How's Your Cat Relationship?

This past week, Liz and I celebrated three years since we adopted Arthur and Beowulf. Not a day goes by when we do not realize how lucky we are to have them in our lives. They are a constant source of love and support for us.

They comfort us on our worst days and amuse us on our best days. Sure, sometimes they do things which try our patience, but don't all of our loved ones?

When I talk to people who don't have cats, I find that I've become a cat advocate. I tend to think that other people would be a lot happier if they had cats to come home to. The other day, a friend was telling me about how her daughter keeps dating the wrong kind of man, because she's looking for acceptance. I said "can't she just get a pair of cats? They'll boost her self confidence and she won't need to rush into a bad relationship."

I could be totally wrong here, but I wonder if certain tough periods in my life might have been a little easier if I had had cats at the time. Maybe being an awkward teen would have been a little better if I came home to purrs. Maybe going through some tough breakups with girlfriends would have been easier. Maybe there are times in my life when I would have had more confidence if I knew I was getting the kind of unconditional love you can only get from an animal companion.

On the other hand, millions of people have cats and it looks like many of them are not experiencing the same kind of relationshp with their cats that I have with mine.

Just yesterday, I was talking to a friend who adopted a cat a few months ago. I asked him how it's going and he said "my cat is just not friendly. She keeps to herself and only interacts with us when she needs something." If I had that kind of cold relationship with my boys, I would not be a cat advocate at all. I'd probably feel like the whole relationship was a waste.

To be fair, I don't have all the facts. My friend lives far away and I've never seen him interact with a cat nor have I met his "cold" cat. But what I wonder is this. Is his cat non-social, because he isn't raising her right, because she was born that way, or maybe because she's the only cat in the household?

Perhaps it is better to ask "why is my cat relationship such a good one?" Is it because:

• Arthur and Beowulf are just special guys who are particularly friendly and sweet?
  
  
• They were born in a shelter and I adopted them at an early age (10 weeks) so they've always known human kindness and never wanted for anything?
  
  
• They have each other so they are never lonely?
  
  
• Liz and I have put a fair amount of effort into building the relationship?

What makes one person's cat relationship a life-altering experience and another person's cat relationship cold and distant? Why are my cats important, active members of the family while other people's cats become part of the house, like pieces of furniture? Is it the cats or the people?

Purrs Set to Stun

Ever sit down with your cat and realize that, just by touching his or her body, a wave of relaxation rolls through your entire body and you can't help but fall asleep within minutes?

Liz and I have this "problem." We'll sit down on the couch, one or both of the boys will come over and sit next to or on us, and we'll drift off to sleep for a long time. Liz refers to this effect as the "purr ray." I refer to it as a purr drug, because the feeling is so addictive and it knocks you out like a strong drink.

On weekends and nights when I know I have time, I'll go over to the couch and wait for Arthur or Beowulf to come. The downside is, after they arrive, hours will disappear. Liz got these compromising pictures of me strung out on purr.

Beowulf Rings "Dinner Bell" for Service

It's hard for us humans to train cats, but it's not as hard for them to train us! Beowulf has trained me to come when called and to give him more kibble.

He will go into the kitchen, stand on top of the litterbox and meow at the top of his lungs. If I don't respond to his meowing in short order, he will start banging the litter scoop, which sits tightly in between the litterbox and the garbage can. We call this "ringing the dinner bell" for service. If I don't respond to his banging of the scoop, he'll swat the scoop onto the floor, causing me to go into the kitchen, pick it up, and throw him more kibble while I'm there.

He'll do this even when he has plenty of kibble in the bowl, so maybe it's not about kibble but about attention. I'm not sure. A few times he has called when he wants fresh water or the litterbox to be cleaned, but usually it's for kibble.

I'd like to get him to stop this practice, but I'm not sure how. I could move the scoop, but I'm not sure where I'd put it and frankly, if it weren't the scoop, he'd find another way of calling for service. Maybe I should just accept the call.

