Breaking Cat News by Georgia Dunn for May 15, 2023

Elvis: the KING of indignation. And yet he can still be so adorable during one of his rants.

I don’t even pretend my cats don’t get up on the counter. Of course they do.

I draw the line, however, at the cats being on the counter when the stove is turned on. That gets a “Nope! Not while there’s food!” and a hasty scoop-’n-move.

Is there even such a thing as dignified indignation?

When Elvis doesn’t pay attention to the part that said “company is coming”.

Love the little “Get down!” by Georgia’s signature.

I love the little “Get down!” notation next to her signature.

Elvis: “Let’s all pretend we’re not on the counter ALL THE TIME!”

Woman: “Exactly! Thank you for understanding so quickly!”

Another replay from the first year or so of reprints, as Elvis has an entirley valid point. We’re also going to get one of my faviorite moments in the entire series in this one if i’m predicting this one right.

From https://www.gocomics.com/breaking-cat-news/2018/01/22

(For anyone interested.)

That’s pretty much my strategy too.

Before my computer ate it, I had an email from Mom giving me an update on my kitten “Get down!”, otherwise known as Dell. We, too, know the futility of trying to keep cats off counters, and only really bother when there’s food prep involved. This does, however, mean that our counters are regularly cleaned.

OT: Mother’s day wreck.

Elvis is onto your deceptive ways, Woman.

She-Whose-Merest-Tail-Flick-Is-Sufficient-To-Command-Her-Minions has never been seen on the counters. How those feline footprints get there is an as yet unresolved mystery.

Elvis does not appreciate pretence.

You know, Blossom would get up on the table and then get down when we saw her because she knew better. Zelda, on the other hand, does not care how annoying it is when she gets up on the kitchen sink.

Yeah, no jumping on the counter or stove. It’s a safety thing for me. I love my fur babies, and don’t want them hurt. The kitchen table is o.k. Sleep on the bed if you want, but stay away from the hot and the sharps.

OT: Health update

Loaner Cat has never been on a kitchen counter. Of this, I have no doubt. She’s that cat on AFV trying to jump from the back of the couch to the sofa table right behind it who misses and falls between them. If the toilet wasn’t next to the vanity, she’d never get on the bathroom sink either. Now, my Molly cat…she was another story. She was regularly on the counters and my husband decided one day to “teach her” to stay off so he got out his Super Soaker. When she jumped on the counter in defiance, he sprayed her with it. This went on all day until he declared victory because she would get off the moment she saw him with it. I tried to tell him the only thing he ‘taught’ her was to not get on them when he was holding the darned thing, but he wouldn’t hear it. *sigh… Eventually, she ended up living on top of the cupboards when we got a second Dobe. So much for the Super Soaker.

The Beach Boys and Others: Sloop John B

I jumped on the counter again,

Just like me and my friends

The Woman said I had to get down!

She was really mean

Said she had to clean

Well I’m so frustrated

I wanna go nap!

…….

So find me a tiny box

Let Lupin steal all the socks

Find me a warm sun beam and let me go nap

Won’t admit defeat

Why don’t you bring me some treats?

Well I’m so frustrated

I wanna go nap!

…….

Well Pucky’s on the Big Red Couch,

And Goldie’s being a bit of a grouch

And Lupin’s simply nowhere to be found!

Ora jumps higher than the moon

While Iggy sings show tunes!

Well, I’m kinda tired!

I wanna go nap!

…….

So find me a tiny box

Let Lupin steal all the socks

Find me a warm sun beam and let me go nap

Won’t admit defeat

Why don’t you bring me some treats?

Well I’m so frustrated

I wanna go nap!

…….

The Woman is done with the mess

She’s done more than that I guess,

She tells us tuna water is ready to be served

I’m not feeling so sad

I guess it isn’t so bad,

We all must sacrifice

For the greater good!

…….

So find me a tiny box

Let Lupin steal all the socks

Find me a warm sun beam and let me go nap

Won’t admit defeat

Why don’t you bring me some treats?

Well I’m so frustrated

I wanna go nap!

Elvis, and his slapping paws, are ready for company!

Elvis should know that appearances should be maintained.

We don’t bother in my house. We just keep them out of harm’s way. Monroe jumps on the wet bar every morning when anyone makes coffee. He wants to watch water.

Elvis, Elvis, Elvis, be glad that you live with the weak willed woman and man. We have always trained our cats to stay off the counters, and tables. Yes it can be done Elvis, it can be done. A squirt of water to the face from a squirt bottle set to stream is a quick learning aid that has worked well. We even used it in college to train my roommates pet rat not to leave the room. We could leave the door open but the thing would not venture across the threshold.

Setup a night vision trail camera in your home. It will open your eyes.

