The Musings of a Minnesota girl: Foolin' the Cat

Y'all know we have a cat. He's an 8 year old orange Tabby that we adopted from the Humane Society 2 years ago. His name is Sylvester. Syl for short.

And, he's got it rough in our home, as you can see.

Over the months, as Syl came to settle in, he learned our routines and our habits. And since his favorite time of the day is meal time, he became especially keen in learning specific habits of ours around that time.

Syl is fed in the morning before I leave for work, and again at night before I go to bed. So its about every 12 hours. Meal time is the only worth while time in a cats life, and I wholey believe that. Every other minute of the day must be pure torture to them.

So. Our precious adopted kitty is now one of the most annoying creatures on the planet. This cat howls and screams and growls. He whines and nitpicks and bitches about everything. And he can't even talk!

I wake up. As soon as the alarm goes off, Sylvester pounds on the door. Yes, you heard me. He pounds on the bedroom door. There is an 1/8th inch of space in the door and the jam. So when he paws at it, it literally makes the door bang against the jam.

I get up. I let dogs out. I shower. Its when I open the bathroom door and Syl can see what I'm doing in the bathroom (drying my hair, applying my 'face', curling my hair, etc) that Syl knows its time to count down. And he fully believes that if he doesn't make a flipping racket at that time, then I will forget about his breakfast and walk out the door without feeding him.

Do you know what an 18lb cat sounds like when he thinks he is starving to death? Meow. Meeeooowwwww. Yyyyyooooooooooooooooowwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww. YYYYYOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW! Rrrrrrrrrrrrrryyyyyyyyyyyyoooooooooooooooooooooooowwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!

Then he walks around my feet and tries to trip me. He's not going to let me walk away without feeding him. If I still havent fed him and I'm gathering my purse and putting the dogs away for the day, he throws a freakin fit. A full blown child's tantrum. Feeding him right before I walk out the door is habit for me. The dish is right near the door, so its just easier to do it on my way out.

Onto the evening. Come home, let the dogs out. Make dinner. Watch a little TV. When I start brushing my teeth and washing my face to get ready for bed, the orange monster starts throwing his fit again. Mmmeeeooowwwww. MMMmMmmmmmmmmeeeeeeeeeeeeeoooooooooooowwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww! YYYOOOoooooooooooowwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww! YYYYYYYYYYYYOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!
And this cat's got a set of pipes on him, folks.

So, this morning, I decided I wasnt going to take it anymore. I have never, ever forgotten to feed that cat. Not ever! I don't know why he feels the need to announce to the world that we are starving him to death. He gets more food in a day than most cats, I can tell you that. He didn't get to 18lbs by starving.

I was going to fool the cat. So I got dressed. I shut the bathroom door. I already had my purse and my lunchbox ready to go. Then about 10 minutes before I was to leave, I fed the cat. He hadn't even made a sound yet. He looked at me for a second then went to his dish and ate. Then he sat next to his dish and watched me. I gathered up my things and grabbed my keys. Sylvester looked at me and made a very soft mewing sound. And then I left.

I fooled the cat. I didn't have to listen to him bawl me out this morning. I am going to have to switch up the routine every couple of days just to keep him guessing. Better than going insane by a meowing cat, right?