Grumpy Puss

Ruru the Cat, here.  I like to be happy.  My favorite place to be in the entire universe is inside the arms of my person, being snuggled tightly as I purr myself to sleep.  

But there are some things in this universe that make me made...really mad.  One is the puppy.  She tries to chew on my head.  I do not like my head chewed on.  I also don't like that she tends to steal my food and stand between me and my favorite foods, namely cheese and meat.  She perches at the breakfast table and gets my bowl of milk.  She stands at the stove and steals my tidbits of meat and cheese that fall to the floor.  Can you believe the nerve?  She sometimes even steals my mice.  MY mice!  A dog!  What is her problem?  

But I can handle all of that when my person is here. Yesterday, she decided to stay away for a whole night.  She left me!  I had to seek love and affection from other people.  They gave it to me, which is nice, but it's just not the same.  Sometimes, she squishes my face or squeezes my body or yanks on my tail.  That makes me sort of grumpy, but nothing makes me grumpier than not having loving from her at all.  

I'm good with everything and everyone else.  I'll let other people hold me.  The other cats will snuggle me and be sweet to me.  The other dog ignores me.  It's just those things that drive me nuts.  Otherwise, I'm as happy as a purry kitten on a warm, summer day.  

Dog-like Cats and Cat-like dogs

Hi, Ruru the Cat, here.  I've been watching my fellow four-legged people in this house here, and I've noticed not everybody seems to see others in the same way.  See, for me, everybody is pretty much the same.  I'll take dogs, cats, people and snuggle up to them.  As long as they treat me okay--and fill my bowl--they are all right with me.  Of course, my special person is all rightER.  I will sit and let her rearrange my face, drag me around by the armpits, play with my tail, whatever as long as it means I'm getting her love.  I won't let just anyone be that forward.  In fact, I'll let others play with me, even the puppy now, but then I have to clean off their germs.  Except my person.  I like smelling like my person.  It reminds me of her when she's not holding me.  Maia's kind of the same except dogs are scary to her.  Maybe that's because Daisy would chase her.  But other than her special person, everyone else is pretty much the same to her.  We're the dog-like cats. Scoutie is even more extremely like this.  He will take love from anyone, anytime, but he never looks so happy as when he's in his people's arms.  We're the dog-like cats.  We're loyal and loving to just about everyone who is loyal and loving to us.

See, Daisy, the dog who just left us, and Baby, the cat who looks like me but doesn't act like me, seem to see everyone else in the universe as beneath them somehow.  They only want attention when they're good and ready and in the mood.  All other attention is unwelcome because everyone is inferior.  Now, granted, for Daisy, she embraced any baby animals and treated them as something special.  We funny looking puppies who were raised by her are definitely superior to the one and only cat she didn't raise.  She never chased us.  But pretty much everyone was inferior to her.  Daisy is a cat-like dog while Baby is very much a cat-like cat.  You can't get more cat than that.

Then there are Toothless and Dodger.  Toothless is a black cat like Maia, but he doesn't act like Maia. Dodger is a pomeranian.  Both of them act cat-like and uninterested in everyone else but their person.  They are very dog-like and loyal to their person.  Everyone, according to their estimation, is an inferior being to their person, even themselves.  That's a kind of dog-like-cat-like-ness that I find weird and confusing.   Are they dogs?  Are they cats?  who knows.  They are just worshippers of their person.

Then there's Harmony, that weird puppy.  She doesn't seem to get there ARE different breeds.  She's dog-like and devoted to everyone because she sees everyone as equal.  She doesn't seem to understand why she can't eat at the table or get her own plate.  She's a person just like we cats are people.  There is no difference to her.  Except mean meanie heads.  Big people, people who walk through front doors, and people who wear hats are scary mean meanie heads that make her bark and pee herself.  Otherwise, everyone is loved alike and equal.  It doesn't matter who they are.  I can see being loving.  I'm loving to everyone.  But that is a bit over-the-top.  One has to have some sense of descrimination.

Well, there you are.  Now, you can look at the pets you know.  Are they dog-like cats?  Cat-like cats?  Dog-like dogs?  Cat-like dogs?  Or something in between?  How do your pets view the people around them?

Sharing my Person

This is Ruru the Cat.  I know I whined about the puppy a few weeks ago, but I guess she's not so terrible.  She seems to like me and wants to play with me.  I even let her do it sometimes.  But unlike my silly brother, I will NOT be her chew toy.  It trips me out.  The puppy comes along, and he just lets her CHEW on his HEAD.  His HEAD.  Or his legs or back or whatever.  He TAKES it.  The rest of us lay down the law.  She tries to chew on our heads, and we show her with our claws that this is a great way to end up DEAD.

So I have to sleep on one side while the puppy sleeps on the other.  That's not so bad.  And my person still seems to snuggle me and hug me and play with me MORE.

There are problems.  Here, I thought when Daisy disappeared, I wouldn't have to compete for every piece of cheese or meat when our person mama is cooking.  But that stinking Harmony the Puppy is twice my size.  They go to feed ME a piece of meat or whatever, and that Harmony gets it.  She also has a thing for chewing on our litter box leavings.  I don't even know what that's all about.

