Poor little Loki. His life consists of a pretty regular routine of sleep, love, eat. And when I say routine, I really do mean a set pattern. This is the only cat I’ve ever encountered that can tell time. He absolutely knows when it is 6 am and 6 pm because those are the two times each day that he gets a smidgen of wet cat food. The rest of the time food is always available, but he’s ambivalent about kibble. Unlike Milo who is the exact opposite.
Loki, Milo, and Gizmo. Our collection of two syllable, multi-faceted, pain in the patootie, critters.
Kirk was away this week, in Toronto on business, and so I was “in charge” (not that anyone is really in charge of these creatures) for the week. Easy, right….? Well, yes and no.
Loki has one talent, he can read a clock! He really is a little pain because of it. I’m getting the morning wakeup call because Kirk is out of town. Mind you, it’s not as bad as the one he gets. At least Loki is letting me sleep a little bit more…although it’s been less every day Kirk is away. Today we battled at 6:20 am until about 7am before Loki conceded that I had one the day’s round. At 8am I had to use the washroom…so at that point, once you’re already up…well, might as well feed him. Usually he wakes Kirk up at about 5:45 am. He’s insistent. He starts by sitting next to your head. If you don’t “feel his intent” psychologically…. you’re going to feel it physically shortly. The next step is usually his very wet nose stuffed into whatever orifice happens to be most convenient…eye, nose, ear, open mouth…any will do and all usually generate the same reaction. You’ll flip over. But he is not deterred. He merely hops over you to the other side and begins again. If he still doesn’t get you up, he’ll up the ante and start his sad little Loki cries in your face. Next up is the “Loki shower” Remember that wet nose? Well, since he’s thinking about breakfast, he’s also salivating a bit and he has these massive ears that need a good shake. So he winds up and shakes his head and flaps his ears and all that moisture in his nose and mouth spray down on your upturned, sleepy face. And if all THAT doesn’t get you up. He will jump off the bed and start leaping up from the floor onto your chest, stomach, groin…whatever. And if you haven’t been up yet, you’ve probably got to pee, and that just makes it worse…so you get up…and he follows you to the bathroom and sits and smiles at you….and you go to the kitchen and feed him…because….well, you’re up anyway!
Every morning I run the gauntlet from the bedroom to the living room and pick up all the toys in between. Then I toss them into the basket under the step. If Loki doesn’t see…all is fine for awhile…if he does see me do it, there is usually a butt sticking out of the hole within a minute or so.
At various times of the day he decides it’s time for some Loki Lovin’ and starts to bring the toys to me. He knows that he gets love if he brings a toy…but when I stop it’s not enough…he rushes off to get another. I suppose he thinks it’s like he’s plugging the meter…one toy equals a few minutes of love.,..therefore more toys keeps the meter going.
It’s cute during the day…but he often starts again when I go to bed…it’s disturbing at midnight…but I can’t help laughing either. At least I know when the end is…he currently has six toys he brings me…then it’s usually over with….he’s about the sweetest cat on the planet!
Week one has been an unqualified success with the new litter box! Maybe it was money well spent….can’t say for certain yet…but I’m hoping!
It doesn’t clean itself until about 10-12 minutes after it’s been used…and for the first 5 days the cats would rush is and stare at it when it would turn on…now they have become a little more accustomed to it and on some days it is chosen over the old box….things are looking up…..of course this process has also involved a treat for Milo every time we see him in it….we don’t mind using bribes.
This is cute….right?
Well, yes and no. Yes, it’s adorable any time during daylight hours…..not so cute when you go to sleep.
I thought I was being so smart teaching Loki to fetch. I thought I could keep him doing it if I showered him with love every time he brought me a toy and then retrieved it. But what ends up happening is that he doesn’t always go get the toy I threw. Instead, he often goes and roots around int he basket where we toss them all and brings me one after another. Within an hour or so there are usually a half a dozen or more toys littering the hallway. OK, so that’s not really a crime either.
But what our not-such-a-genius cat has decided is that if he brings me something…that equals lots of attention….regardless of when.
We often wake up and find a toy of two on the bed. I always thought it quite cute that someone brought their toys to bed. Then last night, after I turned off the laptop and was trying to get to sleep, Loki arrived and deposited a toy on my chest and started thumping his head against me waiting for the attention that always accompanies the toy. I gave him a few strokes and threw the toy….it came back…along with more wet nose kisses and loose cat hair up my nose. So I put the toy aside on the bed and rolled over. He left…and returned with a new toy.
This went on for almost an hour.
When I woke up this morning (only because a cold wet nose was stuck in my eye) I found quite the load of toys on the bed.
No wonder I haven’t had a decent nights sleep in a week!
But dammit he’s cute!