Friday, August 7, 2015

Roly Poly Guessing Game

My cats keep me guessing. I understand them well, I think, but there is much that is hidden from me yet. Sometimes what is concealed is rather esoteric; often, it is mundane, but still puzzling.

Tucker is a very sensitive animal, even for a cat, as I may have mentioned before. Periodically, when under stress, he relieves both this stress and himself outside the litter-boxes. This he does usually on the floor in the basement which, since I replaced the carpet down there with linoleum, is not such a big problem. Even so, I dislike having to clean it up and, more than that, I dislike him being under stress, and puddles on the library floor are signs of this.


Noah’s advent led to some instances of wayward wetting. They have grown fewer and farther between, though Tucker still does it from time to time. (The irony is that the roly poly is the one who bosses the new boy, not the other way around. Evidently, Tucker finds staying on top an emotional struggle.)

Last evening, Tucker ambled down to the basement, where the litter-boxes are kept. I thought little of it, except that he was down there an inordinate amount of time. I worry when my cats do that, as both Tucker and Renn did that when they were having urinary tract issues. (Tucker’s necessitated major surgery; Renn’s vanished without a trace.) So eventually I descended myself, to find Tucker hiding behind a chair. He does this when he thinks he’s in trouble. He is not adept at hiding, due to his size, but it gives me an indication of his emotions.

I naturally thought that he had wet where he shouldn’t have. When he does it, he is always embarrassed by it, certainly regretful. He knows he shouldn’t do it, but it’s a compulsion, so I can hardly punish him for it. Anyway, I searched, but could find nothing untoward. I made sure that the roly poly one did not feel that he was in trouble, and we climbed the stairs together.


Later, the scene repeated itself. I found my sausage of a cat at the bottom of the staircase as I was coming down. He looked guilty, but then he often does. It’s that big moon-face of his and the wide eyes. But again, I could see no evidence of wrong-doing, or even of bad aim. (He is, in fact, not only my most regular of cats in terms of bodily functions, but my most accurate.) I explained to Tucker that he was not in trouble; he purred, I puzzled.

Come ten o’clock, and I was putting Noah to bed. We played a bit, then I carried him to his bedroom (the downstairs shower-room) and bade him a good-night. As I was about to go upstairs, I saw a centipede scurry across the chequered linoleum floor. This provided a clue to the mystery. If Tucker had seen this multi-legged little fellow - and he could have, even in the dark basement - he would have been mesmerized by him for some time. He would not, as other cats may have, killed the creature. He is too timid for that; he instead would have watched it. He would have lost track of time until his human came down to investigate.

This may not be the solution to the problem. But Tucker was not doing what he ought not, and that was to my satisfaction. If he wants to be astonished by nature, that’s up to him, though I can’t see him studying it like Renn. I picture him watching, his eyes bigger than normal, his mouth open, his fuzzy face agog. After all, if I’m kept bewildered by my cats, they should be bewildered by something in their turn.

13 comments:

  1. Sounds like you may have solved the puzzle! Very astute and caring you are! I'm grateful that all five of my cats have never soiled outside the litter box in the six years they've been here. A few of the boys recently started to not squat and will make a big mess in the covered box when pee splatters everywhere and occasionally they get turned around and shoot it out of the box... Even with all that, so much easier than dogs!

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    1. Have they developed a sudden aversion to the hooded box? That happened here once.

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  2. ewwww - fuzzy bugs

    Tucker - we don't blame you for not trying to catch it, but try not to baffle the human :)

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  3. All my cats look at the insects if they somehow get in the house but do not kill them either. They just alert me to the fact that something is there, even though it would not be visible to me if they didn't "tell" me. Tucker is such a sensitive sweet boy.

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  4. From that photo above he presents quite the obstacle to a many legged visitor if not a threat

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  5. I love how unique each cat is. I'm not sure either of mine would have killed a centipede. Based on past experience, nope, more's the pity. Centipedes creep me out. Anyway, I hope that's all it was in Tucker's case, that there's nothing else untoward today!

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  6. Cats can be very mysterious. I bet you found the answer though. He was just curious about that large bug. You all have a great week end.

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  7. dood....furst off... glad ewe were knot in "trubull"...N glad yur "health" iz aye oh kay !!!

    az for bein sum place for a long period oh time; de food gurl wundered why eye had knot come in frum de garage; { thatz az far az eye get....for goin outside....door down...garage....}

    anyway, eye had been out ther for what her callz FOR EVER & when she came out two see why; she discovered eye had cornered a chipmunk bee hind de recycle bin.....

    it waz a stare down contest...til eye got picked up & put bak in de houz....& de door waz opened sew de chippe could run ta freedom !!

    ~~~~~~ tuna

    heerz two a hairtail, madtom fish kinda week oh end ♥♥♥

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    1. A bit unfair for the chipmunk - but I'm glad he was able to escape anyway.

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  8. I love your description of how you imagine Tucker would study nature. He sounds such a dear sweet boy.

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  9. I LOVE those full bodied cats like Tucker. I bet he feels like heaven to hold. His personality is delightful.

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  10. We kitties have a hard time remembering to hide all our body parts and many times tails, feet or legs stick out, giving us away. We wanted to thank you for your kind words of comfort and understanding when we lost our poor Julie and are sorry it has taken so long to write but writing about her upsets our mom. Purrs to you all!

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  11. Don't you wish we could see into their little minds? I wonder if it was the bug or something that caught his interest. At least it wasn't something that got him into trouble, sweet boy!

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