Walter doesn’t like night time very much, he likes bedtime with all its rituals and he sleeps for a few hours once the light goes off, but then he’s up and wandering about from room to room looking out of the windows through the night until either he or Jozef spots one of us with our eyes open and declares “Morning has broken”.
Because they want to get up so early Ruth and I have a system where we take turns of being the one to get up with them every other day, and on our lie in days we stay in bed until around 7.30 relishing our beds. My turn to get up early came at 5.20am today when I heard Jozef jump off Ruth’s bed and knowing Walter was already up and about I got up quickly to try and get down before them, but I was too late, by the time I was ready and downstairs Walter had put Jozef under the set of drawers in the corner – on dear here we go another day in the madhouse.
The first thing is to open the front door, as early as that it’s peaceful and quiet, no traffic to worry about and rarely any other cats about so Walter usually goes straight out, but Jozef waits to have his warmed chicken before he sets off, about 8 seconds in the microwave is just right and he sat down to it while I opened the curtains, put the saucer of cat biscuits for nibbling on in its normal place on the window sill and put a sachet of cat food in a jug of warm water to take the chill off it ready for breakfast number one, by which time Jozef was ready to go out by the back door, then put the heating on and balanced breakfast number two, a flat tin of Classic, on the radiator on a towel to warm.
I used to leave the back door open a little bit while I was busy in the kitchen but since the morning when Walter sneaked a live mouse in and took it upstairs (which rather spoiled Ruth’s lie in) I now just keep popping my head round the living room door to see if either of them are waiting at the window, we have to be careful because sometimes Jozef is sitting there innocently waiting and all of a sudden Walter jumps right onto him so it’s a case of looking every few minutes but today I managed to wash up and get my breakfast on a tray into the living room, sit in my armchair and raise the first spoonful of muesli mouthwards before Walter’s face popped up. So, I got the warm sachet and served half of it to him, in the corner by the TV where he likes it on a place mat, sat down and picked up my muesli again, but no….today he didn’t like it and he ate a little bit then went back on the chair and out of the window so I picked it up, chucked it out, thought about how many times I’ve threatened to give him shredded newspaper for his first breakfast because he wastes so much food, sat down and up popped Jozef’s tiny face.
Well today he was a good boy and had his breakfast out of the sachet that was already open then sat on the rug looking at the electric fire until I switched it on for him, up popped Walter and breakfast number two began. This went on for a while until finally they were both satisfied and then Walter got the armchair at about 7 and peace reigned so I had a bit of time on the downstairs computer and read the paper until Ruth got up, and after a little while got ready and away to work (for a rest)
Once he’s in the chair Walter often stays there until about 1pm then he has a trip out and is back before I get home from work, Jozef enjoys the mornings going out while he knows his brother is in the house and not lurking outside waiting to mug him, he comes home and settles at about the time that Walter is stirring. By the time Ruth and I have had lunch Jo is settled and Walter is ready to climb onto my chest for a power nap, then he comes upstairs with me and sits beside me in the computer chair while I (on a kitchen chair) catch up with my emails, POC and Facebook.
Peace reigns until about 6pm when they both start to stir so Ruth and I close our PC’s and start preparations for our evening meal, and their evening meals (plural), they pop in and out until about 8 then settle until about 9, Walter often goes upstairs and on to the top of Ruth’s wardrobe in the cat box at that time, sometimes if they don’t stir by about 9 for their last look out I sing in a loud voice, God Save the Queen or The Old Rugged Cross usually gets them up and out quickly LOL.
And then it’s time for bed, this is the part Walter loves, when we all go upstairs, me carrying a tray loaded with a teapot and 2 cups, three choices of supper/overnight snacks for each boy and my library book under my arm, Walter runs up and Jozef gets a “taxi” in Ruth’s arms, all the way upstairs while she is carrying him he looks up into the high reaches of the stairwell “checking for spiders”, he gets out of his taxi onto “Blue Mammy” on Ruth’s bed where he usually sleeps.
