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March 22, 2009
Benny Actively Engaged
My plot to keep Benny from waking me up at night is working!
At first when I started feeding the birds again, I was disappointed because so few were coming to eat. After about two weeks, though, I started seeing more traffic, and this morning when I looked over Benny's shoulder to see what he was seeing, I saw two blue jays, a cardinal, a bunch of chickadees, a squirrel, and a rabbit. I've been frightening rabbits, squirrels, and chipmunks pretty much every day when I go to refill the feeder. (They aren't getting into the feeder, by the way, since a few years ago, I invested in a feeder that foils them, but they do like to eat the seeds the birds drop, which is fine with me.) Benny is thrilled with all this activity. He has two favorite windows for watching everything that's going on. Occasionally, he goes into Wild Kitty mode and runs between them like he's chasing something.
Of course, if I see Benny sleeping during the day, I'm still waking him up and trying to get him to play. My father-in-law helps with this when he stops by, too.
The side benefit here is that my older cat, Ella, is also enjoying the activity in the yard. She's never been prone to waking me up at night, but she does sleep too much, so this is good.
And, okay, I also like watching the birds out the window. Why did I ever stop feeding them?
Posted by adrienne at March 22, 2009 10:01 AM
Comments
I miss having cats. Wild Kitty behavior is so much fun to watch! And I think it's hilarious that waking the cat up is WORKING. My sister did that with my niece -- no naps during the day for that chickadee!
Posted by: tanita at March 22, 2009 02:15 PM
Sometimes what I do is just pick him up from wherever he's sleeping and then put him on the floor in another room. He stands there kind of wobbly for a few seconds until he figures out he's awake, but then he just goes with it. It's kind of cute.
Benny is not unlike a toddler a lot of the time. For instance, sometimes I think about *not* waking him up because then I know he'll just be bothering me and getting in the way of whatever I'm trying to do.
Posted by: adrienne at March 22, 2009 06:10 PM
You are making healthy critters all around! The birds are fed, the cats are active and engaged without hurting the birds, and the human is okay. :)
Posted by: Little Willow at March 22, 2009 10:47 PM
Those are pretty good goals for the average day, I think. :)
Posted by: adrienne at March 23, 2009 04:10 AM
I had this revelation recently that for a housecat, a big picture window is like a huge television. They have no clue about what's going on out there- it's no more real to them than what's on TV is to us. But it's terribly entertaining nonetheless...
Posted by: jp at March 30, 2009 09:05 AM
I was going to say that I never launch myself at the TV the way Benny sometimes launches himself at the window, but I am given to speaking to the television and even shouting at it sometimes. I do think outside the window is more actively engaging Benny's brain than the television would. (I mean, they do make DVDs for cats to watch, but, personally, I'd rather invest in the yard.)
Posted by: adrienne at March 30, 2009 10:51 AM
Amanda stares all night at OhLongJohnson, the creepy neighbor cat that growls and murmers in English.
Posted by: chuck at March 30, 2009 11:18 AM
Posted by: chuck at March 30, 2009 11:46 AM
Chuck, I cannot make that link work.
Posted by: adrienne at March 30, 2009 10:25 PM
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/1370194//
Posted by: chuck at March 31, 2009 01:44 AM
Um, wow. That is almost as weird as the singing road, although, frankly, I found the singing road more believable.
Posted by: adrienne at March 31, 2009 04:55 AM