But over all, it's okay.  I can handle sharing my person.  Sometimes.  As long as that puppy remembers who's boss.

Gone!

Hi.  Ruru the Cat here.  I had this lovely show I liked to watch whenever I got the chance.  It was called "The Chick Channel."  My people brought in these feathered wonders that looked like the definition of yumminess.  I could stare at that glass box and fantasize about making those little peepers into prey.  When I wasn't playing with a mouse or eating cheese, I would dream lovely dreams of fresh chicken meat.

This week, they disappeared.  The box is still there, but the little peepers are gone.  I think I saw my people haul them out somewhere, but I fully expected them to be brought back.  But they haven't been!  I heard my people say something about the chicks being too big for that little cage, so they'd have to be taken outside.  But I thought they were kidding.  One day, they'll come back.  I know they will.  And when they are, they will be mine.

Guest blog: Farewell, Dog Mama

So this is Ruru the Cat again.  I talked about my cat mama.  I talk a lot about my person mama.  I don't talk much about my dog mama.  When I came here at the ripe old age of 3 weeks, this weeniehuahua adopted me as her funny looking puppy.  In fact, she got all ready to nurse my sister and my brothers and I then remembered she was fixed and couldn't.  Whenever another animal in the house gets snippy with me or tries to fight me, my dog mama, Daisy, runs in to protect me.  I love her.  But at the same time, she drives me nuts. She's almost as big an eater as I am.  Anytime someone is in the kitchen, there I sit, waiting to be given snacks that hit the floor or are handed to me.  Well, when someone actually calls my name to give me treats, there's the Daisy, trying to steal food out of that person's hand if not out of my very mouth.  So I love her, but she drives me nuts.

Well, today, my people drove away to find her a new home.  I guess it's that dang puppy again.  My people don't seem to like to have extra animals.  But once they got that puppy, I got a little crowded out, but my dog mama, Daisy, got a lot crowded out.  In fact, she and the puppy can't stand each other.  Daisy is always nipping at and growling at Harmony, and my people don't like it at all.  Daisy already has her buddy, Dodger.  She only needs one buddy at a time, so Harmony is right out.  Well, before Daisy left, she wrote me a note about what she wanted in her blog, and here it is:

"I've heard them talking about me.  I know something's up.  They're trying to get rid of me, and all because of that dang puppy.  I came here over two years ago.  I was happy where I was before, but I didn't like to stay in the yard.  I loved to run around and try to make babies.  Sometimes, I succeeded.  And I know the boy here loved me, wanted me more than any of the dogs in the world.  So when my old family needed to get rid of me, it made sense for me to come and stay in this home.  It didn't take long for that boy to get bored of me.  And nobody seems to like me very much anymore.

"Maybe it's because I don't listen when I'm called or I steal food or beg for what I can't steal, sometimes taking food right off people's plates.  Maybe it's because I bark at everyone who comes through the door and nips at the new puppy.  Maybe it's because I can always find a way to escape the backyard fence and teach other dogs to follow me into the highway.  But seriously, that's their problem.  I'm cute.  I'm wonderful.  Everyone should love me.  They like cats, right?  I'm just a cat in dog's clothing.

"Well, here's hoping my new house is full of people who love and adore me.  I hear there are five older kids there and another dog that looks just like me.  There's a cat and no puppy.  That sounds promising.  I can't promise I'll be able to blog from there.  So here's me.  My name is Daisy, and I'm awesome."

Here's Ruru again.  Man, my dog mama has an ego.  Ah, well.  Here's hoping she's happy where she's headed.

Red Dot

This is Ruru the cat again.  Where have you been all my life, little red dot?  My person daddy shows up, and suddenly, there's a little red polka dot that flies all over the place.  And I can chase it!  Except everyone else, all the fuzzies in the house, want to chase it, too.  I will almost get that little red dog, and someone else will get it instead.  The weird thing is when they catch it, they aren't able to pick it up.  I don't get it.

But it's really great.  I can chase that little red dot all day.  I wish it were yummy.  My favorite things like mice and cheese and lettuce and meat are yummy.  Sadly, the red dot, from what it seems from when others catch it, is not yummy.  I don't get it.  Something that fast and fun ought to be yummy.

Summer Break!

It's hot.  Really hot.  I mean, I'm a walking fur ball, a cat shedding like mad.  So that's the problem.  But the good stuff way makes up for it.  What's the good stuff, you ask?  My person is home ALL THE TIME!!!!  It's a beautiful thing.  She wants to just hold me and hold me and hold me.  It's beautiful.  I'm perfectly content to let her.  I'm the happiest plush animal you ever saw.  She hauls me around.  She snuggles me to sleep.  She feeds me her food.  Summer vacation, where have you been all my life?  Okay, so I have to put up with that dang puppy she got who wants to play with me and snuggle me and get in my face and sometimes put cats' heads in her mouth for some weird puppyish reason.  It's all good because I have my person home!  This is the life!