joyful2beeblogs

I have been pondering something. We have all seen cats grooming themselves. They lick their fur from head to tail. While they are grooming themselves the barbs on their tongues catch every bit of lint, loose hair, dust or dirt particles, every minuscule piece of dead or alive matter, litter dust that was caught on their coats and claws, then, what do they do?

They swallow every bit of those aforementioned particulates. No matter how dirty, gross, or full of germs they may be. You never see them shaking their heads in disapproval of a taste of whatever they found to be unpleasant from their own bodies, do you?

You never see them barf up something afterwards, just because it tasted bad, do you? You know that they are bound to cleanse particulate left from their feces or urine on their behinds as they clean. But they never show signs of repulsion, do they?

So why do they react to medicines or anything else that tastes bad, for that matter? When I used to try different foods on them and they wanted the old food, they sometimes shook their heads, walked away and ten minutes later came staring at me for food??? (I am not feeding them a new kind of food or spoiled food.) And they pester me until I throw out that food and open something different.

How do their little feline brains work when it comes to food? I learned on a marvelous video on YouTube: “The Lion in Your Living Room, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDj-TJaBCm4, that cats often will not eat food left out too long. Okay, that is obviously a safeguard against bacterial poisons that could grow in the food when left unrefrigerated. The food I put out is fresh out of the can or has been refrigerated over night at the longest and warmed with hot water. So no toxins or foul smells there.

What sadistic pleasure are they enjoying? So rather than let my cats go hungry, I throw perfectly good food down the disposal while feeling guilty for the wastefulness, while many cats around the world are starving. (Can you tell how I was brought up?) Do my cats watch me with glee as they enjoy my torment?

And another thing! Why do they leave little pieces of their food on the floor? Yes there is a food mat under their bowls. Do they enjoy watching me lean over once or twice a day to pick up the little fragments of food left on the floor that was flung off of the mat? Are they tossing the food around like a dead mouse or something?

Food in the water bowl

Then Norie sometimes decides she wants her food a little moister. So she will drop a piece of food in the water bowl; pause for about 30 seconds; fish it out with her paw and pop it in her mouth. Well, that seems like an intelligent thing to do if you want moister food. But she doesn’t always fish out the last one or two pieces of food from he water bowl.

No, she leaves them sitting in the water, potentially contaminating the water. And even though I change the water daily, I may have to change it yet again and wash the bowl. (I think they are just bored and I am giving them something entertaining to watch.)

I do love my cats. Regardless of my guilty conscience and the frustrations I sometimes feel, they are the best pets in the world. They give me affection, entertainment, companionship, and warmth (in the bathroom, the bed, the kitchen and the office).

Norie is the clown. She makes me laugh every morning by lying on the floor on her back as I get ready to sit on the bed to put my shoes on. She looks up at me with her paws dropped and her legs splayed open, just begging for me to tickle her tummy so she can “attack” my hand. But she looks so cute and so funny I have to do something to play with her.

Sister is the Lap Warmer. If I sit in the recliner and flip the footrest up Sister comes bounding up and waits for me to put a blanket in my lap so she won’t scratch my legs when she kneads them. She will not get in my lap until the blanket is in place.

One night I awoke at 2 in the morning, sick to my stomach and feeling horrible. I don’t get sick often and haven’t been nauseated in 5 years or more. I was miserable. I got up and got a cold, wet, washcloth for my forehead and laid back down. Sister often sleeps near the head of the bed and Norie sleeps behind my knees. But they each lay on either side of my head and purred. I don’t know how but within a few minutes I was comfortable and sound asleep. These two love me as much as I love them.

How could I get frustrated with them? They are really such great cats to have around. Uh oh, I feel another guilt trip coming on.