Happy Squirrel Appreciation Day!!

Okay, I know I'm a little late...but better late than never!

I Always Feel Like Somebody's Watching Me

Cats are amazing animals in many ways. But the feat that most amazes me is a cat's ability to make anyone practically squirm with discomfort by simply fixing them in their gaze. This is something that Rufus does quite frequently as one of his many ways of tormenting us. This, and hiding in random places waiting to strike at us as we walk by.

On Sunday, Rufus was up to no good as usual. My mother cooked her usual Sunday night fare: a nice steak and all the fixings. As he does when there's a gathering of people in one place, Rufus found his way into the kitchen to observe. Keeping the troops in line, you know? We can't have our humans getting too rowdy at dinner on Sunday night.

He took his usual spot in the spare corner chair, where he could easily watch what was going on and get a good whiff of dinner. Of course, the cat can't just sit. He has to torment the person sitting closest to him, which was me in this case. So he was reaching through the bars of the chair and clawing at my clothes. Just absolutely endearing.

I got up from my seat just to get away from him but when I turned around, I found him enviously eyeing the scraps left on my plate. I think it was part of the little bugger's plan all along!!

Eyeing my food...

Eyeing me! Eeek!

As if one night of creeping for the week wasn't enough, Rufus continued his escapades Tuesday night. Since we only have two bedrooms, my parents constructed a makeshift wall between me and my brother's sides of a shared room. There is a small gap between the panels of wood that Rufus likes to watch me through (creepy, I know). Even though the wall has been up for months, he still can't grasp the concept that he has to take a different route to get to my side of the room. Instead, he sits on my brother's side of the wall and sticks his paw through the hole whenever I walk close enough. He'll never learn. *sigh*

Since I am regrettably technologically challenged (ironic coming from an engineer, isn't it?) the video is turned 90 degrees. I can't for the life of me figure out how to rotate the darn thing. But you'll get the idea.

What I learned today: my cat is potentially out to kill me. Great.

Epic Fail Friday

Friday nights at my house usually consist of Blue Bloods or Law & Order marathons. Before turning on the TV this week, we attempted (without much success) to get Rufus to play with some of his new toys.


First, we tried this fellow:

He's a pretty simple dude. Fuzzy legs, a pouch in his belly for catnip. Nothing too fancy. He was a Christmas gift to Rufus from one of my Mom's coworkers. Rufus didn't seem to stimulated by this one at first, so my Mom filled him with catnip with hopes of a better result.


Rufus chewed on the thing a bit. Got a little high. But nothing super interesting came of it.

 

Once Rufus stopped showing interest and we got bored, my mom pulled out the toy she bought him for Christmas. Basically, it's a dangling feather on a base. The base has a hollowed out track in it for a plastic ball to zip around in. Even better, the dangling feather spins when the battery power is activated.


At most, Rufus has demonstrated mild annoyance towards this toy. He gets annoyed that the feather won't stop long enough for him to lick it to death. It's also obnoxious to have the thing hitting him in the face every time it passes by him. 


I have never seen him play with the toy before. This is what happened when we turned the battery on:

Rufus circumvented the entire purpose of the toy by making up his own way of playing with it. Needless to say, my mother and I were in hysterics. I hope you will be too!

The Evolution of Trust

We always joke that Rufus is a very territorial cat. In fact, we even go so far as to say that he acts more like a dog than a cat. The most obvious proof of this theory is his distrust of my boyfriend.

When we do kitty voices, I always refer to my boyfriend as "That One" from Rufus's point of view. The first time my boyfriend came over to pick me up, Rufus promptly laid down on the floor with this back to us. It was a clear dismissal of another male entering the house and showing interest in me.

Over the past months, Rufus has begun to show interest in and even contentment with my boyfriend's presence. Or maybe he's just indifferent now. Who knows. Either way, his feelings have receded from hatred and mistrust to something less severe.

