July 28, 2005

Cattus Querulus

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Sigh.

He's driving us mad. Slowly. There are definite signs of near-snappage. The darling spouse and I are getting grumpier by the day.

No, I'm not referring to our sweet next-door neighbour with his early morning laundry, nor the driver who loudly picks up our building's recycling at 6 in the morning. The first hardly registers, and the second can be drowned out with some well chosen white noise. But if they were an issue, they'd probably be easier to deal with - after all (most) people can be reasoned with...

No, the "He" I'm referring to is the Yowler of Yaletown, now known as The Tuxedoed Annoyer.

For those of you who haven't met him, this is he, in all his tough guy glory.

He really is driving us mental.

He's taken to sitting in the kitchen area, staring despondently at one of the appliances, and meowing piteously. The meows start gently enough, but soon kick up to call-the-cops-someone's-getting-murdered! decibels. Nothing short of stinky goodness (a.k.a. expensive vet-approved wet food) will shut him up. He's a kitty on a mission.

But...

He gets half a can of this stuff a day, plus whatever he can steal from his daintier, older & easily distracted housemate. He's not being starved. He gets plenty of kibble. He's even a weeeee bit overweight. And no, no tapeworms. The vet has given him a clean bill of health, except the aforementioned weight issue.

We've tried distracting him with toys & catnip, and yes, we have occasionally snapped at him when our tempers get a little ragged. We are loving companions, not perfect ones.

A kitty haiku from the darling spouse based on a typical evening with his howliness gives a good view on things;

piercing kitty eyes
a plaintive howl in the night
quit meowing for food!
Suggestions? Please?!? We think he's bored. And that's dangerous. For all of us.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I love kitties! Michele sent me to say Hello!
LJ

Kim said...

Hello! Michele sent me ..... and I can see why. My cat, Skyler, does this at 2 a.m. in the morning. He gets a glitter ball, carries it into the kitchen, and gives a throaty howl until you come and toss the glitter ball for him. Drives me insane!!

I try to pick up all the glitter balls prior to going to bed every night. Sometimes I miss one, and he finds it.

Anonymous said...

Well, you could start refusing to give it on demand and outrank by hissing at the sir. Worked for us.