Wet Food - They Just Won't Eat It

Our food situation is terrible right now. I have always fed the boys a mix of wet and dry food and they have always been very picky about which wet foods they would eat. It has gotten to the point where there is only one wet food they will even sniff and that's Solid Gold Blended Tuna.

Before the pet food recall, I used to feed the boys Nutro packet food and they would lick up the juice from it. Now I wouldn't even consider feeding them Nutro packet food.

I hear that it is bad to feed cats tuna on a frequent basis so I'm at the point where I don't give them wet food every day. They won't touch any other wet food I've given them and I've tried so many great brands. I tried every flavor of Weruva, tried all kinds of Merrick, Abady, Spot's Stew, etc. If you name it and it's a decent brand, I've tried it. They won't even touch other brands of tuna!

I've tried adding all kinds of flavoring and condiments to the wet food we have. On the advice of a guy at the pet store, I bought a box of Liv-a-Littles and crumbled them up into the wet food without success. I tried mixing tuna flakes into the wet food and Beowulf just picked out the flakes and left the food. I bought a bottle of Grizzly Salmon Oil and sprayed it on the food. I tried mixing Solid Gold Tuna with other canned foods, but that didn't work either. I'm at an impasse.

As for dry food, I had to give up on Orijen. I liked Orijen's nutritional info a lot, but Arthur wouldn't eat it so right now all the boys are eating is California Natural Chicken and Brown Rice. What can I do to get them to eat something else? Or should I just be happy that they have dry food they like?

Comfort During a Tough Time

The past couple of months were a tough time of going on interviews and waiting by phones and email, but I have a new job now, not working for cats, but working for people at the Parks Department. As I sat around the house on pins and needles for several weeks, my boys did everything they could to help me relax.

Beowulf was particularly helpful. Every morning I'd get up and he'd follow me around until I sat down at my desk to check my email. He'd jump up on the desk before I could even move the mouse and he'd sit in front of the keyboard until I let him rest his chin on my arm for a few minutes. After feeling his purr for a few minutes, I was much more relaxed and able to face whatever I had going on each day -- interviews, phone calls, or just waiting by the inbox and phone for news.

Will Work for Cats?

I've been a terrible blogger lately and I could give you a littany of excuses, but excuses aren't very interesting. Nonetheless, for those interested:

• I found a new job and it took up a ton of time
  
• I planned my wedding and that took up a ton of time.
  
• When I had time to blog, I decided to spend it cuddling with the boys themselves
  

Now, things are a little different. I am, unfortunately, now between jobs and have some time to reassess what I want to do with this whole Web and cat thing.

Honestly, I wish I could make a career out of it in some way. I've thought about starting an online cat store or cat information site that could get some traffic. However, I don't think I have the stomach to start a business.

Hey, if anyone has any ideas or leads for me -- maybe a job doing Web work for an animal agency or company -- please drop me a line or feel free to pass my online resume around.

Big Day Goes Purrfectly

My new wife Liz and I just returned from our honeymoon in Greece late last night, and are still trying to beat the jet lag and rest up for work on Monday. That said, I wanted to say that the wedding itself went really well and was very cat-centric, thanks to ideas we got from commenters on this blog.

As you can see from the pictures below, we had a cat cake topper (Liz's mom added the veil and bow tie to the existing models) and we placed a sign near the bar that invited our guests to order special signature drinks, either an Arthurtini (Appletini) or a Beowulf Iced Tea (many thanks to jancola for this idea). We also left notes on each table, informing our guests that we were donating money to Bidawee (the shelter where we adopted our boys) in lieu of giving party favors.

BTW, if you are interested in seeing some non-cat-related pictures from our wedding, my cousin Naomi has posted some pictures she took of the cermemony and reception.

Liz and I cut the cake.

The cat topper close-up. Unfortunately, it was too large and heavy to actually put on the cake.

