I'm a GOOD therapy pet, the people told me!

The humans take me to visit people in what they call a convalescent home/nursing home 3 times a month. At first I was quite scared of it. I've been getting more and more brave, however. My 'sister' Muppet goes with, usually; I guess she's been doing this for quite a long time.

This past Saturday I was the ONLY animal! No doggies, no Muppet, just me and the human.

My human told me I did VERY well, and gave me lots of treats!!

She said my best moment was in the section reserved for early Alzheimers or other special needs people (whatever that means). My human knows that there's one woman there who has very violent movements, and can't speak. The humans were told by her husband that she just adores animals, so we always stop by and say hi. On some occasions, when she's been quiet, the dogs have been put on the bed with her, but they rarely put us cats up there since we are more fragile. On this day, she was lying watching tv, and her husband was directly next to her in the chair holding her hand with his arm around her, and she was very quiet, just watching. He said to my human, "Can you put the cat up there with her?"

She said, "Well, we'll see - he's still fairly young, and might become frightened," and placed the blanket next to her in the curve of her hip. She then put me down on the blanket and asked me to "lay down". I curled up next to the woman, looking at her, and her husband directed her hand on me. She was a bit rough, but again stayed mostly still, and I wasn't bothered. I just watched her. I could tell she really enjoyed me being there. My human and I stayed like that for several minutes, with her watching me, before my human decided I probably had enough and gently picked me up to take me to the next room.

Then she gave me a nice big treat in the stroller and told me what a GOOD therapy pet I am!!!!

Frodo the puppy is fun, mostly!

I've gotten pretty used to Frodo, the puppy my humans brought him. He thinks I'm one of this puppy siblings. He loves to jump on me, and lay down on me, and nip me and pull me around. I will usually wrestle back. Eventually, he will annoy me, and I jump up and trot away. Sometimes he'll still jump back on top of me again; usually the humans will call him off if they notice me getting too irritated. I have nipped him before, and smacked him. However, we don't really hurt each other. He's sort of fun!

As a result, I'm no longer afraid of dogs in general (when I meet them doing pet therapy) and don't even pay attention to them!

The humans told me I'm VERY good now, I've even started lying down on beds next to the ill older humans in their beds! I do like being petted, even if I'm still sometimes a bit nervous. However, my older pal Muppet isn't nervous, and the dogs with me aren't nervous, so it calms me down a lot.

And then the humans give me chicken jerky treats!!!! (I think they are meant for the dog, but oh well.) I will now sit 'up' to beg on command, lay down on command, and even sit on command! Anything for a treat, right????

More "visiting"?

I know I heard one of the humans say to the other that this is a "visiting" weekend. I'm pretty sure that "visiting" means they wipe me up with clean wipes, put me in the carrier, and take me to a place with a bunch of elderly people. There, they roll me around in a stroller and I get petted.

I'm still not totally certain I like it; I meow a lot. Then again, I LOVE to meow! I meow all the time. Sometimes it seems to annoy the humans, but that's fine with me! I'm just talking back to them....

They are trying to teach me something. They keep sitting my butt down and saying, "Sit." But I like to stand on my hind legs! Especially since I can smell that they are holding treats. I don't yet know exactly what they want. It's not "up", that's standing on my hind legs. It's not "lay down", I tried that but still no treat. How frustrating!!

I hope they try to do that with me again today, at least I did still manage to get a decent amount of treats...

I'm having fun!

Last night I started rolling around on the floor with the puppy. We were both half-snapping at each other and batting each other. I only did it for a couple of minutes before I decided he was just too drooly and scrambled up and jumped on the couch.

For some reason the humans were laughing at me.

Why?

Didn't they buy me the puppy to play with????

The puppy is very entertaining, and totally not scary!

I changed my mind. This puppy-dog-thing can actually be fun sometimes. I still wish he wouldn't try to bite at my feet or tail, but he doesn't really BITE me so I'm not at all scared of him anymore. He's completely non-scary. If he pesters me too much, I just jump up on the couch, or leave the room altogether. That makes him sad, but hopefully will teach him to stop nipping me. Still, I walk right by him, and meow at him. And he gets really yummy treats! As soon as I see he's getting treats, I race up and stand on my hind legs next to him so that I can get some too! I'm taller, after all.

