I am well on my way towards becoming what is considered a Crazy Cat Lady. And I am ok with this.
I figure as long as I can avoid becoming this scene from Death Becomes Her:
I'll be ok.
That said, I don't get it. If a friend mentions that they are apartment or house hunting and they are trying to find a place with a yard, or close to the park, it seems to be a logical reaction. They are just being a good pet owner!
However, if you mention that you think your next apartment ought to have stairs - you know, so the cats can run up and down like crazy - people look at you sideways and back away slowly. Kitties seem to love stairs. Kit likes to take half of a plastic Easter egg, sit at the top of the stairs and then drop it down the stairs. Ideally, it bounces once on each step and she beats it to the bottom. Since we do not live in an ideal world, she ends up trying again and again to perfect her self-assigned task. Steps nearly blew Schroedie's mind when he first encountered them and it was quite entertaining to watch him figure out how they worked and then to bound up or down with his little kitten stride.
He's not quite so little anymore, though - still much smaller than Kit and probably about 6, maybe 7 pounds now. He is rather long and lean though, and still seems to have big ears and a long tail. And his energy levels are STILL through the roof.
He needs a bigger place and/or a buddy to play with all day. Since I'm not moving any time soon (well, not for at least six months) and can't get another kitten... I try to play with him when I'm at home but he tends to just sit and stare at the laser pointer and chirp. Not so much with the wild chasing on a regular basis.
So I've decided to try to leash train him. While I should have started much sooner - about 8-9 weeks, actually - I'm hoping he's still young enough to adapt pretty quickly. And then I can take him for walks and to the park.
He's taken to the harness surprisingly well. He attempted to chew and groom it off, realized that wasn't going to work, and allowed himself to be distracted by a toy and a treat. As I type, he's asleep across BOTH of my arms, his head bouncing a little as I type, still wearing his harness. I figure a week or so of the harness when I'm at home to make sure he doesn't get stuck on something, then we'll try the leash.
And hey, if the leash training fails, the harness seems to have a slightly calming effect on him.
*Belle & Sebastian
