Ratty's Cat House

04/09/2023

Ratty makes a friend...

28/08/2023

Ugh. Ratty trying to tan his balls (or what's left of them). This is the last time I let him talk me into watching Tucker Carlson...

23/08/2023

Sitting here at the computer, under the ceiling fan (which is on at full speed) and, after a few minutes, Spunky comes out of nowhere and jumps up atop the back of my desk chair -- literally 3 feet beneath the whirling blades of the ceiling fan! I didn't even know Spunky was in the room.

It is so rewarding helping him to overcome his fears!

And, oh -- he just did it a 2nd time. Had my camera ready this time...

21/08/2023

So proud of Spunky!

The video is a bit long -- no need to watch the whole thing. There is no big payoff at the end or anything. Just video of Spunky eating his breakfast in the same room as the dreaded ceiling fan.

The dreaded ceiling fan...

Spunky's previous owner told me that her cat had a fear of fans, due to some sort of traumatic incident in the past (not sure of the details). I thought she was talking about a normal type of fan, like a desk fan, or a floor fan; but Spunky didn't seem to be scared of those types of fans.

I didn't have a ceiling fan in my previous apartment, so I didn't know the fear was centered on those things.

There is a ceiling fan in my current apartment, but I only started using it a few months ago, when the weather started to warm-up.

On that first day, Ratty was resting on the desk directly under the fan. I switched it on and Ratty reacted pretty violently -- hissing and growling and jumping to his feet as if I were a monster. That only lasted a few minutes, though, and ever since then, Ratty has been totally "chill" with the fan. It doesn't phase him one bit.

I guess it spooked him because it was something new, but what is weirder is how quickly he overcame that fear.

Spunky, on the other hand, was deathly afraid, and he let me know it. Whenever the fan was on in the living room, he wouldn't leave the bedroom. He would clearly tell me what the problem was by walking to the edge of the living room and casting his eyes in the direction of the ceiling fan, giving a fearful look before turning back around to the safety of the bedroom.

I tried just leaving the ceiling fan off, but this apartment gets uncomfortable without it, and I don't want to have the a/c on all the time. So I decided to slowly try and desensitize Spunky to the fan.

Got some ideas from the Internet. One of which was to leave the fan off and, when Spunky could see me, walk over to the fan and slowly move the blades by hand. But even though he was on the opposite side of the apartment, Spunky would get nervous as I approached the fan, and he would bolt into the bedroom just before my fingers even touched the blade. So none of the ideas I saw really seemed to work.

I decided to just carry on as if things were normal -- leaving the fan on and letting Spunky stay in the bedroom if he wanted to. A couple of times I would carry him into the living room (keeping far away from the fan) and we'd walk over to the open front door, where he could look outside. Then I'd slowly turn him around to where he could clearly see the operating fan in the other room. I would sense he was getting scared, so I would then calmly walk him back into the bedroom and give him lots of positive attention and play.

I think I only did this 2 or 3 times. Other than that, I never tried to force him near the fan or anything. There would be times when I was watching TV in the living room and Spunky would walk over to the edge of the bedroom and clearly want to jump up with me on the recliner, but he couldn't overcome his fear of the fan and returned to the bedroom.

But I had the feeling this would change with time. And I never ignored him -- I would often go into the bedroom and give him lots of attention and playtime. I wanted him to overcome his fear, but I didn't want him to feel ignored or unloved.

Last Wednesday, I was preparring their breakfast in the kitchen and the ceiling fan was on. To my surprise, Spunky entered the kitchen on his own, joining Ratty in meowing for the upcoming meal. He didn't seem to care about the ceiling fan even though he definitely saw it. A breakthrough!

Normally I feed Spunky in the bedroom and close the door (or else Ratty will steal his food), but that morning I decided to put his dish down in the living room -- right near Ratty and right near the ceiling fan. Spunky was a bit nervous, but he went ahead and ate.

Since then, there have been brief moments when Spunky would enter the living room when the fan was on. But only briefly. And sometimes he would chicken-out. So it's still a work in progress.

Yesterday morning I tried it again, with my phone at the ready to film it. And it worked again! As you can see, he is a bit hesitant at first, but then he goes over into the living room and eats!

So happy this is working. Especially since this place doesn't have great air flow, and I really need that ceiling fan turned on during these hot months...

14/08/2023

Decided to chop-off Ratty's front legs. Nothing wrong with them -- I just got tired of cutting his nails all the time. I think this will work out best for the both of us. His new name is Hoppy...

07/08/2023

I've been leaving a piece of clothing (with my scent on it) on my bed so Spunky can feel a little more comfortable when I'm at work...

24/07/2023

Spunky's Laundry Day

17/07/2023

I remember this photo of Shadow & Ratty. They were groovin' to a Four Tops song, boppin' their little heads up and down and everything. Then I started to sing along, and it all came to a screeching halt...

10/07/2023

What is weirder than your cats calmly watching you p**p?

