Tag: a cat's life

Finnegan's Diary

Toilet Paper Is Tempting (Finnegan’s Diary)

Carol Ann Erhardt3 Comments

Hi! Finnegan here. I asked mommy to let me show you a picture of one of my favorite spots. This is where I eat. Mommy bought a funny food bowl that has little compartments. It makes me take longer to eat my food. But it’s okay. I don’t mind eating slower. It keeps me from from feeling a little sick like before when I gobbled my food in seconds. Mommy says it comes from me having to fight for my food on the streets. I wish I could tell her the truth about my past life. She doesn’t understand what’s in my memory banks.

I like all the food my mommy gets me. Doesn’t matter if it’s chicken or fish. I love to eat! She doesn’t buy me the food I really love which is dry food. I kind of miss it. She says it was making me too fat. I don’t think I’m fat, I’m just fluffy!

I eat at the same time mommy eats. We have three meals a day and then a snack before what she calls ‘Nite Nite Time.’ That’s when the lights get turned off and she gets in the bed I let her share with me. Sometimes I sleep where I can look out the window. There are different things to see in the night time. Once I saw a bunny under one of the bushes outside the window.

We had a quiet kind of week. Mommy went out on her church day, but I was good. I only napped in the office window bed while she was gone. The only bad thing about Sundays are having to wait a little longer for lunch.

When mommy came home from church this week, she had a new kind of brush for me. I haven’t decided if I like being brushed at all, but she keeps trying. She says if I don’t get brushed I will get matted fur and have to be shaved again. I don’t want that to happen! She also had new treats. The only time I get treats is after I get brushed. So I’m getting a little better about letting her brush me. It doesn’t hurt, it’s that I don’t like being touched on my body. I try not to get defensive, but I can’t help laying on my side and getting my back feet ready to attack. I smack with my front claws and my ears go back. I know it scares mommy, so it keeps her from brushing me. She suckered me in yesterday, though. She sprinkled my ten treats in different spots on the carpet in front of me. While I was too tempted to eat, and she spent the time brushing my tail and sides. One good thing is I can’t eat on my back, so she hasn’t been able to brush my tummy! Ha!Ha!

One afternoon I went into mommy’s bathroom and found what I thought was a short roll of paper towels. She’s put our paper towels under the sink now where I can’t play with them. So I grabbed this new roll, but it was a lot softer! I loved it! I started to bite it and was going to bunny kick it when she came in and saw me. I tried to play innocent. I gave her my best innocent look ever. I hoped she’d think I found it on the floor and was just trying to put it back for her. Don’t think she bought it.

Later I went into my bathroom where my litter is kept. Yep, sure enough there was another of those shorter, softer, paper towels on a roller! I couldn’t resist! This time mommy didn’t catch me. I had a lot of fun unrolling it! Later mommy found it. She laughed ’cause I heard her.

I have learned it isn’t a roll of paper towels. It’s called toilet tissue. Imagine that! I didn’t get into trouble, though the only thing mommy does when she gets upset is to tell me no and then move me someplace else. I don’t like that though and I jump around and give her a dirty look to let her know I don’t appreciate being told what I can and can’t do. Too bad she ignores me.

Mommy also got something new from one of her friends. It’s a puzzle board. It sits on a table and it slants to different angles. There are four hidden drawers, too.

I tried to jump on it once, but it was slippery because mommy puts a cover over the puzzle she’s working on. So now, I just enjoy walking under it. Truthfully, it’s boring. I don’t understand what fun she gets from sitting there so long. I’d rather be lame and lay on the floor and roll the balls around on my toy. She keeps it, a tunnel, a kicker stick, and a mouse on the floor in the office so I can entertain myself when I get bored or the sun gets too hot in my window bed.

Gotta go now. Mommy is getting ready to take over the computer. See you next Wednesday here on Finnegan’s Diary! Have a meowy good week!

Finnegan's Diary

How to Train Your Mommy (Finnegan’s Diary)

Carol Ann Erhardt1 Comment

For the past four months, I’ve been training Mommy without her knowing it. I’m a pretty clever cat.

She has that same sense I have to know when someone is staring at you. So when I want to have my snack, I sit right at her feet and stare at her. No matter what she’s doing, she will look down and see my handsome face staring at her with narrowed eyes, which means “I love you.” She smiles and takes my face in her hands and tells me she loves me too. Then she says, “Do you want a snack?” Of course, I do, and now she understands. I do my little jump in a half circle trick and sit by the big white pantry doors where I know my food is stored. And she gives me those yummy chicken or fish flavored Greenies. I love them. I counted them and she gives me 10 of them.

