Recently in Annie the cat Category
So I was interested in this article at Vetstreet about why some cats meow at us so much.Often (we're not really shocked to learn) it's to get something from us. Dinner, a stroke, a scratch behind the ear.
Or sometimes they're letting us know it's just time to get up and out of bed already. Breakfast is late.
Annie often meets me on the front steps as I drive up at night, meowing all the way down the
steps and then coming back up onto the porch with me. Do you have a vocal cat? (According to the article, they learn pretty quickly that meowing will get them fed or petted or something else that they want.)
Now that I think about it, my cat really is quite multi-talented.
She also does couch yoga.
I've had to carry two of them out of my house this past week but a third has -- so far -- eluded capture and is still living in my bathroom. All courtesy of Annie my cat who finds them and brings them home with her. Once inside, most of them manage an escape her clutches and find some hiding spot within the house (behind furniture, in a closet, inside a pair of shoes -- eeek -- which makes getting dressed always such an adventure).
They are all tail-less by the time I catch and release them, of course. Lizards, as you all probably know, can shed their (still twitching) tails as a defensive mechanism to distract and throw their predators off the track while they escape. Very clever -- and very effective, it still tricks Annie more often than not.
This lizard obsession of hers has been ongoing ever since I adopted Annie a year and a half ago. So I was amused Sunday morning when I walked out onto my porch on my way to church to find that someone had anonymously left two colorful "lizard tiles."
How cute! And how very, very appropriate.
A bug? A lizard?
Annie the cat spent a good part of this morning obsessed with an area near the front door where I keep the dogs' fetch balls, leashes, bags and other out-the-door, entry-way supplies.
I have no idea what she was hunting for. I couldn't see anything. But she saw something. And I've learned that she's never wrong when it comes to these things.
The other night she showed up ("jingling," that collar bell is making me crazy) at my back door with what looked like either a mouse or rat in her mouth.
I thanked her.
Then I promptly closed the door, denying her entry.
About the Bloggers
Daily Breeze reporter Donna Littlejohn has shared her homes with a succession of wonderful, funny, and occasionally difficult canines -- Muffin, Fritz, Ellie, Mercy, Pilgrim and now Cowboy, an Australian shepherd-border collie, and Tess, a border collie. From strong-willed terriers to weirdly obsessed Australian shepherds, they've invaded her world with boundless energy, wet noses, muddy paws and soggy tennis balls. But they've really brought so much more than that -- like laughter and joy, some unexpected life lessons, and more than a few tears along the way.
E-mail Donna at donna.littlejohn@dailybreeze.com.
Josh Grossberg grew up with the usual array of animals: goldfish, dogs, hamsters, parakeets and turtles. He now owns the loudest dog in the South Bay(Video: Rocket the Dog) and is the least popular person on his block. He spends his free time in dog parks, pet shops and always has an extra plastic bag in his pocket just in case. He also has a cat.
E-mail Josh at josh.grossberg@dailybreeze.com.