It’s Zaturday – The Cat’s Whiskers!

Posted on by Carol J. Post

It’s Zaturday, the day we (Ziggy and Zorro) take over Mommy’s blog.

Zorro here. Daddy has whiskers but Ziggy and I have him beat! Check out mine:

Ziggy has pretty good whiskers, too.

Mommy had a hard time getting pictures of our whiskers, though, because black whiskers on black cats don’t show up as much. A lot of cats have white whiskers. Like this one:

Image by Free-Photos from Pixabay

Kitty whiskers make us look cute, but that’s not all they’re for. Our whiskers help us navigate the world. They’re as sensitive as a human’s fingertips. Each whisker is filled with little, supersensitive nerves that help us judge distance and space. Humans touch the world with their fingers, but we use our faces!

Our whiskers can pick up subtle changes in air currents and tell us the shape and speed of nearby objects. They also send messages to our brains about the position of our legs and body so we always know what every part is doing. Did you ever hear that cats always land on their feet? That’s why.

Another thing our whiskers do is help is “see” things that are close. We see better at a distance, but it’s hard to focus on objects up close. When we approach something in our path, our whiskers act like radar detectors, picking up the air currents that bounce back. That way, we can go around it. Unless it’s our food bowl.

Whiskers protect us, too. If a tiny speck of dust falls on a whisker above my eye, I blink or shake it off. Whiskers also keep us from getting into jams. The ones on the sides of our nose are the same width as our bodies. If we come up on a narrow spot, they let us know if we can fit through it without getting stuck.

People should never cut cats’ whiskers. It doesn’t hurt us, but it can make us feel disoriented and scared. Cutting our whiskers is like blindfolding someone, because you’re taking away one of our ways of telling what’s around us.

A while back, Mommy said that someone thought they were the cat’s whiskers. Ziggy and I didn’t think that made any sense at all. But she said it’s an expression that means someone or something is very appealing, even considers himself to be the center of the universe.

Hmmm, Ziggy and I are really cute. When we meow, Mommy and Daddy always listen and try to give us what we want. I don’t know if we’re the center of their universe, but we’re a really important part of their lives. Does that mean we’re the cat’s whiskers?

It’s Zaturday – Lefties!

Posted on by Carol J. Post

It’s Zaturday, the day we (Ziggy and Zorro) take over Mommy’s blog.

Ziggy here. Mommy is right-handed and Aunt Kim is left-handed. (That rock in the picture belongs to Aunt Kim.) The other day, Mommy was curious about whether cats have a dominant side, so she asked Mr. Google. (Mr. Google knows everything!)

She learned about a study they did on 44 cats. They watched them play, walk down stairs, climb out of the litter box and reach for food, and they looked to see which paw they led with. They found that most of the female cats favored their right paw and most of the males favored their left.

Zorro and I are both boys, so that means we’re left-handed, like Aunt Kim. (I guess in our case, it would be “left-pawed.”) Mommy wanted to test the theory, so she put us each in the litter box. I jumped out with both front paws together, but Zorro stepped out with his left foot.

Then she put us on top of our cat condo. Zorro stepped down with his left paw again, so I think he’s definitely left-handed like Aunt Kim.

When Mommy put me on the perch, I kind of liked it there, so I sat…

And sat…

And sat…

Mommy finally gave up. But then came the fun part—toys!!! One of our favorite things to play with is a piece of paper wadded up into a ball. Mommy throws it down the hall, and we go crazy chasing it then batting it around. Mommy tied it onto a string and dangled it in front of us. Guess which paw Zorro batted it with–his left. Again.

I thought he was making things way too easy for Mommy, so I swung at it with my right paw some and my left paw some, then grabbed it and held onto it.

When it was all over, Mommy decided that Zorro is left-pawed, and I’m just difficult.

It’s Zaturday – Hangin’ Out!

Posted on by Carol J. Post

It’s Zaturday, the day we (Ziggy and Zorro) take over Mommy’s blog.

Ziggy here. Zorro and I have lots of places we like to hang out. One of our favorites is the “catio” Mommy and Aunt Kim made for us in North Carolina. We have lots of fun sitting on the bar and watching the birds come to the feeder. They’re almost close enough to reach out and grab (but not quite).

We like our kitty condo in Florida a lot, too. It has nice perches on top where we curl up and go to sleep. It’s especially nice when the sun is shining in the window or at night when the lizards come to visit. The other day, Zorro decided to take a bath up there and almost fell off. I bet he won’t try that again.