When it is time for my meals, I will sit in front of those pantry doors and cry. That really gets her. She doesn’t want me to be unhappy. So she’ll say “Are you ready for lunch?” or “Are you ready for dinner?” Of course, I am. That food is kept in one of the cabinets in the kitchen. I know just where it is, but it’s in a can and even if I could open the door, I don’t think I could open the container.

I have also trained her to know when I’m bored and want her to play with me. All I have to do is jump on the kitchen counter and pull all her pretty folded dishrags out of the basket onto the counter! That always gets her attention. Sometimes, if she’s watching television, I will jump on the television stand and try to get behind it to play with the cords which she hides in a basket. Another trick is to knock anything she has placed on the counter to the floor. Yesterday I knocked her phone off and an envelope she said she had to mail. One of my best tricks, is to either sit in the middle of her coloring books, or lay on her pencils in the case. Ha, ha! I also will sit right in front of the computer screen so she can’t see. That’s a good one since she is a writer and spends a lot of time on her computer.

She knows now when I’m bored and will ask me if I want to play. When I’m being annoying like this, she will pick me up, kiss me and say do you want to play? Of course, I do! Then we go to the living room and she will play with me. I like when she will pretend to chase me so I can run really fast from one room to the other. I like to show her she could never catch me if I didn’t want her to.

I’m sure you have learned a few things about how to train your mommy. I hope you’ve learned a lot from my blog this morning. Time for me to take my morning nap. And, yes, sometimes I do hang off of it. I do fit comfortably but sometimes I like to let my legs hang off. Why? Ha, ha, it worries mommy that I’ll fall. At least she thinks about me when I’m too tired to get her attention.

Bye for now! I’ll be back next Wednesday when I’ll talk about how much I have changed from the day mommy brought me home.

Finnegan's Diary

Cat’s View of Thanksgiving (Finnegan’s Diary)

Carol Ann Erhardt2 Comments

Mommy was telling me about Thanksgiving. I heard the word but didn’t really know what it meant. She explained that Thanksgiving means focusing on the things that God has provided in our lives and telling Him how thankful we are. She said gratitude has a lot to do with attitude, and that even though our lives might not be all we want them to be, we should find the blessings and give thanks. She said we should look for the important things we are thankful for, like family, and love.

I’ve been thinking a lot about this word. I decided the most important thing for me is my mommy. She rescued me, and she shows me every day what it means to be loved. She feeds me and keeps my tummy full and even gets on the floor to play with me. I’m thankful for her.

Showing Mommy how much I love her isn’t hard. I follow her everywhere she goes. I like to touch her and give her kisses and hug her. Most of all I like sleeping on her lap. I’ve been doing a lot of that since she explained about Thanksgiving because I want to show gratitude.

Another thing I want to show gratitude for is my tunnel! Mommy bought it for me and I have so much fun hiding inside and running through it as fast as I can! Sometimes mommy will throw one of my fuzzy balls in the tunnel. I run through and when I come out the opposite end, I have the ball in my mouth. I toss it high in the air and then chase it around the floor. Mommy says I’m getting my exercise. So I’m full of Thanksgiving for my tunnel, too.

Mommy says I need to tell everyone Happy Thanksgiving before I close my blog today. Wishing all of you lots of turkey and all the trimmings, full tummies, lots of smiles, and a very Happy Thanksgiving!

Finnegan's Diary

Comfy Sleeping for Your Cat

Carol Ann Erhardt2 Comments

It’s me, Finnegan, back again! Today I want to talk to you about the importance of being able to find good sleeping perches. Yeah, I know the bed is a good place to sleep, but I need to be in the same room as my mommy all day long. If I spent my time on the bed, I’d miss out on a lot of things.

This week we had another visitor. Mommy’s birthday was on Monday and a guy mommy said was her grandson stopped by. It was a surprise since he lives in Indiana, and she didn’t know he’d come to town. I liked him. I liked him so much that now he’s gone, I like to sleep on the sofa where he sat when mommy is watching television. I guess everybody who visits sits in this same spot. So, why not me?

