More About Raisen (Cont'd)

Millions of users on the Internet and all I get are HITS TO THIS PAGE SINCE APRIL 21, 2000. TIME IS NOW: Eastern Time. Do you know where your kittens are? Internet services provided for free by Alachua County FreeNet. More About `Raisen'		Play! (...Oh boy!) If you don't think her strange yet; listen up... Raisen thinks she's SuperCat...you know: able to leap (and hang on to for the longest time) the tallest doorsills in a single bound! And I don't know how she does it, but I've often caught her atop the very top shelf of my seven-foot-high bookshelf - cramped as the space is up there. Raisen has this habit of putting up a few well-sounded meows to get your attention, and then remaining quiet soon after you get up to go look for her. I've gone one time for two hours looking for this silly cat, only to finally find her sitting peacefully atop that stupid top shelf - staring down at me - watching my every move about the house from this perfect little observation post. When our eyes finally meet, and I give her the `You little runt!' stare, I get the gently worded `mmmrMMmmm!' Three A.M. is her normal playtime - as it is also for the other two cats. I am sometimes awakened by something going `THUD!' in the dark. This usually gets me up pronto. If I dare then take a look towards the end of the bed, her face is usually there, half hidden by the bed, staring straight at me, wide-eyed, with a "I swear! It wasn't ME!" look (left). But if that doesn't work, she has other methods to her avail. Usually -- at three A.M. -- it won't work, though, as I'm way too tired; and she'll eventually give up and wait until I'm up in the normal morningtime to again try tempting me into play. When I'm up - usually because she woke me up with a `MrrRRRrrr!' and a gentle rub of her wet little nose upon my unsuspecting and not wet little face while in bed in the morning - she wants to play `tag.' She'll run up to me and `tag' my foot and then dart off as fast as she can muster to somewhere else in the house...and hide. I then must go and try to find her. But the game doesn't just end at my finding her. No. Finding her is not enough. You have to first tag her back, too, before you can win. This is not as easy at it seems; and I am often given to resignation once I've lost all of my breath. For you see, there's this one catch. `Base' is whatever object Raisen so-decides - and this is usually the closest available object to her at the imminent last split-second. And if she makes it to `base' before I tag her, then she wins, and the game ends. She stops and relaxes. At this point, she sits on the floor and stares at me with her cute little tongue hanging pridefully out (obviously at me) from pretending to be cleaning herself. Of course, I know better. If it's not Hide & Seek Tag, it's Hunt & Kill. This involves either Raisen or I slowly sneaking up on the other as silently as one can possibly be about it without the other being aware, and then slowly raising one's head above whatever object is between you and the other poor unsuspecting fellow...be it the armrest of the recliner, a box lying in the middle of the living room floor (now gee, whatever in the world would there be one of those there for?), or the back of the chair. You must then make some sort of a deliberate, but slight, noise to let the other one know you are there. This then initiates an intense staring contest between you - with each other's eyes only just barely set above whatever it is you're hiding behind. (Raisen has the especially interesting ability to make this moment more exciting by being able to adjust the size of her eyes during the staring contest. As she readys for the attack, her eyes suddenly get very wide. It's hilarious!) Each one `threatens' (yes, this includes ME) the other with imminent attack by raising the hind legs and making the appearance of attempting to burrow them more firmly into to the ground in order to get a better `pounce.' (...If you CAN imagine a human-being doing this, then you're indeed in much sadder shape than you realize!) Usually, the first to make the move is Raisen, with a lurch towards my face and a `MrrRRRRrrr!!!,' a quick, light pat on my face with her little six-toed paw, and then a lick on the nose before she again darts off into the unknown of the house. Other fun games and pastimes of Raisen's are: Hiding in suitcases and bags. Raisen likes the enclosed places. Empty suitcases left on the floor are especially tempting and she wastes no time in taking advantage of it. Raisen will run up to the suitcase and nuzzle herself through the closed but unzipped lid and enter inside, where she will stay for hours if left to, peacefully, quietly, happily. Paper bags are just as attractive to her. Leave one on the floor and she will enter it and stay there for quite a while, often falling to sleep in it. Plastic bags are especially fun. She loves the crinkling noise they make. Raisen will rush up to you as soon as she hears the sound. Before you can fully move the bag close to the floor she will jump into it and relax, waiting for you to lift this silly cat up by the plastic bag's handles and carry her around the house. Just for the heck of trying it, I hung one of those bags -- with her in it -- on the front door/living room doorknob one day to see what she would do. I sat and watched two one-hour-long TV shows -- and watched her stretch her paws, yawn, fall asleep, wake up, bite a flea, stretch again, and fall right back asleep again before I gave up and went over to take the bag down. As I did so, I got a look from her that noone would believe. Apparently, I'd interrupted her hanging sleep in her favorite little crinkly type thingy (well EXCUUSE ME!) -- and when placed upon the floor for her to exit, she preferred to stay. [Note that, while I may do this occasionally with MY kitty, I do it WITH CONSTANT SUPERVISION. I do not recommend that you try this with your own cat at home. Plastic bags can be very dangerous -- to cats as well as to children. Without close, constant supervision, a kitty could possibly choke, hang, suffocate, or become entangled and injured. It's never happened to my kitty, but it doesn't take a brain to figure out the various things that might happen with them if you are careless. I don't recommend you try it at all if you aren't one for patience and watching your kitty extremely closely all the time and STAYING WITH your kitty at all times.] But to continue...Mostly, the bags are used for play. I'll lower the plastic bag and move a finger behind and outside of the bag. Raisen loves to attack into the bag. She seems to like the noise it makes...finds it comforting in some way. She'll completely enter the bag and rest inside as she waits for me to pull her around in it. While doing so, she attacks the rug moving beneath her. Is this a strange cat to you, yet? [Next Page - `The Shower']
More About `Raisen' c/o Todd L. Sherman/KB4MHH Gainesville, Alachua Co., Fla. E-mail: afn09444@afn.org Last updated: April 21, 2000. © Copyright 1995-2000 by Todd L. Sherman. All Rights Reserved.

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