blogsNH - Through Fresh Eyes and Ears - Comments

Cats seem to stay young forever...

Terri Oberg — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 08:16:10 -0400

We have a cat as well. She is nearly 16 now. I got her for my daughter who was 3 at the time. Since my daughter had been uprooted from her family and pets when I left her father, I thought a kitten would help her adjust. Although our Nikki Kitty is probably the most mellow cat you will ever come across (one more terrified of bugs then any of the rest of us), we have many similar amusing stories we love to retell over and over about her experiences.

The story about falling off chairs brings to mind one about our cat. When we were preparing to move to Pembroke after 9 years in the same townhouse, our cat sensed what was coming. For weeks prior to our move she would lay in her favorite spot, a little ledge at the top of the staircase, but as soon as she nodded off, she would lose her balance and fall, tumbling all the way down the stairs. Every night I'd lay in bed listening to her scratching the wall as she tried (unsuccessfully) to catch herself, tumble down the stairs, then moments later jump back up on the ledge. She repeated this over and over every night, all night for weeks. I have to admit we all found it amusing and laughed about it all the time. Finally I took her to the vet to find out why she was behaving so oddly. He agreed that she was most likely just stressed by the changes she sensed were coming and he gave me what basically boiled down to Kitty Valium to help her get through the rough patch. Too funny though how she never quit trying to get through the night on that little piece of ledge.

Dogs & cats as the 'new' children

Susan Sherrouse — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 21:01:15 -0400

Oh, Teri, I just loved your piece!

We to have recently become 'parents'. We found our cat baby Sophie at a nearby town's animal shelter. Originally we were heading in for another cat, but we brought her home because she was sticking her paw outside of her cage and she batted Al's arm, and thought it'd be good to have two cats. Unfortunately, both the cats were terribly ill, and we were only able to save Sophie.

Sophie is our pride, our terror, our cockroach finder, and our bird lover. She is incredibly smart (she plays fetch and likes to play peek-a-boo), and is constantly nearby when we are at home. She wears me out playing soccer, and opening the closet doors when she puts her little balls under the doors! Always seeming to go 100 miles per hour, especially on the hardwood floors, she has recently mastered the art of rug surfing. But I have to say the funniest thing she's ever done is fall off chairs. One second, she is the epitome of cat-like gracefulness, the next, she's fallen off the side of the chair, and looks at me with that 'OK, who knocked me over?' look. She has certainly enriched and enlivened our lives.

Through Fresh Eyes and Ears

Terri Oberg — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 11:57:45 -0400

He appears to be just sitting. "Goofy dog," I mutter, but he is alert, sniffing, completely captivated by his new surroundings.