Caption me:

I know there’s a good caption in here somewhere, I just can’t think of it.

Yaaaaayyyyy!!!

I was on the verge of giving up. I was just watching TV when I thought I heard nibbling going on in the kitchen. I quietly walked in that direction and saw my little orange kitty rounding the corner very tentatively and then running away. I was very surprised. Once he ran toward the front of the house to hide, I quickly went to shut the exterior back door. He was very freaked out and scared and running away from me to hide, but responding to me with meows. I brought out 2 days worth of food and he rushed out to eat it.

I’m glad I did the weird back door setup so it was locked but he could get in. It’s nice having two “exterior quality” doors in succession.

So, Kipper is home. He’s calmed down to. I think he’s realizing he’s safe after 45 hours in the wild. That does make me really wonder where he was all that time. But he’s home, so I guess it doesn’t matter any more.

He’s cleaning himself on my lap while I type this now.

ETA: He’s doing something very similar to this right now:

Still no Kippers :-(

I tried everything I could. I barely slept last night, trying to hear him re-appear on the door step. I assumed if nothing else he’d show up at the door around 5 or 6 looking for food. Looks like he never visited the front door though because the chew treat I left is still there untouched. I kept hearing random noises, some of which were exactly the sounds I’d expect him to make, but then I’d get up and nothing.

When I woke up at 7 with no sounds I knew something was wrong. I just threw some clothes on and walked around the block. Nothing. I’m left a little unsure of what to do now. I’m thinking I’ll go drive slowly in a wider area.

I really didn’t expect this to happen.

We have an escapee again

Kipper got out again. This time it hasn’t been a five minute thing like before. He’s been gone for about two hours now. I got a little hasty in my attempt to round him up and get him back inside. He left me with a pretty strong impression of how he felt about that.

Think happy thoughts that he’ll come home again. It’s looking more and more like he’s going to be spending the night outside.

Guest blog by Kipper

It’s been a weird few days. First the human was gone overnight again, but luckily the magic food giver continued to turn and feed me. She gave me some extra treats before she left for some reason. When she came back the next night, she did a pretty good job of staying still on the couch so I could sleep on her, right by her face, just like she likes it. Sometimes she pretends she doesn’t by repeatedly pushing me away, but she eventually gives up, so I know she likes it.

Yesterday she got up and left pretty quickly. She came back with some big bags of heavy books. More stuff for me to hide behind! The house was getting great like that. Stuff was everywhere making it lots of fun to lurk around. Later though, everything went nuts.

She started moving all my great stuff around. She stacked up lots of boxes in the living room and picked up all my toys. Then she took out the dreaded loud machine. I don’t usually mind loud noises, but I hate that thing so much. She hadn’t used it in awhile, so I thought she had figured out how much I don’t like it. No such luck. She pushed it all over the house. I took refuge on the window sill, hoping the blinds would save me. When she finally stopped, she didn’t even put the machine away. She left it right by the door to the kitchen so I had to keep walking past it.

All night the boxes were still in the living room. Most of the morning she did a pretty good job of being a bed for me again. Then she went crazy again. She picked up all the boxes and started breaking them into flat pieces. It was weird behavior. I was really confused and a little afraid. I stood in the corner by the door she goes through to leave me. She picked up a giant box full of those other boxes and came my way. I wasn’t sure what to do, but I’d had enough of this. I pretended to get out of her way. When she opened the door, I made a break for it. Last time I did that I made it as far as the stairs and froze. With a little prodding I came back inside. This time though, I ran off the stairs and ran back behind the car. The human yelled my name, but then then she got quiet.

I was a little freaked out with all this new stuff to look at. I was especially curious about a smell over in the corner. I noticed the human walking very quietly to see what I was doing. She very sweetly tried to call my name. I paid her no mind though and continued my exploration. She disappeared. When I saw her re-appear on the other side of the car, I hid and went the other way around the car. She went back into the house for a minute. When she came back to stand by the car, I ran back on the porch. I was about to run off the other end of the porch, but the door to the house was propped open as well. Tough decisions. Exploring the things I look at through the window or the comforts of my home. I almost ran off to explore but the human called my name from the other end of the porch. She put down a can. I recognized that as the place the food comes from. Dirty tricks! I had to go after it. She picked it up and in my trepidations, I ran inside the house.

