This Is Him, Now

This cat.
Have I mentioned how much I love him?
We brought him home in May of 2008 - so he's a couple of months over two years old now. His personality has really come out over the last few years, and I want to take the time to remember what life was like living with Oscar in the here and now. With all the changes happening with us over the next twelve months, I have no doubt that he's going to be going through a lot of craziness himself, so it will be interesting to see how he takes it in his stride.
Oscar, you're so handsome.
  • He sits with his paws tucked up underneath him, so quite often it looks like he has no legs.
  • He has several favourite resting spots - the above picture shows one of them, which is next to our bed on the carpet near the window. You can usually find them by the amount of cat fur that has accumulated. Other locations include the arm of the lounge, the mat outside the bathroom door, the top of the treadmill, sprawled out on the wooden floors near the window and lying on Jason's laptop.
  • He has to be locked away in our bedroom when it's time to cook or eat. He has no concept of the fact that human food is not cat food, and goes mental when he sees milk, butter or yoghurt.
  • He will harass you for your breakfast cereal. He is unrelenting in his quest to EAT.
  • Despite being a short haired cat, he is currently shedding. Everywhere. He adores being brushed and I have to vacuum a few times a week. It's possible that he's even shedding more than me - that's impressive.
  • He's not a big cuddler. He'll choose when he wants them, and he'll let you know {aka he'll bite you} when he's done. If you pick him up at around dinner time, he will be patient with you and try his best not to bite, because he knows food is coming. We may or may not take advantage of this.
  • He's vocal. Oh so vocal. You only have to open the fridge door and you'll find out for yourself.
  • He wins visitors over fairly quickly. He's a fraidy cat at first, but he warms up quickly and becomes a bit nosey. His cute little white paws & nose smudge get talked about quite a lot and people think he is charming. {Until he starts stealing their food.} He likes to stalk people, and think it is all a big game.
  • He knows when Jason is getting home from work. Despite our heavy apartment complex door opening and shutting loads of times during the day, he can always tell when it's going to be his daddy. He'll wait in the hallway just for him. But when I come home? He doesn't even bother jumping off the treadmill. 
  • He is incredibly naughty. He knows when he's doing something wrong, and he'll give us this look of guilt before bolting.. only to come back and try it again to see what we'll do.
  • He is also incredibly clever. He wakes us up at least once every night {okay, he wakes ME up, since the boy conveniently sleeps through it all} to have a 3am snack. His first trick to wake me up was climbing up onto the bookshelf next to our bed and subtly (!) knocking things off one at a time. We thought we were being clever too, and stacked our books in a way that he can't fit up there anymore - but he's just found that he can walk over to our cupboard and stomp around, which will make just as much noise. We've raised a monster.
  • He knows his bedtime. Around 10pm every night, he'll come and sit directly in front of us and meow until someone gets up to feed him before bed.
  • He has developed this super cute habit with me while I'm trying to make tea or coffee. He'll jump up on the counter and give him giant nose rubs/head bumps over and over again. While he's probably just being territorial about the food cupboards, I'm going to go ahead and say it's just because he loves me so much that he feels the need to Eskimo kiss my nose. SO CUTE.
  • He'll happily sit at the window and watch the pigeons fly past for hours.
  • Every night, we bring him into bed with us for family snuggles. Sometimes we make him dance for us. Mostly, he just sits and purrs. It doesn't last for long. Yes, we're THAT kind of family. 
  • I have no shame in admitting that he's the most spoiled cat on the planet. He really, really is. 
Does your pet have any quirks that make them that little bit unique?


13 Comments • Labels:  

13 comments:

Fuzzy Cert said...

Wally the LABRADOR? Weird habits?
HE'S FULL OF THEM!
He barks at strangers, then parades for them, he's fiercely protective of me, he barks at kids if they're crawling and thinks they're okay if they're walking. He gets into the shed and won't let Sam in so Sam stands at the door of the shed and barks at him.
He'll fetch, but then not give you back the ball.
blah. I could fill a whole post like this about him. ahaha.

