Herding Cats

 

The infamous Coco, in all his beautiful glory, in front of a sculpture created by my father.  Here’s a better picture:

 

“Herding cats” is “an idiomatic saying that refers to an attempt to control or organize a class of entities which are uncontrollable or chaotic.  Implies a task that is extremely difficult or impossible to do, primarily due to chaotic factors.”  Source:  Wikipedia.

So, while I would never attempt to herd Coco, he does herd us.  Starting at the crack of dawn and sometimes even before dawn, Coco howls like a banshee at the top of this kitty-cat lungs.  “Meowwwwww”, he screeches as if using a bullhorn.  He keeps at it until we get up.  Usually Charlie gets up (he’s a morning person) and lets me sleep in (I’m not a morning person).  Coco leads the way to the kitchen and Charlie gives him his breakfast of fresh food, even though Coco has dry food in two location in our home 24/7.

Every time I’m in the kitchen, he wants a snack.  Even if he already has snacks in his snack bowl, he wants another snack.  He yowls piteously gazing at me with his beautiful blue eyes, like I’m punishing him.  Lately, I’ve tried to break this habit because our vet says he needs to lose a pound (how I wish I had to lose only ONE POUND!).  So, I tell him, “No; you don’t need a new snack.  You already have snacks in your bowl and you haven’t eaten them.”  Sometimes he’ll give up if I ignore him; but he’s so darned cute, ignoring him is near impossible!

 

Coco, staring at me with his beautiful blue eyes, wanting a snack.  Notice his snack bowl full of treats!

 

Coco, yowling at me for more snacks, even though he has snacks!  Sorry for the blurry shot, but it does project the full force of his yowl!

 

Coco, happily crunching away on new snacks!

Nighttime is a ritual of shenanigans, too:

• When I’m in my office past five o’clock, he comes to get me.
• He wants his belly rubbed; a lot!  If I’m sitting on the couch, he’ll sit beside me, meow at me to start rubbing and if I don’t, he keeps meowing until I do.
• And, I can’t put anything on any of his many blankets.  He has several blankets in different spots throughout the house.  If I put something on his blanket, he comes over and stands at the edge of the couch, chair, chaise or bed, giving me the evil eye.  If I don’t move my stuff, he jumps up on the couch, chair, chaise or bed and screams at me until I move the offending objects.  Then, he’ll curl  up and start purring.  Boy, does he have me trained!  Or, he’ll just walk away; mission accomplished!
• And, he puts us to bed.  Between 10 and 10:30 p.m. every night, he starts the ritual.  He jumps down from wherever he has languished and lies on the carpet somewhere facing both of us.  He just stares.  If we don’t make any motions about going to bed (like getting up from our chairs, turning off the TV, shutting off the lights), he gets up, heads toward Charlie and yells at him.  He’ll then turn away and take a couple of steps forward towards the bedroom and then turnaround to see if we’re coming.  If we don’t, he’ll yell at us again.  And again.  And again.  Until we do.  As we walk down our hallway towards our bedroom, he’ll run ahead of us, scooting in front of us, leading the way.  Definitely herding! 

 

Coco – starting to think about “herding” us to bed!  He’s on our fireplace hearth next to another sculpture created by my father called “Thinking Girl.”  Coco thinking beside Thinking Girl…

 

Coco – getting ready to start his nighttime “herding” routine!

• I used to read in bed.  Not since Coco joined our family.  He jumps on top of the headboard howling for me to turn off the light!  (bullet point continues from bullet point list above…{lol}).

 

Coco on top of our headboard.  A screaming match is about to unfold because the lights are still on!

• If we are in any room and close the door (and he’s on the other side of the door), he jumps down from wherever he’s nesting, comes to the door and howls until we let him in.
• If we both leave the room and go into a different room (even if we go our separate ways to two different rooms), he follows and meows at us along the way as if to say, “Hey, where are you going?  You can’t leave me alone!” (more bullet points for the bullet point list…).

So, to cut down on the noise level and to keep peace in our small family unit, we let our cat herd us.

Silly humans (I’m sure he gloats!)…

 

Tootles,

 

Related Posts:

(other posts starring Coco)

• 3 Cheap and Easy Ideas for Better Food Photography
• A Boy Named Coco
• And, the winner is…
• Attack of the Amazon Elves
• Easy Shamrocks and Leprechaun Centerpiece
• Emergency Planning Checklist
• Making a Grocery List Clipboard with My Personal Assistant
• Orange Crush
• The Squish Factor