Mommy says some of our hangouts are a little strange, like when Mommy took some work to bed with her, and instead of lying on the soft bed, Zorro went to sleep on her clipboard.

Or when I was at Grandma’s house, and with all the nice roomy couches and chairs to lie on, I crowded onto the stuffed bunny’s lap in the tiny chair.

We have lots of fun places to hang out. But what makes all of them special is having Mommy close by.

 

It’s Zaturday – Strange Diets!

Posted on by Carol J. Post

It’s Zaturday, the day we (Ziggy and Zorro) take over Mommy’s blog.

Zorro here. Ziggy and I love to eat. Mommy and Daddy buy us lots of good kitty food, but we have some flavors that are our favorites. Splash Dance is really yummy. So is Fowl Ball, Chicken Frick ‘A Zee, Lamb Burgini and Funk in the Trunk.

Ziggy is weird, though, because he likes to eat Mommy’s vitamins. Mommy has to be careful to swallow them right away and not leave them beside her computer, or Ziggy will get into them. Mommy says he doesn’t need them, because he already has too much energy. The few times he’s eaten Mommy’s vitamins, they didn’t hurt him. But when we were in North Carolina last month, he got into Grandma’s vitamins and threw them up all over her carpet. Mommy wasn’t happy.

Mommy and Daddy used to have a cat that was even stranger than Ziggy. He loved tomatoes. When Mommy would open the refrigerator door to get something, he would jump inside, grab a tomato and run away with it.

But Mommy read something a few days ago that is the weirdest of all. She says that in a place called the Galapagos, grasshoppers make up half of the cats’ diets. Ziggy thinks I eat grasshoppers, because I can jump really high. My favorite spot is on top of the curio cabinet.

But I don’t eat grasshoppers. At least not normally. If a grasshopper got into the house, I would chase it and catch it. But even though I sometimes eat bugs I catch, I don’t think I would eat a grasshopper. They look too crunchy. I mean, check him out. Does he look appetizing?

Image by Claudia Peters from Pixabay

 

I don’t think so. Not to turn my nose up at what my distant cousins eat, but I think I’ll stick with my yummy kitty food…and tuna.

It’s Zaturday – A Perfect Job!

Posted on by Carol J. Post

It’s Zaturday, the day we (Ziggy and Zorro) take over Mommy’s blog.

Ziggy here. Actually, it’s Zaturday night, so we’re really late. But it’s not our fault. Zorro and I write our own posts, but we still need Mommy around to turn on the computer. Mommy was gone all day, though. Daddy even ate dinner without her. When we asked her about our post, she said she forgot. How could she forget about our Zaturday post?

Usually Mommy works at home. She says she’s writing books. But sometimes she goes to another job. This week, that happened a whole bunch. Zorro and I don’t like it when she goes to that other job, because she leaves us. Sometimes we’re home alone all day.

It’s fun, though, when Mommy is writing. A lot of times, she sits down at the dining room table with her computer. I’m not allowed on the table. But if Mommy is really thinking about what she’s doing, she doesn’t notice me, and I’m able to sneak up on the table and lie down behind her computer.

Zorro likes to get up in her lap when she writes. Sometimes he sits up and watches her. He pretends he knows what she’s writing, but I wonder if he can really read it.

Our favorite place is North Carolina. Mommy writes out in the special room she and Aunt Kim caged in for us. Mommy really likes it out there, and we do too. While Mommy writes, we watch the birds and squirrels. We get to hang out with Mommy and be in our favorite place, all at the same time.

Zorro and I think writing is a perfect job. We’re pretty lucky to have a (mostly) stay-at-home Mommy.

 

It’s Zaturday – Happy Independence Day!

Posted on by Carol J. Post

It’s Zaturday, the day we (Ziggy and Zorro) take over Mommy’s blog.

Zorro here. Today is Independence Day. At least, that’s what Mommy says. Ziggy and I aren’t sure what Independence Day is, but we think it has something to do with cats.

Everyone knows that cats are independent. Mommy and Daddy make jokes about it. Daddy says dogs have owners but cats have staff, and Mommy says that cats used to be worshiped as gods and we’ve never forgotten it.

We don’t know about all that, but we’re waaay more independent than dogs. Scientists say that we don’t see Mommy and Daddy as a focus of safety the same way dogs do. Even though we can take care of ourselves pretty well, we do still rely on Mommy and Daddy to give us affection and mental stimulation and to keep us healthy. And we show them that we love them by purring and rubbing up against them. Another way I show Mommy and Daddy that I love them is by blinking slowly at them. I like it when Mommy does it back.

