Irving Is In the Doghouse

Well, very-new-cat Irving has disgraced himself. Yesterday my husband caught him peeing on a pile of his clothing on the guest bed, which has (had?) a very new mattress.

I've been researching this kind of behavior, and we think that he was upset because my husband had been paying attention to the other new cat, but understanding the reason doesn't make it any easier to live with, given that there are other things in the house that we really don't want him to use as a lavatory.

So Irving is going to be a garage cat for a while.



We're watching him to make sure it isn't a physical problem (male cats get urinary tract infections), but I'm not exactly sure how we'll know it's safe to let him back in.

In the meantime, he seems to be okay with it. I think I'm having a harder time with it than he is. I was loving having a lap cat around again, and he's a great lap cat. In the meantime, though, Irv is safe and warm, well fed, and still loved.



Irv, why'd you have to do it? You were sitting in butter, pal!

No Fall Colors Yet But...

It was such a pretty day here today in South Carolina. Mild, sunny but not hot, and clear. Just a nice day to be alive (except for these darn allergies)...



All the local native grasses are going to seed, and it's such a lovely sight.

New Cat Goes to the Vet

I'm posting this picture just because really-new-cat Irving looks so silly lying like this with his back legs stretched out. He was just zoning out.



Yesterday we took him to the vet, who says he's 7-8 months old. He's on antibiotics for his cold, and we'll take him and slightly-less-new-cat Halley back in three weeks to get neutered and spayed, respectively.

Still no idea where he and Halley came from. It's especially odd that he was on our back deck, since it's really not easily accessible, and there's no real reason for a cat to find his way there. I wonder if we'll ever find out?

The Kitten...and the Chips

I'm sure that some of you think that it's all sweetness and light here in WannaBe Land. Well, I'm here to tell you that we have our tales of woe.

Take yesterday, for example. My husband was at the grocery store, and decided he wanted a bag of chips. He doesn't eat them very often, but he got himself a small bag of chips as a treat.

Have I mentioned that Irving, our new kitten, has a cold?




The connection? My husband got home, opened his little bag of chips, set it on the desk, and turned to the computer screen to do something. He turned back, and saw Irving's head buried in the bag. He reached for him, since the chips were still salvageable at that point.

Then he heard the sneeze.

Life's just tough sometimes.

How to Say 'I Love You' In Cat Language

Halley, the white cat we've had for about 6 weeks, has had about 48 hours to come to terms with having another new cat, Irving, in the house. Irving would hiss mildly at her at first, but then this morning when I tried to feed them at the same time, he leaned over and rubbed his head against hers. It was very sweet, though I have to say that he did take up the middle position at the two-bowl cat food dish, which I assume means "I eat first, girl" in cat language. She submitted and waited until he had finished.



Several times today, I've noticed her giving him very slow eye blinks. I was curious, so looked it up on the Internet, and it turns out that's how cats say "I love you" to each other...or at least, "I like you enough not to attack you," which of course is important information in a cat's world.



I was thinking how sweet it is that they like each other already. Then I remembered that neither is fixed yet.

All of a sudden I feel like the mother of a teenage girl who has foolishly invited a teenage boy to stay for a while.

History in Our Backyard

My husband and some visiting friends were exploring the road we live on, and discovered an old church near an American Revolutionary War site. I suppose it's easy to find these sites in South Carolina, but we were excited to know we live so close to one.



The church was delapidated, but very moving in its simplicity.



The sign says it was founded in 1768 as part of a religious revival sweeping across the American colonies. It's not clear to me if this building dates from then.



Can't you just imagine the locals worshiping here? I wonder what happened to the pews. There's a small graveyard out back filled with gravestones carrying local names we recognize...because they're the names of roads and small businesses all around here.

New Cat Irving

Irving, the young cat who showed up unexpectedly on our back porch yesterday, got to come indoors a little earlier than we had planned, mainly because of this....



The vultures never hang out in that tree, and they were showing a disturbing interest in our back yard. We can't protect the ducks, but we brought all the cats in.

Unfortunately, Irving wasn't quite ready to become a house cat. Part of being a house cat is knowing what to do in kitty litter, and even though I showed it to him, it didn't quite dawn on him what it was for. So when he had to go, and didn't know what to do, he did something I wasn't expecting.

He peed on me.



He doesn't look like a cat that would pee in your lap, does he? Sigh.



I rushed him to the kitty litter and held him in it until I could almost literally see the light bulb going off over his dim little head, and he used it then. He also figured out the cat door pretty quickly, and he's learning what N-O means when he tries to claw the furniture.

He's a darling cat, unfortunate urinary incidents aside. He's a purring machine, a lap sitter, and a born house cat with no real interest in the outdoors. I'm happy he showed up, and that we were in a position to help him out.

It's going to take a while before he lives down that peeing thing, though.