The Cat's Meow
Nearly every night before dawn, Holly the cat wanders into our room and lets out these quietly plaintive wails, which get progressively more insistent and are then matched with light moans of "Nooooo" from Sam. A little duet. I feel some guilt about her waking him: Holly is really my cat, not only because I brought her into the marriage, but also because she continues to love me more. And because Sam is allergic but tolerates her because he knows how much I adore her, even these days when he has to clean the litterbox because of toxoplasmosis. Still, they have this warily loving relationship, with lots of shy gestures of affection but also lots of suspicion and a tinge of jealousy. She rolls over to show him her belly for rubbing, and he likes when she comes and curls up next to him--but if either does anything displeasing to the other, they give each other well-practiced looks of disgust.
Getting woken up two hours before the alarm is not his favorite thing, turns out. We can't shut her out of our room very easily because the house is mostly open, and the bedroom door is this gorgeous original wood that we don't want her to scratch (the next level). But I've been waking up pretty early these days, so I've been getting up when I hear the first meows, and heading down with the kitty for some cuddling and slowly waking up. Unfortunately, this seems only to have encouraged her.
What to do? Well, obviously: Google. Which informed me "meowing is how cats train their owners." (It's all making sense now . . .) And suggested either ignoring the cat's meowing for several weeks, which just seems unworkable in light of the presence of the master of the house. Or spraying her with a squirt bottle when she does "the behavior," a form of discipline that cat-owners are encouraged to "be subtle" in undertaking. How could a cold spray of water to the face be "subtle"? :(
Getting woken up two hours before the alarm is not his favorite thing, turns out. We can't shut her out of our room very easily because the house is mostly open, and the bedroom door is this gorgeous original wood that we don't want her to scratch (the next level). But I've been waking up pretty early these days, so I've been getting up when I hear the first meows, and heading down with the kitty for some cuddling and slowly waking up. Unfortunately, this seems only to have encouraged her.
What to do? Well, obviously: Google. Which informed me "meowing is how cats train their owners." (It's all making sense now . . .) And suggested either ignoring the cat's meowing for several weeks, which just seems unworkable in light of the presence of the master of the house. Or spraying her with a squirt bottle when she does "the behavior," a form of discipline that cat-owners are encouraged to "be subtle" in undertaking. How could a cold spray of water to the face be "subtle"? :(
posted by Tara | 8:02 AM
2 Comments:
Poor Sam. Jason and I did not adjust well to Jane's early morning head-butting stage.
That spray bottle is eeeee-fective, though, I'll tell ya! I used it with my cat ... was it for meowing, or clawing a hole in my loveseat, or both? Unfortunately, though, the spray pump I used had to be primed a few times. So the cat never got a real spray in the face. Seriously -- no harm done with the water, and she really learns! Practice that tough love. :)
(P.S.: I really am a cat person. Really.)
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