Clothing with toys attached

Normally my mum slips her feet in her shoes and off she goes but she does have some special shoes with string attached for me to play with. She is wearing them this morning. She fips the string around for me to chase and I join in. Only polite to do so!

"Toby - I am trying to tie my shoe laces", she said and as she bent down to move my paws, oh the bliss, danglies off her top to chase. I appreciate her being so thoughtful of my entertainment needs with her wardrobe selections and get stuck in on the games so she knows that.

So why does she talk to me in that funny tone and move the dangly things out of reach? People are indeed perplexing.

Making my own fun

When mum takes extra clothes to work - warning sign. She came back really really late yesterday as she was out after. All the fun for her; stuck at home for us.

How to amuse myself without her there to manipulate the cat dancer? I found the box with the packing worms. Mum had left it pretty well closed so I wouldn't play with the worms and if I'm honest I hadn't thought about it for a while. Josie said I should leave it as mum said not to play with them if she was out but this was her fault for abandoning us like that!

It took a while but I was able to squeeze a paw in and skewer one worm. Og the excitement of that moment. Packing tape is no match for feline ingenuity! I flipped it and threw it and carried it round and had a fine old time.

When mum did come home she found it in the kitchen and wondered how it got there. I told mum that it had wriggled itself free of the box and made a run from its prison and it was only with amazing skill and agility that I was able to capture it and foil its plans for world domination. I think she believed me. I was pretty convincing,

Not my fault

The days are lovely and sunshiny but the nights and early mornings are still cold and dark so we don't like to play outside then. Which gives me quite a lot of bounce to use up indoors. Hardly my fault.

And if I move with such speed and stealth that I startle Josie into a near horizontal lift off and she makes the mantelpiece but hits the lamp thereon and sends it flying that's not my fault either.

And if we are both in a hurry to get away from the noise that the falling lamp made and run past my mum so fast she nearly trips over us and spills her tea, that's definitely not my fault.

I don't know why she shouted "Toby!" in that tone of voicse. I really don't. People are weird.

Josie the Charioteer

It is sunny all day long now which is one thing guaranteed to make us purr. Oh the sheer bliss of feeling your bones melt in the warmth as you relax in a pool of golden light. So our mum said it's time for the switch. Our bed lives by the radiator in winter to enjoy that warm but now the radiator is off so our bed has to be by the window to best enjoy the sun.

Mum can pick up and carry the bed but it has to swap with the big old armchair and she has to push that along. Josie loves to ride on furniture that is being pushed so she jumps up for the journey and yesterday mum asked her why.

Turns out Josie likes the films with Romans in and she imagines she is a charioteer, fur streaming behind her as she calls her beasts to run faster pushing her chariot round the racetrack. I wouldn't say mum pushes the chair that fast but a vivid imagination is truly a gift and Josie enjoys feeling mighty as she travels across the floor in splendour.

A house is not a home without a cat

We had a lovely sunny weekend and on Saturday morning I was helping my mum hang out the washing. She was having a sad moment remembering how Dylan would always come for a chat when she did that, and maybe a cuddle and then always some of our biscuits.

Then she went to the shop and came back with very sad news. Kishmal from next door has gone to the Bridge. He was only a young cat but he had FIV. As we know cats with FIV can live years with the right care and attention and he certainly had that but he got very ill and there was nothing the vets could do.

Mum was very sad and she was rememebering Henry as he and Kishmal were about the same age and played together when they were young. And mum said the saddest thing about loving cats is that they go to the Bridge way too soon.

"Why do we put ourselves through that?" she asked me. I don't know - but I am very glad that they do!!

She needed cheering up. I tried to be extra good. I slept with one paw tucked behind me like Henry showed me so she would know he is still here and I gave her lots of headrubs and purrs and Josie played some funny games which always makes her smile and then all three of us fell asleep in the warm glow of the sun.

When we woke up mum moved a cushion that a friend gave her and noticed what it said. On it is embroidered "A house is not a home without a cat" and mum said she reckons that's it. People take all the sad from losing cats because their homes are incomplete without us. As very happy completing cats we think it's a goodly system and as long as people have homes us cats will complete them.

The dignity of the majestic lion or me

Spring is coming. The days are getting more light and warm so I have been busy shedding my warm winter coat. Mum has been helping by brushing me and she was doing that last night.

I rolled on my back so she could brush my tummy. I lay back, eyes closed, purring away, feeling the gentle strokes of the brush on my tummy, dribbling just a little bit, and mum said, "Toby - have you any idea how undignified you look? You are a relation of the majestic lion, the powerful cheetah, the mighty tiger. They would never lie there and let someone tickle their tummies."

