Tuesday, March 4, 2008

My cat is more high maintenance than me


Okay, so a week ago I blogged about my cat Sashi and his urinary problems - yes, this is the most exciting blog ever on the Internet. Seriously, where else can you read about cat pee AND George Clooney?

Anyway, Sashi has made a complete recovery, for which I'm very grateful, but I think that the winter doldrums have set in with him and frankly, he's driving me crazy.

I'm really not one of those crazy single ladies with a cat. Sashi owns no clothes (unless he's hiding a stash from me somewhere) and while I admit that I do talk to him, I will firmly say that he never talks back. Almost never. The thing is, when you have an indoor cat they never go anywhere so you never get a break from them.

Every morning I pad down to my kitchen and give him some food - which he generally looks at in disdain - and then I go check my e-mail. Sashi hates this. He will meow and meow as I sit at my desk, so I will take a break and play with him. He loves to play fetch with some little furry mice, so we do this for as long as I can stand it and then I attempt to go back to work. And, he will then hound me some more to play.
I understand that I am his world, save the birds and squirrels he watches through through the windows, but it's hard being my cat's built-in playmate while trying to work 10 to 12 hours a day as a writer. If he didn't absolutely hate other cats I'd think about a playmate, but he is not welcoming to other felines in any form or fashion.
So once in a while I do think how nice it would be to open the door and have him go frolic outside to play with someone (or something) else, but I live in an area with lots of coyotes (they got my last cat) so inside he will stay. I have found myself wishing I could find him a hobby, but the lack of opposable thumbs keep him from learning to knit or do Sudoku (you know, he couldn't hold a pencil!). I've tried music, (thinking he might like the whole wimeweh chorus in "The Lion Sleeps Tonight") letting him watch DVDs, "The Lion King," and "The Aristicats," and encouraged him to clean - which he rebelled against - I won't even tell you what he did with his food dish. I am out of ideas.
I realize I wanted a pet, and am certainly willing to give him time and attention. I just didn't realize what a total attention whore this particular cat is. He and I will work it out I'm sure. All relationships go through rough patches at one time or another.
I have to go now because Sashi is staring at me and making me feel really self-conscious about how long this has taken to write. Boy, he's worse than any editor I have ever worked with. And that's saying a lot.

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