All About Stripey
Earlier this month (and late February), I blogged about superstition, ritual, and habit. These were geared towards you and I, but cats have their version of each too. Like The Stripey One.
Superstition
Stripey believes that we’re trying to poison her. Whenever we offer her people food, she sniffs at it. Yes, this is what cats do, but she does it with every single piece. Cat treats too. So, if you have ten treats in your hand and are feeding them to her one at a time, she will sniff each piece. Her paranoia prompts this.
Ritual
To avoid her paranoia poisoning, Stripey has taken to crossing her eyes when she takes her initial sniff. This must aid in determining whether it’s safe to resume with the rest of the test: lick, re-examine, narf. Rinse, repeat.
Habit
Stripey’s small – much smaller than The White One – and she gets cold in the winter. She likes to find the place that has the most warmth and stay there. This winter, she found a place that she really loved.
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| Chillin where it’s warm. |
The cable box. No matter how many times we’ve pushed her out of there, she always goes back. This started as a way to prevent The White One from loving her too much since he’s much too big to get into that little space. Now it’s her new heated blanket. Even during our 70 degree weather the other week, she could be found under the TV, making use of the cable remote difficult.
Do your pets have superstitions, rituals, or habits? What are they?
Oh my… I have three different pets. All different species. All very weird in their own ways!
Mia (the dog)– She won't eat her food unless I put treats into it. Even if she's starving, she won't eat without the treats. She also won't eat if I'm not home or around. This makes it difficult to leave her with other people. If she comes up behind me, she touches her nose to my leg before moving on and laying down. When she's excited or happy she either propels herself backwards with her legs sticking straight back or she does what I call the "Puppy Paw Prance" (don't ask).
Hoggle (the guinea pig)– Hoggle knows that her treats are kept in the refrigerator. So, every time the fridge door opens, for whatever reason, she squeals. And squeals. If you weren't getting into the fridge for her and don't bring her a treat… she starts to scream. Loudly. She also thinks that when Mia comes inside from going out to potty, that must mean that SHE gets a treat too.
Dagny (the turtle)– Dagny is very smart. She knows what I wake up because Mia barks to wake me up in the morning. When Mia barks, Dagny starts banging on the side of her tank so that I will turn on her light and feed her. Every. Single. Morning. Even if I want to sleep in, both she and Mia are relentless. And when Hoggle used to be in my room as well… oh man… it was all three of them.
Mir – Thanks for sharing! That said, I think you may live in a zoo.
I used to feed Stripey wet food in the morning, but in 4 months it got to the point where she would wake me up at 4 AM – 2 hours earlier than my alarm. That's when I changed it to night.