I considered this for a moment and then decided they have the short straw. Imagine never getting a tummy rub!

Thinking about my diary yesterday my mum was quite put out at the suggestion that I love her clothes because they smell of her. She thinks she doesn't smell but that's only her puny human nose not getting it. Of course she does. I think mums smell of love and happy and cuddles which is the most beautiful scent in the world.

My thoughtful mum

Mostly I like to be in whichever room my mum is in when she is home so I can keep an eye on her. But I don't so much like the kitchen (except at dinner time of course!) as it has no soft places for me to be. The floor is hard and cold.

But yesterday I went to chat to my mum while she did the washing up and I found she had made a little cat bed for me so I very gratefully curled up on it.

When she looked round she laughed at me. She said her sleeves were getting wet do she slipped off her cardigan and dropped it on the floor until she had the job finished.

"It's my new bed now. You can't have it back"

But she grabbed it when I got up. The story does prove the principle we all know - when you see a new comfy place to sleep - use it. You don't know how long it will be there for.

Josie's turn to be naughty

On the whole my mum is pretty well trained. She remembers to give us our food, fresh water in our bowl and unprompted many strokes and cuddles and games. But there is room for improvement. For example, sometimes I have to ask for playtime. And sometimes I'll be on the arm of the sofa enjoying some caresses and general admiration when her concentration will drift back to her book, the hand vanishes to turn a page and I am left.

Lately I have taken to tapping mum gently on the cheek when she does that. Claws in of course - it's a reminder, not a rebuke. And it works.

Josie had been watching the success of this ploy and taking note.

Last night I was asleep by mum's legs and mum was asleep and Josie went for a snuggle under the duvet nestled with my mum. She made herself comfy and waited for her headrubs but none came fast enough so out with the paw - smack - on mum's cheek.

I heard mum say, "OoooH" and then "Josie - that's not like you" and I heard Josie purr because she was getting all that lovely attention. Mum says she had been mostly asleep so wasn't too happy to be twacked like that. Josie says it's my fault but I don't tap hard, just gingerly, but Josie went for it full ginger!! So today Josie is the naughty one and I am good boy!

We don't like flea treatment

I saw my mum advance on Josie yesterday and then grab her and put something on her neck. "Save yourself Toby", called Josie. "Run like the wind." So I did.

I can run really fast but our flat is small and my mum quite determined and in the end she got me. Yikes! Flea treatment dripped on my neck. I don't like it at all.

Mum says when she was a little girl cats had it worse as they used aerosol flea spray and cats then would have loved just a few drops instead. I don't believe that to be true. Mum was never a little girl; she was borned a crazy cat lady.

Josie thought mum might have enjoyed the flea treatment thing so much she would want to repeat it so she hid. I thought that meant I would get all the treats to myself but Josie heard mum say to me that she was opening the cheesy ones and Josie loves cheese so dared to come out. Cheesy Dreamies. Mmmm!

The flea treatment smelled funny and I couldn't reach it to lick it off but the smell is wearing off and I think we've survived. I told my mum I would rather have fleas but she said that she wouldn't.

Da Bird is BRILLIANT

I love Saturdays - mum has more time for us and she does good stuff. One good job is toy retrieval where she reaches under all the deep dark corners and fills my toy box again and under the sofa - what do you know? - my cat dancer.

"How come it's there?" she asked. "I definitely saw you take it away but never saw you bring it back, let alone hide it there? How did you do that?"

But a good magician never tells.

The later there was a knock on the door and it was the postman with a parcel for me and Josie. Our new toys! We were all very happy with the people at Madcats as there was our new Cat Dancer, and Da Bird, and the balls and Josie's mousie and they couldn't send the flavour of Dreamies that we asked for so they sent is some different treats for free and we haven't tried them yet. Mum has some stupid notion about not having too many bags open at once.

We played with the cat dancer and the new balls and the mousie and then mum opened up Da Bird. I HAD to catch that thing. It swooped and soared and I leapt and ran and caught it once or twice but it kept getting away. I just had to catch it and didn't care what I bounced on or how tired I got doing that.

At one time mum said "I don't think I've seen you pant like that before Toby. I think you should take a rest". Not while Da Bird was still in the room! Mum tried to hide it but I saw a sneaky feather peaking out and went for it. In the end mum took it away and put it on a high shelf.

I have never slept so well as I did yesterday evening! How did I never have a Da Bird before?