Category Archives: Fur Babies

The Saga of Jack and BobCat Continues

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Poor Jack. He just hasn’t been the same since “The Imposter” BobCat has come into the house. He has been the most jealous cat I have ever seen! (BobCat has many nicknames but I call him “The Imposter” because there is a real BobCat hanging about at night that has all 4 of my furbabies a bit rattled. Don’t worry, kitties are in an enclosure, safe from outside influences trouble.

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BobCat looks like he’s taking a selfie for a dating website!

“The Imposter” was brought inside in October, after being neutered, vaccinated, and dewormed. It has been very stressful watching Jack continuously so he doesn’t kill BobCat. I mean, continuously! Finally, in the last couple of months, Jack has learned to “be nice” and they actually touch noses almost every night at snack time. He hasn’t beaten him up in a few days. (Trust me, he goes days without incident now instead of several fights per day!)

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Jack looks like he’s pissed!

Anyway, Jack is very jealous and acts out like a child would if he/she were to suddenly have a baby brother that always has mom’s attention. BobCat got used to sleeping on me at night because he felt safe and that used to be Jack’s spot. I can’t get him to come share with BobCat so Jack goes somewhere else. BobCat likes to sleep in my chair when I’m not in it and Jack will jump up and steal my chair before BobCat can get it. Jack has been peeing on things off and on. It makes me so mad! I have numerous bottles of My Pet Peed spray to combat the odor but it would be nice to not have that extra work because I am in so much pain daily.

Jack is still lovable as hell, but not exactly like he was before. I’m trying to pay more attention to him so that he knows beyond a shadow of a doubt that he is still my “nubby wubby” (lovey dovey) and I hope to get him back to normal soon.

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Here’s a pic of Jack and BobCat being nice friendly!

It was actually quite funny. They were sharing my chair and when Jack looked at BobCat, BobCat would turn away. When BobCat turned to look at Jack, Jack would turn away. This went on for several minutes!

To be continued…..

When BobCat Went Missing

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I’m sitting here this morning wondering if I will be writing The Misadventures of BobCat on a weekly, perhaps daily basis. Good grief. Yesterday was hopefully the last misadventure BobCat will have!

I woke up yesterday morning, feeling the warmth of the day, and knowing it was going to be a nice one. BobCat wanted outside, so I opened the door and let him out. I’ve been letting him out when he wants out during the day, but keeping him in after dark. (That way he can get some exercise without Jack beating him up all the time.) I told him, “Be good and don’t run off.” Little did I know, I should have told him to not be a nosy little shit, too. The last I saw BobCat was when Dad and I were collecting the trash to take up to the dumpster, a couple of hours later. Oh, the joys or rural life. We don’t even have road-side trash pick up. Ugh. Anyway, the day went on and the high was 70 degrees. The wind was blowing like mad but died down in the afternoon.

3:00pm rolled around and that’s about the time I feed my furbabies. I called for BobCat, but he didn’t come. I fed the others and set BobCat’s food to the side. I went to the door and called for BobCat again. No sign of him. I went to the back of the house, stepped onto the catio and called again. No sign. I didn’t think too much about it at that point. It was a nice day and figured he was doing cat things like cats do. Maybe he was curled up in the dirt taking a cat nap. Hell, I don’t know what things he might be up to.

A couple of hours later, I called for BobCat again. Nothing. I was worried that he got into trouble. Maybe a dog chased him up a tree or maybe he got his collar hung up on something. I didn’t want to think about other possibilities. I hoped he hadn’t gone back to the home from whence he came, before he was mine. If they saw him, they might say, “Hey, there’s my cat!” and maybe, “What’s he doing with a collar on?” I was worried. It wasn’t like BobCat to miss meal time.

After some time went by, I called for BobCat again, from the front door and from the catio. I heard a faint cry or I thought I did. I think Jack heard it, too. Dad said it was probably just Jack. I told him it wasn’t because I can tell the difference and I was looking at Jack. He wasn’t mewing. I went outside and called for BobCat. I used all the names BobCat answers to: Bob, Bob-a-Duke, Bobbert, Rabbert, and Bobarino. I yelled. I whistled. Nothing. Not a sound.

I called for BobCat every hour after that and by 10:00pm, still no BobCat. It was snack time and all of my furbabies knew what time it was. I knew BobCat did, too. But where was he? I was so damn worried. I was out on the catio with Jack, calling for BobCat. I heard the mewing again! It sounded more frantic than earlier. I told Dad I heard the mewing again and I headed out the door with a flashlight. Dad followed. We walked around the side of the house, calling for BobCat. I could hear him! Dad said, “That’s Jack!” I said, “No, it isn’t.” When Jack mewed, I said, “THAT was Jack.” When the other sounded, I said, “That wasn’t Jack.” Dad said he couldn’t hear anything except for Jack. We were hobbling around in the dark; me with my crutches on lumpy and soft ground, trying not to fall on my ass, and Dad, unsteady on his feet, too. I hoped niether of us would fall but I was persistent. I knew I was hearing BobCat and I had to find him!

The mewing was louder on the side of the house where Dad’s old room is. (The room had been abandoned months ago due to a mold problem and was closed off from the rest of the house. Dad moved into the spare room.) I could hear BobCat and it sounded like he was in the old bedroom. Dad still insisted it was Jack I was hearing. I said, “NO. It ISN’T! It’s BobCat and he’s in your room!” Dad peeked into the windows with the flashlight and didn’t see a cat in the room. I said, “Then he’s stuck in the wall or between the roof and the ceiling because I hear him.”