Jess said...

This is adorable. I love quirky pets. Montana is the same way--smart and silly and devious all at once. I heart.

Karen said...

Haha I love how you are about Oscar! He sounds like a smart cat, got you all wound around his little paw.

Britt said...

Oscar looks like a cat I might even like!

steph anne said...

Hahah, he's adorable!! We have 2 cats but 1 of them is really spoiled!! He acts like a puppy by wanting to be held all the time like a baby and always has to be in the same room or sit with us when we're watching TV. While on the other hand, the other cat hates being touched by hands and only wants to be pet by feet. SO weird!!

Julz* said...

I've experienced his relentlessness when it comes to food/breakfast. It's no exaggeration!

My dogs knew when we came home from wherever we'd gone. They'd hear the car long before anyone else could. Pancake also used to know that when my alarm went off every morning, it meant that I was awake and would come and sit along my door/scratch the door/bark until I got up and let him in so he could sleep on my bed. He also used to sleep on my bed when i wasn't home, and knew to get off the bed before I got home so I never actually caught him in the act. I managed to somehow teach Belle to kiss me on the cheek, rather than lick me. She also had this super hearing, and could always tell when a bath was been made for her and she'd run away cos she hated baths. And I used to do this thing with Pancake where everytime I turned on the oven, and the starter light would make that clicky sound, he'd look at me, and I'd say "pancake! get in the oven!" and he'd run away hehehehe

Emily Jane said...

Oh I love him! He's gorgeous!!! :)

I did a post on my Rose (http://emily-jane.net/2010/04/01/lean-on-me/) - she's such a little ham :)

Anonymous said...

I love cat posts! My cat Esme is a little moody when it come to cuddling, but she suddenly becomes super cuddley whenever I'm in the kitchen, which I also take advantage of. =)

Also, what is it with cats and getting up at 3 AM?

Anonymous said...

Oh my goodness Oscar really is one of the most beautiful cats I've ever seen! Such a pretty face and those little white paws! I love him!

As for my pets? They are insane. Without a doubt. They are obsessed with squirrels and run out the back door and leap off the deck in an attempt to catch a few. They "sing" when they play fight. They have what I can only assume must be very vivid dreams that make them bark and whine. Sadie FREAKS when new people come in the house and showers them with love. Basically, it's a zoo :)

Mrs. Higrens said...

Such a handsome boy!

I've been wondering if England/Australia has the same kinds of quarantine as England/USA and how you are going to handle that when the time comes?

Jessticle said...

Omg... he is so cute and he reminds me so much of my cat, Percival ... I think that we got our kitties at the same time -- oscar looks little and cute whereas percival weighs 7.2kgs... gosh!

Time flies!

Megan said...

Your boy is so handsome! I think Oscar and my Loki would get along. They have SOME of the same characteristics. I've written a couple posts about Loki's characteristics, but that was when we first got him... (http://somewhatvoluble.com/category/lokieris/page/3/), so I definitely need to do an updated version ... and I need one for Eris!

Hilary said...

OMG, Oscar sounds just like Alex……
Oscar is gorgeous! OMG, he sounds so much like Alex…… Alex never cared about people food until recently. Now he wants it all! He gets aggressive if we have ice cream, trying to get his face in the container. I few weeks ago he jumped on the table and tried to eat a piece of broccoli off my plate. Seriously, what cat likes broccoli? Chicken parm is another one of his favorites. He also thinks 3:30 is the perfect time for breakfast, and starts the “wake up mommy and daddy process” at that time. Usually we scoot him away until we give up the thought of sleep and wake up for the day & feed him at 5ish. The funniest quirk of his is his dad can get up and feed him and he doesn’t care about me. But if I wake up first, Alex is like a maniac trying to make sure my husband gets up too. He can’t handle Marc sleeping.





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