Other times, I like to be on mommy’s lap to nap. The other night, though, she was watching one of the Harry Potter movies she likes to watch this time of year. How do I know? Well, she told me, of course. They are fun to watch!

This week I felt proud of myself for being brave enough to sit at the very top of the cat tree! Don’t I look great! I like to lie down in different spaces on this tree that is mine, all mine!

Mommy spends a lot of time in her office. She talks to people through her computer screen. I don’t know how she does it, but I like to try and touch them and catch their hands when they move. But most of the time when she’s in her office, she spends typing. She’s an author, whatever that means. I like to have her attention, so I walk back and forth in front of her a lot. Mommy pats an empty space on her desk for me to take a nap. If the sun is shining, I might do that for a minute or two. But now I have the most comfortable bed ever that lets me be near mommy, look out the window and take good naps. There’s even a little pillow where I like to rest my neck. It feels like my kicky stick. I like this new bed so much, I even slept there last night while mommy was snoring. (Shhh, she doesn’t like me to tell people about her snoring.)

It’s very important for kitties to get enough sleep to keep their energy levels in balance. I’m happy my mommy understands this. I’m starting to get tired from all this typing. Don’t know how mommy does it for such long periods of time. Time to get into my window bed and let mommy take over. I’ll be back next Wednesday! Until then, remember kitties need lots of places to play, sleep, and even hide!

Finnegan's Diary

I Met My Doctor!

Carol Ann Erhardt
Finnegan

Good meowning! It still isn’t light outside, but I still like to look out the window. I see things mommy can’t. She keeps asking, “What do you see? I don’t see anything.” It’s funny.

We had a visitor last week. She brought me a new toy. It’s a birthday cupcake with three candles and it smells like catnip. I liked the new lady. Her name is Donna and she loved all over me. That made me happy. I hope she comes to visit again.

One of our neighbors stopped for a short visit. His name is Skip. He bent down to let me smell his hand and then I let him pet me, too. When he stopped, I followed him to get more loving. I like loving the most of all.

Two days ago, mommy took me out of the house! I didn’t like the bag she put me in. I couldn’t get out, but my head was out so I could see. So scary in the big garage and then in the big SUV! Mommy put me on the seat next to her so I could see her and she could pet my head. I didn’t cry, but I was afraid to move. I didn’t want to get lost. The sun came in and I liked to feel it on my face, so I closed my eyes.

Then she stopped and took me out of the SUV. We went into a building where I could smell all kinds of things. Cats and dogs and other stuff! When we walked in the door one of the ladies called Cindy said, “Is that you new baby? I want to see him.” So she came over and loved on my head. Mommy wouldn’t take me out of the bag and it kind of made me feel safe on her lap. The people kept saying I was a ginger. Not sure what that meant, but they seemed to like ginger cats, whatever they are. I guess I’m one of them.

We went into a room by ourselves and a man came in. Mommy took the bag off me then. He looked at me and petted me and put me on a scale. He said I weigh 12 pounds and 6 ounces. I think I’ve gained over four pounds since I came to live in my new home. Next the doctor came in. Her name is Dr. Powell. The man came with her and another lady. Mommy showed them all a picture of what I looked like when she brought me home. They all said I was real handsome with my long, thick, silky coat. I purred the whole time the doctor was checking me out. I didn’t try to run or smack anybody. The man, Caleb, helped mommy put me back in the bag. Then we got back in the SUV. It didn’t take long for us to get home. I ran into the bedroom and under the bed, until mommy said I could have some treats for being good. I hurried out to get my reward. Doctor said I was in good shape, but gave me one more Revolution treatment to clear the last of the ear mites out of my itchy ears. But she did say I was a little overweight. She told mommy to slowly take away my dry food and only give me canned food. I don’t know what that means, but I hope it is a good thing.

Tomorrow we have another new person for me to meet. She is mommy’s friend, so I know she’ll be great. I like to meet new people and I sure do like to have them pay attention to them.

I still get in battle mode when mommy wants to cut my nails. I don’t like it. She keeps wanting to put me in the bag again. I don’t want to go there. She says she’ll be able to cut my nails if I do. I know what that means! I suppose she might reach out to someone to get help for this. She says if daddy was here, it would be easier. I don’t know who daddy is, but mommy says he is in heaven.

Well, that’s all the new stuff that has happened since I took over mommy’s computer last week. Time to go and give the keyboard back to her. I’ll be back next week with more of my adventures!