I headed back to the house, determined that BobCat was in there, stuck in the wall or something. I had to help him! Masks donned, because of the mold, we entered the old bedroom. I shined the flashlight around and lo and behold, there was BobCat, pushing his way out of the closet! He must have seen the light and was frantically fighting his way towards us! Dad pulled the closet door open a bit (it’s kind of stuck) and Bobcat flew out of there like his pants were on fire (that is, if he had been wearing pants).

Poor BobCat. He was so happy to see us! I was happy to see him, too! At that point, I realized that maybe Jack was worried about BobCat, too. Maybe Jack was mewing to help us find BobCat. Just a thought, anyway. Who knows what goes on in a cat’s little brain. Jack even let him eat his dry kibble. Jack was being nice! Haha! Was Jack actually happy to see BobCat?!

I didn’t sleep well last night until after 4:00am because BobCat was having nightmares, I think. He was sleeping on me and every 40 minutes or so, he would jump up and look around, as if to see where the hell he was. Poor thing. He finally settled and we both got some sleep.

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So, that was Bob-a-Duke’s misadventure. It’s another nice day and he wanted outside again. I hope he stays out of trouble. I’ll keep closer tabs on him and bring him inside in a bit. These cats will be the death of me yet.

The Saga of Jack and BobCat

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These little shits are driving me insane.

In October, we took BobCat (above, right) to the vet and had him neutered, vaccinated, dewormed, and had his ears treated for earmites. We just wanted to give BobCat a better life than being outside and exposed to the weather, the road, and wild animals. When we brought BobCat into the house, to my surprise, Jack (above, left) and BobCat didn’t fight as I expected. But, that only lasted about a week. Then, all hell broke loose. Every chance he got, Jack would attack BobCat. It was so stressful. We had to be on the lookout all the time. Jack finally settled a bit, but we still had to watch. At night, we locked BobCat up in the small bedroom we refer to as the cat room. All was peaceful at night with the exception of BobCat playing with his toys or kicking cat litter all over the place. But that changed…

Fast forward about a week ago, BobCat started going berserk at night in the cat room. I mean, literally tearing the room up! It sounded like he was climbing the walls and throwing himself against the door! He made so much racket, I couldn’t sleep. (I sleep in my power chair which is right next to the cat room!) I didn’t sleep for 2 nights because of this so the 3rd night, I threw BobCat outside. It was finally quiet. But that didn’t last either.

After a few hours BobCat was throwing himself against the front door wanting in. I tried to ignore the noise. When he didn’t get any response, he went around to the window, then the next window, and so on. Then he was back at the front door. Holy crap.

The next night, I just let BobCat run loose in the house. I told him, “If Jack kicks your ass, it’s your own damn fault.” Things were peaceful with a few exceptions. As long as BobCat stayed in my chair (on me) or in Dad’s chair, then Jack ignored him. But as soon as BobCat decided to get up and play, eat, or use the litter box, Jack decided to give him a hard time. So, I’m losing sleep every night.

Oh my gosh, I am so exhausted! I can’t function without sleep. Having chronic pain and mobility issues is bad enough! I just can’t take much more. I’m at the point where I’m ready to find BobCat a new home and that makes me sad.

Last night, I guess I was so exhausted I fell asleep fast and slept hard. I didn’t wake up until almost 9am this morning. I feel so much better! With body and mind rested, I can function somewhat…and that’s still not much considering my pain and mobility issues never go away.

I don’t know how many times Jack (above, left) kicked BobCat’s (above, right) ass last night, if at all, but they are both still alive and well. I would ask them, but I’m sure they won’t answer.

Rats!!

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Someone asked me the other day if I thought a hamster would be a good pet for her 5-year-old. I’ve been asked this question before and I always give the same answer. “No.” In my experience, hamsters are temperamental little shits and not very sociable. If I were to get a pet for a 5-year-old, it would be a rat. It’s my advice every single time.

“Ew,” you say? They are awesome pets! Seriously, domestic rats are wonderful pets for kids because they’re very social animals. They love humans and human interaction. They’re intelligent and can be trained to do tricks and puzzles. You probably think rats are dirty. You’re absolutely wrong. Rats clean themselves more often than cats!

If you’ve ever given a kid a hamster, maybe you noticed that they got bored with it pretty quick. That’s because hamsters are solitary little shits and they hate to be bothered. Who wants to play with, or clean up after a critter who’s likely to bite your hand? A rat will be more fun because they are sociable and love to play.

My pet rat, named Yogi, used to play like a cat! He’d run and hide behind a pillow on my couch and when I’d ‘find’ him he’d jump and run and laugh! Yes, laugh. They make this squeaky little noise when they’re happy and it’s adorable! Of course, I had to watch so that my cats wouldn’t try to eat him for lunch but when we finished with playtime, he went back to his cage.

Yogi loved bites of banana and Cheerios. When I cleaned his cage he would “clean house” which meant he moved things around in his cage the way he wanted them. He had a great personality. Most rats live around 2 years but my Yogi lived to the ripe old age of 4!

If you want your kid to have a good experience with a first pet, including the responsibility of taking care of that pet, then a rat might be a good fit. Just be sure to do your research. Rats do have some special needs, such as a good piece of wood to chew to keep their teeth from growing too long. They will also need a cage with a solid bottom rather than wire. Once you’re set up with the proper supplies, you and your kiddo will have a blast!