Mine occasionally jump on the counter so they can sit in the kitchen sink if there are no dishes in it. If there are, they take turns sitting in the bathroom sink. I need to ask permission to put my teeth in because they don’t want to get their fur wet.

“Or if you insist on staying on the counter, make yourself useful with your tail.”

Elvis, Elvis

Let’s work together

Baby, baby, me and you

And clean the things

Ah, clean all things

That we have to do

Oh, take a little chance

Wear a little glove

Get down tonight, get down tonight

Pull up your cleanin’ pants

Wear a little glove

Get down tonight, get down tonight

Get down tonight (Whoo), get down tonight (Baby)

- Harry Wayne Casey / Richard Finch – Get Down Tonight – KC and the Sunshine Band

On the worktop, on the table, I even caught somebody kneeding the dough as it was resting on the counter covered by a tea towel, so soft so warm, so pleasant on the paws. Other persons have been known to put their (paw) mark on the cake in its tin as it was waiting to go into the oven. There is nothing like a helpful gang of kitties in the kitchen. Now that Tiger has taught himself how to open the kitchen door, I have to lock them out quite often.A threat is hanging in the air: hey intend to send a complaint to the “International Court of Cat Rights” I hear; woe on me.

“We have to pretend to be civilized while strangers are over or they’ll talk about us!”

OT: Missing commenter alert: I haven’t seen a post from @Biskits in awhile. I checked and it’s been a month since her last comment. Denny, is she on your contact list? Can you check to make sure she’s OK?

My “Stay off the counter!” training technique was to put crumpled (then partially flattened out) aluminum foil pieces and loops of masking tape (sticky side out) on the counter where they couldn’t see it from the floor. The cats soon decided that they didn’t want to be up there in the first place – the foil feels weird underfoot, and dealing with the tape tends to shred dignity…

Of course, if they can see the counter from other perches they are allowed to be, all bets are off.

I was on Elvis’ side when I was a kid, I always felt weird about the facade that came out when company was coming. Now I get it. Still, always fun to see the indignant Siamese, and Georgia’s response in the signature.

OT: Am I Getting Forgetful?

This afternoon I placed Jojo’s. lunch treats in her carrier. A few minutes later she is standing by the carrier looking up at me as if to say, “Where are my treats?” Now I am wondering, is there a vortex like the Bermuda Triangle in the cat carrier that consumes treats? Did something else consume the treats? Did I forget to give them to her? Very mysterious..

Nearly a quarter century ago I had Tauri (short for Rigil Kentaurus) who was never on the counter. Except he’d be looking out the window over the sink as I drove in the driveway. But when I got inside, no one had ever been on the counter.

I can’t get enough of Elvis’ sarcasm. He cracks me up every time.

Counter surfing in my house has never been allowed but the cats don’t care. His Majesty is the only cat that doesn’t even try to act like he doesn’t belong on the counters. The counters are his and nothing I can do has ever deterred him. Ruke hasn’t ever tried. At least the old ladies (calicos) listen for me and will jump off before I get there. Only if sleeping deeply will I catch one of the girls and they have the good sense to look ashamed and get down double quick.

All my cats’ last name is Get Down. Tebow Get Down, Sissy Get Down, and Parker Get Down. They respond to their names as they see fit.

Is there pushing, shoving, and batting?

I somehow trained my last two cats not to get on the counter. Heck, while I had Ombra, I accidentally left an entire filet of salmon on the counter for thirty minutes and not a cat hair on it when I came back.

8-ball is allowed anywhere. Holly is being trained not to go on the counter peninsula, but is allowed on the counter next to the window so she can chitter at birds and watch stranger cats. MrrrCavity is not much for “upness.”

I’ve been trying to remember to post this since Sunday and keep forgetting! On Sunday, the New York Times had a wonderful feature on Japanese cats. I don’t know if you’ll be able to read it (I can usually see a limited number of free articles, but also get access via my college library), but here’s a link:

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/10/t-magazine/japan-cats-travel.html?searchResultPosition=1

I was hoping I wouldn’t have to write these words until later this year…or maybe a miracle would happen and I’d never have to write them. But the miracle was that he was a part of our lives for 13 oh-so-beautiful-and-much-to-brief years. Tonight we lost our beautiful pup, the one and only Puppy Prince. Skyy is gone…Neruda’s Twilight Skyy (per the AKC). Whether as a puppy when he attacked the recycling box, or a little later as the Instigator, always giving the older dogs sassy backtalk and sweet kisses, or as a young dog tempting the cats to sell him on eBay and making us frazzled trying to keep one step ahead of him, as an eater-of-things-not-edible for his whole life, giving us grief (and himself a few vet trips and operations), he was a dog of many parts…friend, furbaby, confidante, emotional support and giver of really awkward high-fives. May his landing be soft.

Elvis, Well Excuuuse me!