Walter, in my room, sits and looks pitiful for all the food is put on his mat on the floor he likes a plateful to be placed in front of him near his scratch sofa which he eats quickly while Ruth is getting ready for bed, meanwhile once ready I go in to say goodnight to Jozef and usually find him off the bed and scoffing all his plates of food one after the other. Back in my own room and now in bed Walter is finished eating but sits and waits for Ruth to come in and lift him onto my bed, when she does he is so happy, he speaks to her and purrs and walks between us and then throws himself onto his side in her arms, she calls it “trust” and says to him “are you going to do trust tonight?” and mostly he does.
When she finally gets away to her own bed where Jozef is waiting for his own goodnight ritual I pick up my book to read for a while, but oh no Walter doesn’t like it and he comes up the bed and nudges the book with his head until I drop it and the pages close, that is my signal to give up, put the light out and lie down with open arms and then he comes for a cuddle. Goodnight all…………… for a little while anyway.
Does anyone else, and their cats, have bedtime rituals?
Bed warmers. Silly autocorrect. Or maybe it’s that I put some booze into the tea I’m sipping.
Cats are great bed earners. When I was a kid there was no heat in our bedrooms at night. We would fight over who got to sleep with the cat. Tippy would snuggle in right under the blankets with you and sleep right up against you. I think even the cat was cold in that house. Monty’s not a snuggler. Too bad.
What a great story. I loved it. I particularly love the photo of you and Walter being carried off to bed. Both of you have such loving expressions. It truly sparkled my afternoon.
Bedtime rituals eh? For sure! Until about six months when Dr. Hush Puppy became disenchanted with the laser toy- he would sit by the side of the bed and look at me until I dragged the toy out and he would chase it for about 10 minutes or so- pouncing on it and looking disappointed when there was nothing “concrete” for him to hold.. meanwhile Sir Hubble would look at him as if he was a bit daft.
So the game ritual is over now- and has been replaced with the boys vying for which one will have the coveted spot- the closest to me-so they fight a bit and chase each other – the winner gets the prize. Meanwhile I am trying to get to sleep.
But the best part of right before bed is their midnight snack- they stand by the door eyeing me as if they were saying, “Where’s the beef?” Once they settle down though they make such excellent bedwarmers now that Florida is having a cold snap.. HA!
Is the squirty cream mentioned in the poster the kind that is squirted out of a can? My dad found out that type of whipped cream throws his blood sugar way off, for hours afterward. His blood sugar just drops like crazy for no reason after eating that. (He is diabetic.) There is some additive in that squirty whipped cream that is very bad. It’s in the cheese that is squirted out of a can and it was even in some soft cream cheese my mom bought that wasn’t squirted, but the additive made it soft. My father had the same bad reaction to the soft cream cheese as to the whipped cream. I don’t know the name of what it is that causes the problems, but my dad’s doctor said that if an animal ate that additive it could kill him. He said animals should never be given any of those products that get squirted out of a can.
I gave Monty a tiny taste of it in the past, but I never will again. I’ve been trying to find out exactly what it is that causes the problem. Is it xylitol? That’s an artificial sweetener that’s bad for cats. I know it wasn’t in the product I shared with Monty. It seems like it’s not a sweetener but something that keeps the product soft. I wish he had been able to recall the name of the additive that threw his blood sugar off so much. I think the doctor said it could destroy the pancreas of a dog. I’d assume if it could harm a dog a cat would be equally vulnerable.
Just in case, I’d avoid the squirty cream. I will continue to pursue this until I can find out exactly what it is that causes problems.
Monty gets upset if we aren’t in bed at the usual time!
Yes, big time. I wonder whether we all have them. Yours are very much a ritual. Fine tuned and sophisticated 😉
My boy is sometimes on my bed when I go to bed. If so he warms up the bed. Great. Then when I am settled I call him to come up to me by tapping the bed next to me. He nearly always comes and lies down on me. Then we have a little love session and I comb him with a flea comb all over his body. He coat always feels nice after that.
Then after the love session – he looks at me in deep admiration 😉 and he licks my hand or arm or even my face – he grooms himself while resting against me.
Then…he sleeps and makes a hell of a lot of noise. As he falls asleep the noise starts up. When I am about to sleep myself he walks over to my left side and lies down next to me at around head/shoulder height where he stays all night. I can cuddle him and he likes that.
Then….part 2 coming…