Tag Archives: Gotcha Day

20

Favoritism Alert: Gotcha Days and Birthdays

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Greeting fellow felines and their humans. It’s Snoops and I am speaking for the ladies of the house: Angel, Gypsy, Onyx, and myself.  We think there is some sexism brewing among the humans. Technically, we should be the stronger team: 6 girls (4 cats and 2 human) against 4 boys (1 cat and 3 humans – two of them very small.) However, that has not been the case.

Last week was Sgt Stripes’ second Gotcha Day, and the two small humans each had a birthday. Toddler A turned four and Toddler B turned three. (Which actually means that Toddler A is no longer technically a toddler.) You should have seen all the fuss!

Toddler A and Toddler B (we will be thinking up new names shortly) had a combined birthday dinner last week. It was homemade macaroni and cheese, which Angel and I enjoyed sharing. Gypsy and Onyx really don’t care for human food. And nothing was provided for them at all. The dessert was an ice cream cake. Angel had a little bit of that, but the rest of us were not interested. It was almost like we weren’t really part of the family.

They got a bunch of presents too. There was only one that we could enjoy. They got a little tent for the living room, and it really is a good place to get away from them. We’re going to have to figure out some way to make it toddler-proof. After all, they got a lot of other stuff that we can’t use. They need to learn that sharing is caring.

Then on Monday, it was Sarge’s Gotcha Day. What a waste! He got a fancy cat-dancer kind of toy. And a treat ball toy that looks like a hamster cage. And some of the new flavor Temptations treats.

Guess what I got for my most recent Gotcha Day? Absolutely nothing. Nobody remembers my Gotcha Day. (Because nobody remembers what day it was.) Same thing for Angel and Gypsy and Onyx. Just because Sgt Stripes was on 9/9, everybody remembers it. Do you think that’s fair? We don’t.

Toddler A and Toddler B never give us stuff. We try to avoid them. Angel used to be buddies with Toddler B. But since he’s moved here, all he does is push her away if she tries to share his food. What good are little humans if they don’t share their food with us? They’re loud and sticky. Wonder when they’re going to turn into real humans?

Sgt Stripes here. I’ve been listening to the ladies’ complaints, and they are not giving the full picture at all. I did get good stuff on my Gotcha Day, but I’ve been sharing with them. Even my special Tasty Human treats. It’s not my fault that the humans remember my Gotcha Day. Maybe we should pick some random day to celebrate the ladies?

Of course, they’re kinda mean to me. Onyx and Gypsy aren’t too bad, but every time I get near Snoops or Angel, they start to hiss at me. Snoops growls and looks mean too. I’m not doing anything to them. Mom says that Angel is just afraid, and Snoops is still mad at me for running after Kommando Kitty when I first got here. I wish they’d get over it; it really hurts my feelings.

And Gypsy’s getting special treatment. We’re not supposed to get near my human brother’s plants, but Gypsy’s started hiding in the big aloe vera he’s growing. They say it’s because she’s sitting near it, not on it. I still think it’s unfair. She spends a lot of time in there. (Probably trying to stay away from Angel. They have some kind of girl thing going on between them.)

Since the house has been opened up, I’m downstairs at breakfast time. I didn’t want to be left out, so I’m starting to eat wet food. Not as much as the ladies, but a little bit. We all eat in the kitchen at the same time. Nobody’s trying to eat anybody’s else’s food. Onyx doesn’t like wet food, but the rest of us get along for that 20 minutes.

I guess it’s a start.

20

Sgt Stripes: One Year and Going Strong

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Hi, everyone! It’s me, Sgt Stripes. Today’s a big day. It’s my first Gotcha Day. It’s been exactly one year since I traded in my man-parts for a new home. (Technically, it wasn’t a trade. But Mom wouldn’t let me move into the house until I was neutered. Something about not wanting me to mark my territory.) I don’t really understand it. I mean the whole house is mine, right?

Anyway, it’s kinda hard to believe it’s been a whole year. I thought the lady cats would have adapted to me by now. I guess I shouldn’t have chased Kommando so hard that first time. Snoops still hasn’t forgiven me. She hisses whenever she sees me. Sheesh. Talk about holding a grudge. I usually have to take to the high ground to make sure I see her before she sees me.

I miss lying in the sun. But I don’t miss the snow and rain. It is so nice to have dry fur all the time. And I have a couple of really nice window seats. I can say good-bye to Mom when she leaves in the morning. (It’s pretty cool – If I meow when she leaves, she feels badly about leaving me.)

And I live snuggling! The place if full of blankets and quilts and soft spots to nap. It’s pretty much kitty nirvana around here.

