First week with our Cat

I can’t say there hasn’t been a time this week when I thought I couldn’t take the smell of his poop any longer. Or when I was feeling jittery about him climbing all over my favourite places at home, and potentially leaving behind a trail of destruction. Or wondering about the possibility of him passing on the nasty toxoplasma gondii (if he had any) to his human companions.

Add to this the disapproving grimaces and for-your-own-good-advice we got from anti-cat people who are also family, I am glad I made it past the week.

But stubborn us will not relent! Plus, Rö is too cute. 🙂

A few things I have learnt:

1. Cat poop stinks and no amount of baking soda or charcoal or home sprays can mask the smell. We had the brilliant idea of tossing the crap into a bin, and take out at the end of the week. BAD idea! It reeked every time I opened the bin to toss. Gawd. It stunk to high heaven. Then we bagged before tossing – saved my nose a little but I still gagged at the stench that wafted out each time. We are currently transiting him to a litter we can flush.

2. Cats sleep a lot. He is very quiet in the afternoon and in the wee hours of the night, preferring to rest in his spot than play. Ours sleep about 14hrs a day. Still, he is awake by about 0530hrs. Too early!

3. Cats are expressive. Once he got to know us, he became quite talkative. He mews when he wants to be fussed, usually after long periods of not seeing us. He asks for dinner or to play, and most recently, also mews for me to clean his litter after he poo-pooed and for some reason likes to inspect when I do so. Fastidious little fella, I like.

4. Cats have strong preferences. If he does not like his food, he is not afraid to tell you. If you didn’t clear out his smelly poo, you’d know how he feels about it.

5. Cats know about personal space. There is a time for work and a time for play, and a time when we leave each other to do our own thing. For now, he calls out for play when we settle in the living room to watch tv, but stops after awhile to sit amongst us and watch Sheldon do his thing.

6. Cats understand commands. I have been told that cats are notoriously difficult to train. I agree – but it is not that they don’t understand, they just want to choose when to listen. So far, ours seem okay to listen. He still jumps up on surfaces he is not supposed to and just tossed some books from the shelves this morning. Aluminium foil is now part of my house decor.

Will my books stay on the shelves tonight or won’t they? I will know in the morning when I check.

Like quantum physics much?