animals – Page 2 – New England's Narrow Road

Richie Is Trouble

When we adopted our two cats from the Manchester animal shelter almost a year ago, I did not know what to expect. It had been a long time since I’d lived with cats.
There was a time of adjustment and at first I lost some sleep while the cats would roam the house all night and scratch at our closed doors, but once they began to go outside and run and play, they were better. Usually I now get a pretty good night’s sleep, but last night Richie had me up most of the night. I blame it on the moon because I don’t know what else to blame it on.

Fontana goes into the basement and sleeps quietly all night. I never hear from her until I get up and she hears me in the kitchen.
Richie on the other hand sleeps at the end of my bed until he gets antsy and then walks up to my head and sits staring at me while purring loudly… very loudly.

If I ignore him, he will do various things to get my attention such as knock over my water cup, chew on my eyeglasses, jump up on the bureau and chew on whatever he finds. His big trick is to flip upside down underneath my bed and pull himself along using my mattress!
If I refuse to get up and let him outside, he may dig his claws into my feet through the covers or dig at the side of the mattress.

Lets just say that Richie will not be ignored!

So I get up and throw him out and shut my door. That usually stops him for a few hours, but last night he kept on clawing at my door and meowing. Next, I tried the basement. He still spent much time clawing at the door, but I was able to ignore him.
So I am sitting here this morning not quite awake thanks to his antics. Once I get my wood stove going, which is in the basement, I won’t be able to shut the basement door at night and that will be a new problem.

The Downside of Having Cats

There have been no cats in my life for so long that I had forgotten the one thing about them that is uncontrollable if they roam the outdoors.

They will catch anything smaller than them that moves.

Richie, in the picture, showed his hunting skills just after he was adopted by us by catching a mouse in my kitchen in the early morning hours. And even though he and Fontana came to live with us in the middle of winter, Richie sat at the slider each morning begging to be let free.

Once we felt that he had become accustomed to this area, we started letting him out and he immediately began catching mice and voles. We’d always know when he had something because he would bring it up to the door and meow (with the creature dangling in his jaws) and beg to come in.

Everyone who has outdoor cats know that they do this. They love to show off their prize.

We have numerous large gray squirrels and also many smaller red squirrels in my area and Richie would crouch on the porch watching them steal the birdseed. Occasionally he would make a try for one, but the snow was too deep for him to get close.

The red squirrels are quick and I told my son that he (the cat) would never be able to catch one of those.

This picture proves me wrong and I don’t know how he did it, but he had to show me.

The chipmonks are coming out of hibernation now and he has also caught a few of those. I always feel badly when he kills something, but it’s his instinct and I won’t keep him indoors because he loves being outside.

Funny, Water Loving Cat

One of our new kitties -Richie- seems to be fascinated with water. They told us at the shelter that he would always tip his water bowl over and then lay in the wet newspaper.
We’ve caught him doing some strange things.

cat paws in water — Soaking My Paws - A Favorite Way to Drink

After a long day of playing in the water, it’s nap time and the Hangman game seemed like a good choice for a bed.

Cat sleeping on Hangman game — Hangman Makes a Nice Pillow

Move over Vincent Price!

The New Cats – One Week Later

As I watched the Patriots game on Sunday, I realized that I had missed last weeks game because I was getting lost in Manchester trying to find the Animal Shelter. So I said to the kids, “Hey we have had the cats for a week now!”

And I realized that they have really adjusted well to their new home and Richie (with the white face) seems to appreciate it the most.
He is such an outgoing cat. He wants to be in the center of everything – in fact, just a minute ago he was on my computer keyboard – he just jumps up onto the table and has to be in my face!
He is much better about getting on the counter and table, since we are teaching him “No”! I don’t mind the cats on my furniture or beds, but not on the kitchen counters and table. He has strange curly hair on his neck and belly which always looks matted although we brush him. That and his odd face markings give him a wild look.

Fontana is quite the opposite. Quite skittish and wary, but still lovable. She is small with lots of pretty long fur and is not completely black. She has white markings and grayish hair underneath. She likes to hide, especially if someone new comes in the house.

But both of them love to sit on the wide ledge of the front window and watch the birds come to the little feeder. They will sit there (or sleep there) for hours and pounce at the glass.
The best thing is that they like each other and have started to “play” occasionally. Richie is around 1½ and Fontana is 2. But all the cats at that particular shelter are strays so I assume no one really knows their ages.