But we had a major breakthrough in the relationship on Sunday night. My boyfriend was over and we were sitting on the couch talking. Nothing unusual. Rufus was wandering around, playing with one of his toys. One of his favorite games is to stuff a toy under something (usually the couch) and then try to get it out. I'll try to catch some pictures of this in action at some point...

Either way, he was doing this as we were talking. Suddenly, my boyfriend jumped and informed me that Rufus was attacking his foot. When we looked down at the floor, this is all that we saw:

Now you mustn't take this lightly. Rufus only leaves his toys this close to someone when he wants to play with them. Little did we know that Rufus was hiding around the side of the couch, waiting. Another one of his favorite games is 'fetch'. So, we threw the plastic ring.


Once that had worn itself out, Rufus returned to inspect my empty laundry basket. In an attempt to amuse him, we threw in a few of his toys.

Clearly, confusion was imminent. What was 'That One' doing with his toys? Especially that toy? Just another strange occurrence in the world of a defensive kitty. But, despite his misgivings, Rufus did not neglect my boyfriend's offer for play.

Perhaps this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship...

Christmas 2011

As with many cats, the Christmas season is a favorite of Rufus's. It is a time that's ripe with opportunities to annoy, terrorize and destroy. Much to his annoyance, it is also a time for vacation from work. This means that us humans are around more to bother him

There was much excitement on Christmas morning. As I came down the stairs with his stocking full and jingling, Rufus met me before I reached the last step. I don't believe I have ever met a cat so infatuated with new toys. So spoiled.

So, before I even opened my gifts, I introduced Rufus to his. But, he wasn't satisfied with a handful of jingling, feather-clad balls and plastic rings. No, he wanted everyone else's presents too. I should have started a betting pool on how long it would take him to hone in on the ottoman we bought my mother...I probably would have made myself a nice little sum of money.

I'm not sure what the look of alarm is for, but I do know it took less than an hour for Rufus to find the seat of his power. He can survey his entire kingdom (well the kingdom of the living room) from this spot. Long live the kitty!

Whenever I look at this picture, all I can think of (unfortunately) is Borat. (King in the castle, anyone? ) 

Oh Hai...

Hello Everyone!


The purpose of this blog is to chronicle the shenanigans that seem to follow my cat, Rufus, every where he goes. Now, you might think the pretext is a little mundane or even boring. But I promise you, this cat is out of his mind!


My family adopted Rufus in August 2010 through a non profit organization. He was about 1 year and nine months old when we brought him home. Since he arrived, I have been taking pictures (poor pictures, but pictures nonetheless) of the crazy stuff he does on pretty much a daily basis. That said, this first post is just going to be a montage of his favorite things to do. As time goes on, I'll detail specific incidents as they occur.


Now, a little about my favorite fuzzy friend. We're not really sure where Rufus came from or even what kind of cat he is. His tuxedo coloring has prevented me from even narrowing it down to a few breeds. But what we do know is that Rufus was found living in a colony of feral cats. (For those of you who don't know what a feral cat is check this out.)  Rufus pretty much approached the man who found him, which is unprecedented for ferals. He then allowed this man to take him home and care for him, which should say something about the personality of this cat.


Everything was fine and dandy for a while, until Rufus got impatient with his fellow feline companion, a 22 year old senior. If you were that old, you wouldn't want to play with anyone either. But Rufus doesn't take no for an answer (ask the back of my calves if that's true if you don't believe me) so he proceeded to attack this poor cat. Eventually, it became such a problem that the man decided to give Rufus away. And the rest is history...





Let me say, I have never seen a cat so unwilling to leave his carrying case. On the night we brought him home Rufus refused, even when baited with toys, to move.






But eventually, he warmed up to the house and decided that he liked some of it's features, so to speak.

We also discovered some favorite toys...

 


















And some things that aren't really ours to play with...

Essentially, Rufus took over the house hold. Aside from sitting on everything and being as ridiculous as possible, Rufus's favorite past time is terrorizing his humans. It might not seem apparent now. He might appear harmless, even cute. But I assure you, that's all part of the plan.