Once inside, she gave me a small spoon of the food. Sigh. I’m such a sucker for the food. Here I thought she was trying to apologize, but I was wrong. Shortly after that, she ran the loud machine where the boxes had been on the rug. Gah!

Ah, well. She’s back on the couch now, so I’m on her chest again about to go to sleep. She should really never do anything else but this.

BTW…

Kipper doesn’t like NaNoWriMo very much. He seems especially confused, but so far cooperative, for now anyway. I’m just glad I invented the blanket tent technique last year. It helps me focus. And now it keeps kitties away from trying to curl up on my face while I type.

catradiction

Part of me really wants to understand what is going on in Kipper’s head. I suppose most cat/other pet owners feel that way frequently.

Kipper is a very clingy cat. This is a little surprising since in theory he was a stray for the first two years of his life. Nevertheless, he pretty much always wants to be sleeping on me, preferably right by my face. Let’s just say, my right shoulder will never be cold again. (He’s there right now even though it’s 76 degrees in here.) In addition to this, he is very food focused. He is not remotely picky about his food. He eats things cats shouldn’t like. I almost never intentionally give him people food, but his love of uncooked pasta never ceases to amuse me.

Given these two facts, I am amazed at one particular behaviour pattern he exhibits. Ever since the first day I brought him home, when I bring a plate of food with me to the couch, he gets lost. He doesn’t try to sit on my lap. He doesn’t try to get at my food. He goes off to amuse himself. It’s almost the only time he will do this. Even when he plays normally, it’s usually centered around interaction with me.

In addition to this, apparently he has also deemed the garbage off limits. It isn’t very out of the way. I had anticipated needing to find a new home for it when I brought him home once he found it. For some reason, he’s never shown an interest. I assumed that would change last night. I cooked a t-bone steak for dinner. I lazily threw the bones into the garbage, guessing that the odds were good he’d get into them over night before I was to take the garbage out in the morning. I woke up to… the garbage still intact, bones on top. He gets into other stuff, just not this. So freaky. Maybe all the food really does come from the reliable magic box in his head.

Video evidence

My cat is a fetch playing monster

I though it was cute a few day ago when the activities Kipper was engaging in were similar to fetch. By the next day the rules were ingrained. It’s all he wanted to do. I prefer it to his constant need to sleep on my face. When I got up at 3am for a drink of water that night, he decided that would be a good time to start up the game again. He ran and found his little puff ball, brought it onto the bed and started attacking it at my feet. I promptly grabbed it and hid it. That’s not an OK habit. The next night I was smart enough to hide the two balls I could find before going to bed. Last night I forgot and got a 4am wake up call.

Who knew what would happen when he finally broke his 3 balls on a string toy.

The homecoming

The new kitty arrived home yesterday. I went to the shelter to fill out the paperwork and pay the adoption fees. I then drove over to the foster parents’ house (in the snow) to pick him up. He did not like the sight of that carrier I brought in. He was too smart for us too. I could tell foster mom was really sorry to see him go. She gave me her email and hopes to hear about him.

He settled down pretty well once we were in the car driving. I brought him inside near the food dishes and litter and opened the door. He nervously entered his new surroundings.

He decided that under the couch was a good place to hide and survey the area. I decided to mostly give him some space. About 15 minutes later, I filmed him emerging from under the couch.

He has since become much more comfortable in his surroundings. There will be a bit of acclimation time for us both. Right now he really wants to be touching me, preferably as close to my face as possible. We’re working on that. When he isn’t sleeping on me, he’s meowing in the kitchen. He’s got a good appetite. He scarfs down the food. He clearly thinks I’m starving him, despite the fact that I know I’m feeding him what he was getting before. He needs to learn he’s no longer an outdoor tomcat. He did sleep by my feet all night, which was nice. I was worried he’d want to sleep on my face.

I can’t decide if he’s keeping the name Kipper. Tigger is also in the running because of the similarities. Other suggestions are welcome.