From our weekly issue dated April 16, 2008

It’s been said that cats consider humans warm furniture, and we continue to find that a true statement.

For example, when I lean to clean the litter box for our two garage live-in kitties, Bubba Big Foot, the 16-pounder, likes to use my back as a rest stop. He jumps onto it from the cat tower. He’ll even run in from outside when he knows I’m available. It’s sort of endearing, but a bit tough on shirts -- and my back. His companion, who turns out to be his mother, Maui the Ferocious, doesn’t care for touching.

(Photo by Illinois Valley News)

In fact, she practices hissing a lot, and generally appearing upset and distressed for some unfathomable reason. She doesn’t even like Bubba, who was her first-born in 2002 after Jan rescued her pregnant (the cat, not Jan) from outside a church during the Biscuit Fire. We also have a stray cat on our back deck, known unofficially as Gray Kitty. He often gets chased away from the outside food dish by mean Maui, who seems to prefer that dish to the one in the garage, even though they both contain exactly the same brand of food.

It’s important to us to bring in the outside dish before it gets too late at night. Otherwise we get a family of raccoons as dinner guests. Raccoons are OK; you know, they’re so cute, but we really don’t want them around much because of their ferocity and disease characteristics.

But about litter boxes. Cats have a wonderful talent for getting litter outside the boxes, no matter how they’re constructed (the boxes, not the cats) or how big they are (the cats, not the boxes). In fact, in cleaning the two boxes, I have often wondered if our indoor felines are somehow smuggling in friends to use the box. Its seems incredible that two cats could … um … put so much into that sort of effort.

Bingo the Dingo (remember, he’s not really a dingo, but we like the sound of the name) still lives on the front deck, and has command of the front yard. He got himself into one of our sharp grassy plants the other day and managed to scrape off some hair on his left upper back. More or less.

We heard him around 3 a.m. making a weird noise, like a yapping yip with some yodeling thrown in. Went outside, and there he was trapped in the plant. Got him out, but he still goes under the plant despite his experience.

He’s taken to “yelling” at us when he wants a treat, even when it’s not treat time. He peers in the front windows, and lets us know something’s up. (See “weird noise, like a yapping yip with some yodeling thrown in” above).

Cats and dogs are kinda’ fun to have around. Good pets all -- litter boxes and yodeling nevertheless.