THE MANIPULATOR

You might think, by the looks of this photo, that we keep our lovely (SLIMMER) Bubba cat in a cage. We do not. This picture is Bubba relaxing in Eddy's crate. He wandered in there to take a little cat nap while Eddy fretted that he couldn't go into his crate when he wanted to.

Eddy, you see, loves his crate. He goes into this retreat whenever Augie is bothering him, or when he needs a little "alone" time. We wanted to take it down to give our kitchen a little better look. While we were thinking about it, we put the crate outside on the deck. Eddy stood and stared out the window at it until we brought it inside. We never shut the gate on it. He has free choice to go in and out at will. It is just that now Bubba has decided to take it over. That is not a good thing for poor Eddy. As the kind, tolerant boy that he is, Eddy just whines a bit and plops down on a different dog bed that is available to him. Eddy does the "pouty face" very well. Bubba must know that it is his prized possession (I must say, this astounds me, too).

Recently, Bubba has decided that he is taking over the crate. I wondered, why? Most animals do not like being inside a cage. To top it off, this is a DOG crate. Usually cats do not participate in such things. But as Eddy was fretting and I was thinking of a quick way to lure Bubba out, it struck me- Bubba, who is on a diet (and losing weight very well) must have known what my reaction would be. My first reaction was to go to the fridge and get him his favorite food- liver.
This is the food that he has been restricted on to lose weight. AH HA! I shut the fridge and looked at his smug little face. He saw me reach for the jar of cut-up liver and he was now stretching and strolling out of the crate towards the table where we feed the cats. No wonder people who have a pet live an average of seven years longer- they have to keep their wits about them or the pets would constantly rip them off. In a loving way, of course.

So, it is a battle of wits. Sometimes Bubba lays on the stair and scratches the carpet so that I will hurry down the stairs and feed him. (it is all about food). It is hard not to just give in. It is so simple and easy to get him to stop doing whatever I don't want him to do. But, if I allow him to train me, he will never stop this I am certain.

So, I resist. We do our mind games every day. Sometimes, if I am not paying attention, he gets some extra food. But not too often, and not too much. I guess I enjoy the sport of it all. I find it fascinating that He is so creative and relentless. I am having fun, too!