Blog Number Five

       Kitty was five years old and we weren't nearly as kind to him as we were to Tiger, our last dog.  We brought Junior home from the shelter almost two years ago with 8 pages of instructions on how to introduce a young kitten (four months, neutered male) to an older cat.
         Keeping them separated lasted less than five minutes.  Junior and his litter mates had been surrendered to the shelter when he was just eight weeks old.  Having been penned up in the shelter nearly all of his short little life, he erupted from the pet carrier like a rocket.  He was loving his freedom.  He was nothing but a black and white flash of color darting around our three-story house.
He took to the doggy door immediately and could fly up the stairs from the basement through the hallway "doggy door" and out a second "doggy door" to the screened-in porch without ever slowing down.  Kitty lost weight in a vain effort to keep up.  When all else failed, Kitty would simply sit on the youngster.
            There have been no big, blood-drawing fights.  The Vet calls Kitty our "silent king."  Indeed, he is a very mellow guy.  He will act fatherly toward Junior by licking his face and head, then suddenly make a lunge for his throat, but it's  all for show.  Kitty releases the kitten and walks away.
          The girls at the local shelter here in Chattanooga, TN give all their animals weird names.  Our new addition was named "Taos" (as in New Mexico).  We named him Junior because we chose him because he has the same "tuxedo" coloring as our "Starter Kitty."  The name Junior just seemed to fit him.
          Junior and Kitty enjoy several "run-arounds" per day.  We call it "Kitty Khaos".  Similar to the dogs we’ve owned--the "Dandie dithers" and the "Norwich nillies."

Blog Number Four

       Then the unthinkable.  Tiger died a couple of days before Christmas in 2009.  The dog (a confirmed cat-hater in his youth) and the cat had peacefully cohabited  for 16 months.  There were never any fights, nothing in my house was destroyed and the cat never missed his litter box.  One night, when I was in a morose mood over losing my long-term canine buddy, I penned the following thoughts:
         "Pain woke me about 3am last week.  My back was killing me so I got out of bed and walked barefoot into the kitchen.  Stepped on something really sharp.  I got a bottle of water and a couple of pain pills and hobbled into my den.  As I plucked a piece of kitty kibble and a broken pretzel from my foot, I started to cry.
         "I had a very good friend once who scarfed up anything edible that hit the floor.  I missed that friend.  We jokingly called him our canine vacuum cleaner.  When he died, he left a huge void.  My friend was named Tiger and he was a Norwich Terrier, nearly fifteen years old.  He was such a good and loyal buddy.  Always got up with me, no matter the time.  Always sat with me when I was in pain.  Even when he got too old and could no longer jump into the chair, he would lay with his head on my feet.   
       "I sat there in the dark crying and waiting for the pain pills to kick in when I felt a brush of fur against my bare leg.  Kitty jumped into my lap, pummeled me a few times with his paws, then curled up with his head on my chest and began to purr.  My tears dried up.  Life does move on."
         My husband and I knew we had to have another pet.  Kitty was just sitting around the house getting fatter.  So, we went back to the shelter and found Junior.  He was four months old and full of energy.
OMG!  A kitten is a whole new ballgame.

Blog Number Three

          So now we come to the training part. I make this sound in my throat...sort of like an old-fashioned doorbell buzzer.  It worked on the dog, it should work on the cat.  Much to my shock, it did.  Kitty hadn't been taught by any of his previous owner that kitchen counters and especially furniture is off limits in the clawing department. A friend of mine suggested having his claws removed, but I think that's a barbaric procedure (the same as cutting ears to fit a standard).  I was determined he would learn right from wrong (humanely).  After a couple of screeches with my throaty buzzer sound, he learned quickly--also much to my surprise.  I bought several of those corrugated scratch thingys, sprayed them with liquid catnip (which he truly loves), and he learned...if it smells like catnip...it's mine.
         I also have a clicker.  Whenever I wanted the dog to come to me, I just hit the clicker a few times and even though he was partially deaf, he could hear that clicker, come running into the kitchen and I would dispense a treat.  Kitty thought it looked like a good idea--hear the clicker, run into the kitchen and get a treat.  Can you believe it? A 3-yr old cat learning new behaviors? I swear it's true!
         So, how do you teach a cat to go through a "doggy door?"  Since we put Kitty's food on top of the old grooming table (out of Tiger's reach) and his litter box, both in the basement, it was important for him to learn how to get downstairs. With my dog, I shoved him through a couple of times and the light bulb turned on.
        Elapsed time? Less than five minutes.
        Kitty was a different story.  I tried shoving him through the opening, but he planted all four paws firmly on the outer edges.  After that, he darted under the bed. After watching the dog, Kitty finally figured it out.
        Elapsed time? One week.
        You just can't rush a cat.