The Name Game

I have the best cat in the world. No seriously. Don't even try to tell me yours is better. Cannot be.

His name is Bugsy. He hardly ever gets called that, though. Just about anything else that starts with a B and is kinda cute or goofy-sounding will suffice.

Every day when I come home from work, he's sitting at the end of the little front hall of my apartment waiting for me, and greets me with a hearty meaow! (Translation I prefer: "HI! You're home! I love you!" Translation that's probably more accurate: "HI! You're home! Now you can feed me!"

I greet him back. Usually with a "hey Boo-boo!" or maybe "Hey, Booger!" I ask him how his day was and if he was a good boy. He usually ignores that and just waits for me to discard whatever needs discarding and follows me to the bathroom or the bedroom or the couch or, preferably to him, the kitchen.

Boo-boo and Booger are his most usual nicknames. Other names I call him are Baby, Boobie, Boo, Bugger, Buggie. Tonia calls him The Bug-Meister or something like that LOL.

Funny thing is...even with all those names, he still usually comes when he's called.

Smart cat ;-)

A trip to the Vets

Nothing serious! Just Bugsy's first check-up since I got him.

I took yesterday off work to do the vet thing and finish "Ontarioizing" myself. Got the car safetied and emissions tested. I'm told I *might* have a $500 repair to get done in a couple of years, next time I get the emissions test. I was a little high on one of the emissions. Hopefully that won't be necessary...but at least I have two years' notice, just in case! So after that I went to the licence bureau and came out with two brand new Ontario licence plates for my car, which I have yet to put on. And I'm one of the first people in Ottawa to have a B-series plate! Groovy.

So Bugsy did really well at the vet's. We were kept waiting for quite a while, during which time poor Bugs got really restless and anxious. But he behaved himself and didn't try to gore the vet when he finally did get around to us. He got his rabies shot and a booster of some kind. Doc also gave him a prophylactic deworming treatment (no sign of worms in his stool later on...yay!). Eyes are good, ears are good, coat is good. Teeth have a bit of plaque on them, so he's being switched to a dry food from now on...which will also help with...

His weight. He weighs 7.5 kilos...16.5 lbs. Doc wants him to lose two or three pounds over the next year. He suggested I move his food bowl around a lot, to make Bugsy search for it. I really don't think that's going to help much. So, I'm going to take Tonia's suggestion and buy one of those laser pointers. Her cats go insane over it. Since Bugsy isn't much interested in regular cat toys and doesn't seem to care for catnip, hopefully the laser pointer will do the trick.

He also has dandruff, but the doc said that's normal for this time of year, as it's so dry. Tell me about it. Every single time I touch Bugsy, we get a shock. LOL. Luckily they're usually just teeny ones.

So...that was an expensive day. $160 for the vet visit and almost $300 for the car diagnostics and license plates. Blah. Good thing I got paid on Thursday. I'll have to be super frugal this month so I don't wind up short on the rent! At least I have some saved up, just in case...would rather not use it though. I have a few large purchases I want to make eventually: A replacement for my Palm Pilot, which got lost. They're $200 now. Plus I want a king-size bed and one of those elliptical exercise machines. Ack...I'm a money pit!

I've been adopted!

Allow me to introduce....

An as-yet-unnamed burly, brown, black and white tabby cat who allowed me to bring him home with me today and has already made my place his own. I got him from the Humane Society. He'd been there for about three weeks.

He's a little bit chatty, which is cool. Very calm - he didn't seem the least bit disconcerted by the change in scenery. Once he got the lay of the land here, he was content to lie on the floor at my feet while I wrote my email cat announcements. He has pale green eyes that look yellow in photos. A white bib and white feet. Well...just like the picture!

The most remarkable thing about him is his weight. He's quite hefty, as you can see! Never lifted such a heavy cat! I'm going to have to wean him off his high-fat diet of Friskies and get him onto something more appropriate. Hope he doesn't protest!

So far I'm quite enamored of him. He's a very calm, dignified chap. Not at all skittish or hyper. He just strolled around my place today checking everything out. Didn't seem at all inclined to hide in a closet, of which he found a couple open and inviting. Once he'd scoped the place out he started following me around and then just flopped at my feet when I sat down at the computer. He did jump up on my lap to check out what I was doing for a few seconds, but there's nowhere for him to sit up on the table, so I put him back down and he was just fine with that.

I know enough to know that he isn't quite himself right now, so he may start getting a little pushier about where he wants to go etc., but for now, he's perfect.

I've had to put him in the bathroom for a while though. The gal at the Humane society told me it was best to keep him in there for two days when I first brought him home, to make sure he knows where his box is and his food and because, as she put it, "nothing smells like him at your house." Cats like for their world to smell like they do. So he'll be stressed out, I guess. But he sure didn't seem stressed out. Let me brush him for ten minutes on the couch and really seemed to enjoy it. Started eating from his dish within a few minutes of being let out of his carrier. He even did a little summersault on my foot, trying to rub up against me! LOL.

I'm so pleased to have him. On the way home from the Humane Society I was getting a little misty-eyed because I was so happy. I think this is the beginning of a beeyooootiful friendship :-)

Oh...and just chatted with Tonia, who suggested calling him "Pretty Boy Floyd," which reminded me of my own favourite gangster-related nickname... Bugsy. Bugsy Moran. Perfect, n'est pas? I'll let that one stew for a day or so and see if it sticks.

Moose?

There's something I've wanted to do for quite a while and I actually did it today.

I went out and adopted a cat. I don't have him yet - he's at the pound till Monday. I got the urge to start looking today and I didn't think I'd find the right cat so fast! I didn't have any of the supplies I need, so they said they'd hold him for 24 hours (which in this case is more like 48 hours because they're closed tomorrow).

He's at the Ottawa Humane Society (and no, his picture isn't on their site, I'm sorry to say). He's a six-year-old black and brown tabby with a white chest and white paws. I forget what colour his eyes are, but I'm thinking amber. There's some uncertainty about his name. The card on his cage said Simba, but it also said Mouse. And the girl who showed him to me called him Moose.

Moose?

LOL...funny name for a cat. Funny enough that I might just keep it! We'll see. He is a big guy...and overweight to boot. The food he's on, they described it as a "steady diet of McDonald's." I'm going to have to keep feeding him that for a while anyway, till he adjusts to his new home. Then I'll put him on something better and try to get his weight down to normal again.

So, what made him "the right cat," you ask? When I decided I wanted a cat, I knew I had to have one that's going to fit my lifestyle and not exacerbate my lousy housekeeping habits too badly. So I said I wanted an adult neutered female that's been declawed. The only thing Moose doesn't match is the gender. He's a boy. I'm telling y'all right now that if he starts to spray he's going straight back to the pound. I just won't have that. I don't have to worry about him scratching the furniture because he's declawed, and since he's already grown up, he's lost the kittenish hellaciousness that's so cute, but oh-so-destructive. As for shedding, I've already bought a brush for him, and will attempt to brush him every day to keep the shedding under control.

He seems like a nice, laid-back, not-overly-affectionate guy, which will suit me just fine. I just want to have another life-form in the place, and the occasional cuddling-purring session on the couch.

It'll be nice to have a pet again. And this time, I'm not going to accept any excuse not to keep him forever.