The Life and Times of Jake and Izzy (Illustrated)

So you have to admit Sam, Izzy and Jake have it pretty good. A zombie human to do their bidding, more toys than PetsMart and Petco put together, four plush cat beds, their own fleece blankets.... But why sleep in a specially designed kitty bed when there's a whole house to use as your mattress??

Here's Jake on the lamp table:

I see, a hard surface with a light shining in your face is comfier than a micro-suede bed.

And Izzy, as you can see, prefers his pillows in hardcover: Infinitely better than a soft fleece-lined kitty bed, right?

But I think I have to hand it to Jake on this next one:
Those 400-thread count sheets are pretty irresistible. Too bad that's MY side of the bed he's on! And just think of the stretching capabilities in a queen-sized bed! (Being the good zombie human I am, I just climbed in on the other side. Why fight a battle you're going to lose?)

And would you look at the tail on this cat?? It's at least 12 inches long. Grandad just calls him "long-tail cat." Evidently some cheetah ancestry is coming out in him. Not to make him run faster, but to help him balance when he does this: Hey, don't fuss at me about this--I'm a good human and make sure their water bowl is filled with fresh water every morning. Evidently there's just something irresistible about toilet water.

And now, here's my little black jaguar, Izzy, surveying his kingdom from his perch atop the ladder:

I'm bored.

But wait! What's that sneaking through the jungle?? (Honestly, he's lying down in the grass--my lawn is not that tall... yet....)
I will leap from my perch and defeat my enemy!

Eh, it's just Jake.

I'll get him later.

Sam bowed out of this production of Crazy Cat Lady Theater. There was a cool patch of tile in the kitchen he hadn't laid on yet.

Coming Soon: Bunny pictures!

I Hear and I Obey, Master(s)

*Edited to add a few extra comments*

We cat owners pretty much knew this one already: Cats Do Control Humans, Study Finds. (And to quote a fellow blogger--"No shit, Sherlock.")

Turtle would have made a good subject for this study, since he was always good at getting me out of bed to do his bidding. Mostly because he'd snuggle up on top of my head and purr in my ear and lick my face. It gave me the warm fuzzies and I'd do anything to make the old fart happy, so I'd get out of bed (most times carrying him) and get him some food. He would just purr away, all smug in his dominance over the stupid human.

Izzy's the same way, but his methods need streamlining--like not using blinding rage to get me out of bed. He meows away as I hurtle out of bed in the mornings to save breakable tchotchkes from hitting the floor and he takes off down the hallway only to skid to a halt in front of his partially empty food bowl. And when I say "partially" I mean you can see a tiny bit of the bottom of the bowl!

My struggles to combat this have so far been useless. Shutting the door on him just results in high-pitched "Mommy I'm dying" meows that drag on forever. At least Jake and Sam are smart enough to stay out of the way in the mornings. But let's face it, Izzy's working in their interests as well.

A few excerpts from the article, with my editorial opinions in parentheses...

Household cats exercise this control with a certain type of urgent-sounding, high-pitched meow, according to the findings. (No use trying to outwait them, it just gets worse, and I you wait long enough, you'll hear a crash coming from another part of the house--guaranteed to get you out of bed to investigate!)

McComb suggests that the purr-cry may subtly take advantage of humans' sensitivity to cries they associate with nurturing offspring. Also, including the cry within the purr could make the sound "less harmonic and thus more difficult to habituate to," she said. (As in ignore. That sound penetrates even the thickest pile of pillows. See the above-mentioned "Mommy I'm dying" meows.)

McComb said she thinks this cry occurs at a low level in cats' normal purring, "but we think that cats learn to dramatically exaggerate it when it proves effective in generating a response from humans." (What?? Cats exaggerate the desperation of their needs??? It all makes sense now!)

You can read the article in it's entirety at the link above.

Oh yeah, I heard a rumor that Sarah Palin hates cats. (Now you can sue me, too, Thomas Van Flein!)

Pictures to come of the furrballs' latest hits. But right now I must play Flying Spaghetti Monster with our system.

Eeek! There's a Flea on Me!

Had to treat the furrballs for fleas tonight. It was either that or get myself a flea collar. I was starting to have nightmares about the ravenous pests devouring me.

I threw down some food and hit them all with the spot drops while they were trying to outeat each other.* But once the food was consumed and they realized what I'd done, mayhem ensued. How dare I put some sort of foreign liquid on the back of their necks??

At one point Izzy turned into a one-kitten wrecking machine and raced around the house, leaping on top of everything and knocking as many items onto the floor as he could. Sam just raced around, dashing out of my way whenever I came near him, and he continuously vocalized his displeasure. Jake took it the best of all, staying quiet, but trying his best to get his head far enough around to lick the stuff off. Better go check on him just to make sure he didn't succeed.

*Eating has become a spectator event around here. Jake has torn a hole in the cat food bag and serves himself one pawful at a time. I don't think he eats out of the bowl anymore. Izzy drags me out of bed or away from whatever I'm doing whenever he glimpses the bottom of the food bowl. (But at least he's stopped going hunting!) When I give them canned food in the evenings, I dump the food on the plate and practically toss it at the meowing little piranhas. Not only that, but the two of them broke into the bag of rabbit food the other night and gave it a taste test. I had to hide it. Poor Sam just tries to get a couple bites of food whenever the other two aren't paying attention.

First Photo of the Bunny Haus!

Things have progressed far enough on the rabbit pen that it's ready for occupation!

OK, so the roof still needs to be finished, and trimwork done to make it match the house, but my bunnies can move in! Finally! They've been living at my grandparents' for way too long.

As you can see, I designed it to be transitional. Someday, after the bunnies are gone, it can become a greenhouse (and they just might find themselves sharing space with potted plants come wintertime!)

Grandad and I are working on it some more first thing in the morning. Hopefully I can bring them to their new home on Sunday.

But, if he doesn't start behaving, Izzy might be its first occupant. During the time it has taken me to type this short post, he's climbed all over me and the laptop, I've yelled at him about attacking the lampshade, he knocked a picture off the entertainment center and scaled the bookcase.