacred me rigid. When I came to enough to realise what had happened, it became clear it was all Sandra’s fault. She had lobbed a crust into the garden from where she was sitting having lunch, leaving it for the creatures in the garden. She had not known I was there – she assured me several times over. Then Ruari heard a sound in the undergrowth, thought it was a mouse, and launched himself from where he was under a plant to try to catch it. He got more than he had bargained for as I was not amused. He was shocked, of course – and all Sandra could do was laugh at us both! I mean to say, how careless – and then to laugh. So inconsiderate. I was very miffed – until tea time beckoned.
In some of the recent lovely weather we have had the outside of the house painted. This has not been too disruptive for me but the smell of paint tends to take the edge off the aroma of my food. Chris, our decorator, is a very nice man (even if he does have a d-o-g that he goes to walk at lunchtime). Chris being here has meant that even if Gill and Sandra are out, I can have the back door open and come and go without using the cat flap. So much more dignified. It is nice having him around to keep me company and he gives me confidence in the garden too. It has been too hot to be in my glass lean- to so I have discovered all sorts of new places to sleep in the garden, moving round with the sun and shade (and keeping away from flying crusts). The best places are, of course, the ones that Ruari has used and I then go and take them over. We have swopped beds in the dining room too as I took a fancy to his bed nearer the back door. Sometimes he can be so generous I almost feel guilty....on that note I had better hand over to him.
RUARI WRITES: Yes, I am a very chivalrous cat most of the time. I didn’t really have time with my mother to learn very much about this sort of thing. It seems to just come naturally, and I see Oscar treat Suzie with great respect as an older female. I also make a point of always saying ‘thank you’ for my meals by just nudging the hand of whoever feeds me. Suzie doesn’t deign to do this. She thinks she deserves to be fed on demand and her enjoyment is enough reward to her feeders but I disagree. I could not take meals for granted at all when I was on the streets as a very small kitten. I don’t think I’ll ever take food for granted, or the people who provide it.
My picture this month is indeed rather different for me. I quite like sleeping on a landing half way up the stairs. It is cool and everyone passes by so I don’t miss anything – particularly Oscar coming upstairs to bunk down with us sometimes. I’m told that the cat model is called Garfield. He used to purr loudly when you pressed his back but I prefer him quieter. He guards the stairs when I’m not there- and makes a great pillow when I am. I’m going to close my eyes again now. It was a hard night.
