Animal Insting

First let me explain that when I say "cats," I mostly mean "Chloe."  And when I say "out of control," I mean "being naughty and getting into lots of trouble with Mom."

Anyway, you would think that since there are 2 dogs to every 1 cat in this house, we dogs would have the upper paw and could keep all kitty behavior submissive and nice, like it is supposed to be.  But somehow things haven't worked out that way.  In my opinion, life with cats is best when the cats just stay in their own room most of the time and don't come out to bother us dogs or mom.  That's the way things were when Charlie and Chloe first came here last May, but over the past year, they have got to be Very Bold, so they are out roaming around the house a lot of the time, and they show up in all sorts of places.

For example, Chloe likes to go in the bathroom when Mom is in there, and she sits on the sink while Mom is trying to brush her teeth or wash her face.  And sometimes Chloe tries to play with Mom's toothbrush while Mom is brushing her teeth.  And other times Chloe nips at Mom's hand when Mom is turning on the faucet, which Mom really, really doesn't like.

Personally, I never go in the bathroom because I know that it is a place where dogs sometimes get BATHS, which makes it a very dangerous place.  I have told Mom that she just needs to give Chloe a bath, and that will convince Chloe to stay out of the bathroom.  But so far, Mom has not taken my advice.

Charlie is getting braver, too.  Sometimes he jumps onto Mom's bed in the daytime, and then if Barry gets up there, Charlie doesn't even jump down again.  Also sometimes Charlie sleeps on the dog beds in Mom's office, even if Barry is sleeping there.  And lately, Charlie has started sitting on Mom's computer desk while she is doing email and stuff.


Chloe prefers to sit on Mom's lap when Mom is on the computer, and Chloe usually makes a pest out of herself while she is there.  For one thing, she drools, and then she gets the drool all over the keyboard and the thing Mom puts her wrists on, not to mention on Mom's hands.  And if Mom doesn't pet Chloe enough, which Mom usually doesn't when she is using both hands to type, Chloe will sometimes butt Mom's hand, which makes Mom type the wrong letters.  Or else Chloe will nip Mom's hand, and if she does that, Mom dumps her on the floor.





And if Chloe isn't on Mom's lap, she is walking around and around the computer, and she stands in front of the screen so that Mom can't see it, especially if Chloe thinks it is time for supper.  And Chloe also likes to play with stuff on the computer desk and knock it on the floor and chew on pencils and pens.

Another favorite activity of Chloe is looking at squirrels and birds out the window.  And when she does this, she gets really excited and makes this funny chattering sort of noise. Mom thinks this is cute, but we dogs mostly just ignore it.

When Mom opens the door for us to go outside and potty, Chloe sometimes sneaks outside, too, even though she's not supposed to go outside, ever, because that's what it says on her adoption contract.  And when she gets outside, she eats a few bites of grass, and then she runs back in the house.

Except one night last week, Chloe went outside, and Mom didn't know she was there, so when all of us dogs came in, Mom closed the door.  But then Chloe came to the door and started meowing really loud, and right away Mom noticed that Chloe was still outside.  So she opened the door and let her in.  This was actually not the first time this ever happened, but this time was different because when we looked out on the patio where Chloe had been, we were shocked to see a little black kitty!  We don't know where this kitty came from or where it went after Mom closed the door.  And mostly we don't know why it was dumb enough to come into our yard when there had just been a bunch of dogs out there!

Oh, and here's another thing Charlie and Chloe do.  Sometimes after the rest of us get in bed and are trying to sleep, they start playing and romping loudly up and down the stairs.  And a couple of times, they got into a big catfight right in the cat room next door to Mom's bedroom.  We don't know how the fights got started, but Mom had to get up and go in there and tell them to knock it off.  Which they did.

One thing Chloe does that I really like is she jumps up on the kitchen counter and gets interesting stuff that Mom has left lying around up there, such as empty catfood cans or plastic bottle lids.  Then after Chloe snags these things, Barry or I take them away from her so that we can chew on them, which is lots of fun.  And sometimes Chloe opens the door to the place where the trash can lives, and then she climbs into the trash and drags some good stuff out that way.

Chloe also likes to open the cabinet where the dog treats are, even though it is a high-up cabinet.  But she can reach it by jumping on the counter first and then pawing the cabinet door open.  So now Mom puts the treats into a big plastic container that Chloe can't pull down out of the cabinet, or else Mom puts the treats on a higher shelf.

The times when Chloe most likes to thump around with cabinet doors are either when Mom is trying to eat or when we are all in the living room watching TV or else when we are all upstairs in the bedroom trying to go to sleep.  I don't know if Chloe is just wanting extra attention or if she feels extra active and playful at those times.

Anyway, the cats do actually sleep most of the night, and the place where they sleep is usually with Mom, since none of us dogs sleep with her.  Chloe sleeps on Mom's right side, and Charlie sleeps on the left side.  Except if Mom is sleeping on her side, then both cats want to be on her front side.  This sometimes make the cats hiss and growl at each other a tiny bit, but then they settle down and everyone goes back to sleep.

So that's how our life with the cats is going.  Mom says she loves Chloe and Charlie, even though they make her grumpy sometimes.  I think it must be pretty hard for Mom to love such naughty kitties, but somehow she does.