He does like to tug on my tail sometimes, gently. It annoys me but not that much. Sometimes I completely ignore it.

Sometimes we play a fun slapping game! I slap him, he runs away and comes back and barks, and I slap him again! I don't scratch him though, just like he doesn't really bite me.

The silly humans took me out 'visiting' (that's what they call it) on Saturday. Just me ... not Muppet. They said something about her being cranky lately so not to bring her? I protested, but they brought ME anyway. Still, I'm getting the hang of this 'visiting' stuff. The humans will hold me out to people to pet. Sometimes I get a bit squirmy, but it's not bad to have these strange people caressing me. It feels kinda good. And the humans keep giving me treats, too, while I do it, so I must be doing something right!

Ok, going to go laugh at the puppy all locked up in his carrier and then look out the window. Maybe I'll take a nap then!

The puppy is sort of fun, I think!

Last week I was SOOO bored. I kept chasing Muppet, and she finally got irritated and started to growl at me. Spoilsport. The female human called me over and I started chasing her fingers between the cushions of the couch.

Then the puppy came over.

He kept pushing his nose over the side of the couch and ducking down, hopping up and back.

So I smacked him.

He hopped up.

I smacked him again.

It was kinda fun!

I ran onto the top of the cat tree - and he tried to climb it! But he fell off.

I'm no longer at ALL afraid of him. He's definitely not going to hurt me. On the other hand, I didn't appreciate it when he put his paws on top of me when I was laying down. I had to scramble up and glare at him.

Still .. this might be kinda fun!

Humans are so boring....

I know what I like to do: I like to play. Those humans are always doing boring things though. They sit and stare at computer screens (I find it much more fun when I dance over the keys and they make fun noises!); they stare at that stupid TV (although when they put in the birds and mice video, that's fun!); they keep taking that puppy out in the yard. *I* want to go out in the yard! But do they take me? No! Well, not for a while anyway. They did take Muppet and myself out a couple of times, with our harnesses and leashes. I would like to go out some more, even if that puppy dog is out there too!

Muppet was playing with him the other day; he'd run forward and bark at her, and she'd lean towards him and smack him. (No claws though.) He'd leap away, and do it all over again. They both seemed to be having fun. Strange game.

I still think he might be fun to play with - he runs around a lot - but I still get nervous......

Still can't quite figure that puppy dog out!

I'm quite confused about this dog-thing. He still keeps trying to charge at us and get us to ... do something. Play, maybe. He dances around, and whines.

I have found out that he has OTHER treats that are very, very good. They must have been meant for us cats instead. One of them is this big tub, I think it is liver. I love it! When the humans leave it open, or open it to try to teach the puppy things, I grab the treats and run off with them!

I think it's only fair. After all, he has been eating my Temptations treats.

I still don't get the point of having him around, though....

I like kitty treats ....

I really enjoy kitty treats. The Temptations ones. Although I'm not above trying other treats.

The humans have said something about me being fat. Fat? Me? I'm still just a kitten! Granted, I do weigh a lot more than I used to. That's called growing up, right? Now they are taking away the food at night and during the day when nobody is home. How unfair! Now I (and my other kitty friends) can't snack as much! And then they got mad at me when I was foraging in the puppy dog treat box on the counter. Hey, I'm hungry!

I love being cuddled, too, and jumping up onto the female human's back. I don't really know what to do once I get there - sometimes I bite her long fur. I purr and purr and act real crazy.

I like being a kitten!

The puppy dog chased me this morning!!!

There I was, just walking around the living room minding my own business, when the puppy dog came in from outside and barked at me and chased me! The humans called him and he quickly stopped, but I showed him anyway! I hissed at him and growled. That'll show him.

Yesterday evening I was sniffing the puppy dog when one of the humans took out the Temptations treats. Well, I'll even do tricks for those! I was perfectly happy to sit next to the puppy while I got a treat. Then he got one. He ate one of MY treats!! But then I got another one so it was ok. I also went over and ate a couple of pieces of his food.

I'm STILL wondering if he might be ok to play with, once I teach him that I'm boss....