the world according to cats

Now that we have bedframes that may be raised, it's no longer possible to block off the area under the bed entirely from feline exploration, and Maia has taken to spending time under there to escape from Tybalt's tendency to treat her as a giant cat toy. How this will work out when we need to take them to the vet we'll discover in due time; their next scheduled appointment is in December.

Meanwhile it's causing curious difficulty with the feeding schedule. B. usually latches the bedroom door shut to keep Tybalt from bugging her all night, especially for food after about 3:30 AM. When it approaches their actual feeding time of 5 AM (which had been established back when B. had to leave for work at that time, and the cats have insisted on it ever since), as I'm often up then I usually feed them.

But Maia may be under the bed in a closed room down the hall from the bathroom where the feeding takes place. My approach to the bathroom is usually enough to bring both cats running, even if they're downstairs. But if only Tybalt appears I know what's happened. I put the canisters up on the bathroom counter as loudly as may be, with an aim at attracting feline hearing, then I go and crack the bedroom door open. No Maia. Then I feed Tybalt. The sound of that is enough to generate frantic scratching at the bedroom door. Re-open and a Maia comes dashing out.

Meanwhile, Tybalt's desire to prowl around my desk, usually blocking my computer screen, whenever I'm working, is now beginning to mutate into a desire to lie down and lounge on the desk surface. This would be fine if he didn't also insist on pawing at everything, gnawing and clawing on any papers nearby, biting the telephone cord and knocking the phone on to the floor. Pick up cat, hold it until it decides to jump down to the floor, which is the same thing I do when I enter the room to find him sleeping in my office chair, which is also often. If he doesn't stick around and prowl on the desk he'll go into the next room and sleep on B.'s office chair, where he'll stay until evicted from there also.