This placard was placed on the bar and reads:

Our favorite humans are getting married. We would love to be there to help them celebrate the special day, but we have a prior engagement as you can see.

So please have a drink on us.

Order a Beowulf Iced Tea or an Arthurtini and raise your glass to Avram and Liz, our most devoted ear scratchers and belly rubbers.

Love, Arthur and Beowulf

Before I go off to take a long nap myself, I just wanted to give a shout-out and high praise to my cat sitters, Leslie Kaufman of On All Fours Cat Sitting and her assistant Holly. They visited twice a day while we were gone and really did a great job of caring for our boys. I'd recommend them to anyone in New York City who needs a cat sitter.

Big Day Finally Arrives

The level of work and stress from both my new job and wedding planning has really kept me away from this blog, but now the day has finally arrived. Our Big Cat Wedding is taking place tomorrow.

Unfortunately, we can't have the boys attend our wedding, but they will be there in spirit. As I said in a prior post, we are giving a donation to Bideawee in lieu of party favors, we got a pair of cats as our wedding cake topper, and our guests will be invited to order one of two signature drinks, a Beowulf Iced Tea or an Arthurtini.

This is an exciting time, but also a stressful one, not only because of the wedding but also because of the honeymoon, which is going to be the first time that Liz and I are really away from the boys for any period of time. My cousin is staying over here for part of the time and a professional cat-sitter is coming over a few times a day for another part of the time, but I am still very nervous and a little wracked with guilt over going away for a few days.

Hopefully the boys will be fine, but will they be angry at us for leaving them?

New Food, New Water, Old Problems

This weekend, I started my boys on two new things:

1. Orijen: My Orijen finally arrived and the results are mixed. Beowulf gobbles down the Orijen just like he gobbled down the California Natural and the Wellness before it. However, Arthur won't eat Orijen, and he won't eat other kibble if it's sitting in the same bowl as the Orijen. I even tried putting tuna flakes or other treats in the bowl and he'll eat these without touching the kibble.
   
   I am concerned because this means that Arthur is not eating kibble right now. I don't want him to starve, but I do want him to learn to eat the Orijen. At what point should I give up? If I put the Orijen in one bowl and California Natural in the other, Beowulf will probably try to eat them both, because he usually eats kibble as soon as its put down, while Arthur comes back and eats at his leisure.
   
   When it comes to wet food, however, Beowulf is very picky and won't eat most of the wet foods I feed.


2. Fresh Flow Waterer: I got a Fresh Flow waterer and set it up yesterday. I have yet to see the boys drink from it, although I have seen that the water level went down over night and some crud got into the bowl. This means that either the water evaporated or the boys drank from it. Because I didn't want the boys to dehydrate, I kept their regular water bowl filled also and I have seen them drink out of that

Both situations are frustrating, because I'm trying to move to healthier food and healthier water and I'm not sure how to make them catch on. Any ideas?

Natural Balance Dry Now Recalled

Is no brand trustworthy? I sang the praises of Natural Balance food just a few posts ago, and now it turns out their food is contaminated too.

It's a good thing I bought California Natural dry food this weekend, rather than Natural Balance, which I almost bought. Let's hope California Natural is not next. Funny thing is that I very nearly bought Natural Balance Venison and Green Pea dry cat food on Saturday.

Ironically, the reason I found the venison and green pea formula attractive is this statement on Natural Balance's site:

No Artificial Preservatives, Flavors, Colors, or Bleached Ingredients. Does not contain Corn, Soy, Wheat, Rice, Eggs, Dairy Products or Sunflower Oil.

I must be an idiot because I thought that no soy, wheat, or rice meant just that. However, Natural Balance's recall press release states:

We believe the source of the melamine is a rice protein concentrate.

How can something which claims to have "no rice," contain a rice protein concentrate? Does that sound wrong to anyone?

The boys took to the California Natural dry food right away. My Orijen is coming in the mail on Thursday, and I pray that it's everything it's cracked up to be.