How about being the one who is sitting on the toilet, p**ping, and filming your cats as they watch you? lol

This is Ratty with my friend's cat, Chili, back in 2016. I loved how well Ratty and Chili got along. Wish Ratty and Spunky would get along this well. Then again, my other cat Shadow did NOT like Chili one bit (and did not hide the fact), so that gave Chili extra reason to bond with Ratty. Maybe that's the difference.

I guess it's not all that bad with Ratty and Spunky these days. They seem to get along most of the time. And they've never had a real big serious fight (like you see on "My Cat From Hell")...

03/07/2023

26/06/2023

Ratty's attitude changed after I explained how I wanted to use the computer to order more cat food from Chewy...

19/06/2023

Ratty sometimes gets a bit testy when waiting for his next meal...

17/05/2023

Cats had a horrible, scary morning. Probably the most frightening experience of their lives!

The Maintenance Guy visited to check our smoke detectors while his assistant stood at the doorway and said with a smile, "Oh, such cute kitties!"

Terrifying! There was no escape! Both cats ran for their lives!

An hour after the "Three Minute Visit of Terror," Spunky was slowly creeping around the apartment, acting as if the place was haunted, while Ratty stayed hidden under the bed covers wondering if life was still worth living.

By dinner time, they were both magically back to normal...



MeowMonday is every day...

12/05/2023

Happy 10th Birthday to Spunky, the Wonder Cat!

08/05/2023

At our old apartment, Ratty would get scared and hide when he heard the neighbors' voices outside. But these days, he sits at the doorway and eavesdrops as the neighbors gossip on the walkway below.

Not sure what to think. He's a brave boy for not hiding anymore, but then again, it's not really manly to be listening-in on your neighbors' gossip.

But then again, again -- he's a cat. And cats are sneaky. So eavesdropping is probably a very feline thing to do after all...

24/04/2023

Ratty getting a bit more comfortable with the Roomba. Who knows -- maybe one day he WILL actually ride around on top of it.Still weird how Spunky is deathly afraid of it.

I used to think Spunky was the braver of the pair, but they both are brave/scared of different things. I think having Spunky around has made Ratty a bit more brave in certain areas.

As I write this, Spunky is hiding in the cupboards. He always hides in there when the Roomba starts-up.

The Roomba app allows me to name my vacuum. I named it "Mr Magoo" since it wanders around aimlessly bumping into things...

19/04/2023

27/02/2023

Look out Ratty! It's coming for you!

This video from last December shows the cats' first encounter with Mr Magoo, the Roomba. Ratty wasn't as scared of it as I had expected.

Ratty is still getting used to it. He's pretty much non-plussed by it these days. Not really scared, but will walk away when it gets too close to him.

Spunky, however, is downright terrified of it. Spunky runs and hides in the other room whenever Mr Magoo comes out. He hasn't figured out that he will be safe if he simply jumps up onto my desk, or the cat tree, or the bed.

Neither cat has ridden it yet. I would ride it myself, to show them that it is okay, but I think that would crush it and void my warranty...

30/01/2023

Spying on my cats from work, I spotted them cuddling together on my desk chair!

Might not be a big deal to you, but it makes me happy. Normally in this situation, as soon as Spunky jumped up onto the chair, Ratty would have ran over to the cat tree on the other side of the room, letting Spunky have the chair to himself. But this time he stayed, and they slept on the chair like that for over 4 hours!

Up until now, both cats have just kinda "tolerated" one another. Their friendship only got worse when I introduced the automatic cat feeders (with Ratty constantly stealing Spunky's food).

But now that I'm not working 12-hour shifts anymore, I'm back to feeding the cats, myself. Old-style. Like the Pilgrims did.

And ever since I stopped using the cat feeders, they have slowly started to warm back up to one another. At night, when I'm in the recliner, watching TV, I used to only have one cat at a time sitting with me (one would leave if the other jumped up). But now both cats watch "Reboot" with me from the recliner.

At least until I sneeze. Then they run for the hills...

23/01/2023

Ratty keeping an eye on the courtyard. He's a scaredy-cat, so this is damn brave of him. But when the delivery guy comes by, all bets are off, and it's a race to hide under the bed again...

12/12/2022

Spunky's previous owner told me that he was a total "lap cat." And she wasn't kidding! Even when I'm sitting at my desk, Spunky finds a way to improvise...

28/11/2022

Moved to a new city. Spunky & Ratty wanted nothing to do with it. Quite a switch from my last video, when they bolted from their carriers after a trip to the vet.

This video was made 3 weeks ago. They're doing a lot better now. Still adjusting, though. I think they just want to go home.

Nothing really exciting in this video. Ratty eventually crawls out slowly, leaving Spunky behind. Despite this, Spunky seems to be adjusting a lot faster/better than Ratty. Makes sense, I guess. Spunky was owned by a little old lady who died last year. He then lived with the lady's daughter for the better part of a year. Then he was given to me. So this is his 4th home.

For Ratty -- all he knew his whole life was our previous apartment. So his world has turned upside-down.