I haven’t adapted to wet food. Mom’s tried every flavor she can find. But I really like kibble and treats. (Except fish flavored. I don’t like fish.) I definitely don’t see the appeal of human food. The stuff they’ve given me has been really disgusting. There isn’t much wildlife to catch. I’ve only seen a few mice. No chipmunks or voles. I love my water fountain. It is so much better than drinking out of puddles. And it’s never-ending. Even in the heat.

I have lots of toys too. I have laser pointers and little stuffed mice. But Mom is kind of particular. She has a couple of stuffed hedgehogs that look a LOT like my toys, but she says those are hers. She has a couple of other stuffed animals that are off limits too. It’s really not fair. But she doesn’t really touch my toys, so I guess she thinks it’s fair. Like she never touches my red dot or green dots. And she shares the computer.

I like to jump and climb. There’s an armoire that I can jump on so I’m even taller than my human brother. I use it to survey my domain. And I just discovered the highest place upstairs. There’s a partial wall in the bathroom that goes almost all the way up to the ceiling. (I have to crouch down when I’m up there, it’s so close.) It’s between the bathtub and the human litter box. Some rubber ducks live up there. The other morning, I discovered that I can push the ducks off and they land on Mom while she’s using the human litter box. It was so much fun! She was not amused.

I’m hoping I’m going to get full run of the house soon. I didn’t get to see the Christmas tree last year. I got a little one of my own. Mom wasn’t really excited when I tried to eat it. I can’t wait to see the real thing. I think I’d really like the presents too. And the windows downstairs are bigger too. Hopefully, by next year, I’ll have lots of new adventures to tell you about.   

21

Kommando Kitty’s Absolutely Awful Gotcha Day

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Greetings. It’s Kommando Kitty here, and I am not a happy cat. As some of you may recall, Mom has never been good about birthdays/ Gotcha Days. The previous cats were given “birthdays” based on her best guess. She forgot to do that for us. She is not very organized about some things. We forgave her because we get special treats every weekend to make up for not having our own “special” days.

But when Sgt Stripes came to live with us, it happened on his “neuter” day, which was September 9. (Get it – 9/9/22? Even Mom can’t forget that.) So she tried to reconstruct the dates for Snoops and me. (With some help from our human sister who has a memory like an elephant. Her brain is full of useless stuff that comes in handy once in a while.) Best guess is Snoops is June 28 (too bad we already missed it), and mine is July 13 (found out just in time).

When Mom went upstairs on the 12th, she said I would get special treats in the morning. Yummy! But it was only a couple of hours later when the unthinkable happened: Sgt Stripes came bopping down the stairs!

You may recall that we have the house divided between him upstairs and us ladies downstairs. Mom and our human brother have not been doing a very good job of teaching him manners, so he still thinks I’m a toy. It works out okay. Snoops and I like to have our quiet time, and he thinks everything is a game.

He came down and started looking around. As soon as I saw him, I took off for the study. There’s lots of stuff to hide behind in there. He chased me in there, but then he got bored when I wouldn’t come out. It was a REALLY LONG night.

Snoops here. Kommando is right. It was a terrible night. I tried to just ignore him, but he wouldn’t leave me alone. I tried hissing at him. We went around in a circle a few times, but no fight. Finally, I decided to go to sleep behind the sofa. Luckily, he didn’t see where I went.

I had just settled in when I realized that I couldn’t sleep. What if he attacked Kommando? The last time he was out, Sgt Stripes thought she was acting like prey, (truthfully, she was.) and he thought it was a game. The only way I could get him to let her go was to jump on his back. Our human brother broke that up, so I don’t know who would have won. (I think it would have been me.)

It’s me, Sgt Stripes. I don’t understand what the big fuss is all about. My human brother went downstairs, and he left the door slightly open. I just happened to walk past and noticed it. I haven’t been downstairs in a long time, and I was curious. I don’t know what happened to my human brother. The next thing I knew, I was locked downstairs for the night.

I wasn’t trying to scare the lady cats. But Kommando is really jumpy. And she really does look like prey when she hunkers down. I didn’t mean to scare her; it was just instinct. But she really does a good job hiding. I couldn’t find her for the rest of the night. I finally gave up. I wouldn’t have minding playing with Snoops, but she has kind of a mean streak. She kept hissing at me. It was a pretty disappointing night. I ended up hanging out, waiting for the humans to wake up. Finally, my human brother took me back up. I guess Mom was pretty worried when I was nowhere to be found.

It’s Kommando again. For the record, it is terrifying having a big ball of fur come running at you from across the room. Someone needs to teach him some manners. I was so traumatized, I didn’t even eat my Gotcha Day treats. And now I have to wait an entire year. Maybe I can talk Mom into giving me something special.

(We almost forgot. Kommando’s Gotcha Day is also our WP blogoversary. Happy 10 years – or 8 years since the cats took over.)