I think Ziggy is more independent than I am, though, because when Mommy goes away, I really miss her. And when she finally comes back, I can hardly wait for her to put her stuff down so she can pick me up and love me. I always greet her with kisses on the nose.

 

Now, back to Independence Day. Since it’s our special day, Ziggy and I are waiting for our silk pillows…and tuna…and snuggles. Think we’ll get them?

It’s Zaturday – Kitty Radar!

Posted on by Carol J. Post

It’s Zaturday, the day we (Ziggy and Zorro) take over Mommy’s blog.

Ziggy here. Zorro and I are lucky kitties. We have two homes! We live in Florida with Mommy and Daddy, but every month, Mommy takes us to North Carolina to Grandma and Aunt Kim’s house. We like both places, because we get lots of love and good kitty food, whether we’re in North Carolina or Florida.

The trip is really long. (Mommy says it’s more than 600 miles.) Zorro and I don’t know what miles are, but we’re in the car all day. Even though the trip is long, we can always tell when we’re almost there. Usually I’m lying on the seat and Zorro is curled up on Mommy’s lap, but as soon as Mommy turns onto her and Daddy’s road in Florida or Aunt Kim and Grandma’s road in North Carolina, we know. Zorro stands up in Mommy’s lap and looks out the window, and I get up on the thing between the seats.

Mommy always laughs and asks us how we can tell we’re almost there. Zorro and I can’t really explain it. We just know. Cats have good sense of direction. We also pay attention and have a good memory. That helps lost cats find their way home. When Mommy was a little girl, she had a cat named Bootsie. (Bootsie was black like us, except she had white paws.) When Mommy’s family moved to a different house, they took Bootsie with them, but then Bootsie disappeared. Mommy said six weeks later, the people who bought the old house called because Bootsie showed up there. She had walked all the way there from a different city, just to go back to her old home. (Of course, Mommy and Grandma and Grandpa went and got her.)

No one really knows how we do it. Some people think cats can sense the Earth’s magnetic fields. Others say we have iron in our inner ears and skin that works like a natural compass. Zorro and I aren’t sure about all that. We just know which way home is and when we’re almost there.

Mommy really doesn’t understand it, because she doesn’t have any sense of direction at all. If she didn’t have that thing on her phone telling her where to go when we travel, who knows where we’d end up? But we love her anyway.

Image by OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay

It’s Zaturday – A Kitty Palace!

Posted on by Carol J. Post

It’s Zaturday, the day we (Ziggy and Zorro) take over Mommy’s blog.

Zorro here. We have the best Mommy and Aunt Kim in the whole wide world! Look what they’re building for us!

Actually, the roof and railing were already there, but Ziggy and I weren’t allowed to go out there, because Mommy was afraid we would jump off the balcony. So they closed it all in with wire. They even tore off the old handrail and used bigger boards to give us more room to lie up there. It was still pretty crowded, though. See? My leg is hanging over the edge.

Even that was okay, but when I stood up and tried to turn around, I fell off! So Mommy and Aunt Kim made another board to go up there. This one’s a lot bigger. Look how much room Ziggy and I have now.

In the middle of our new room, Mommy and Aunt Kim built a wall with a door. Our cousins Kassie and Blackie will be staying on one side, and Ziggy and I will be on the other. Mommy and Aunt Kim are keeping us separated. That’s probably a good thing, because I’m not sure I like the other cats. Except for Ziggy. I love him, because he’s my buddy.

The room is almost done now, and we’re really enjoying it. Ziggy and I spend most of the day out there watching all the visitors. There are lots of squirrels and sometimes bunnies. Big birds come up, too. (Mommy calls them turkeys.) They sometimes spread out their tail feathers. Mommy says only the boy ones do that. Ziggy and I are both boys, but all we can do is make our tails poofy.

Sometimes deer visit, too. When they come, Ziggy and I are glad we’re up here in our room, because they’re a lot bigger than we are!

To make our new space even more fun, Mommy and Aunt Kim are going to hang two bird feeders outside. One will be on Kassie and Blackie’s side, and one will be on our side. Then we’ll be able to watch the birds up close, but not close enough for us to reach through the wire and grab one. (Although that might be fun, too. Ziggy and I are natural born hunters, but being house cats, the only hunting we get to do is if a lizard or bug gets inside, which doesn’t happen often.)

Mommy and Aunt Kim are almost done with our room. Mommy says they’re going to finish today except for staining the wood. We’re not sure what stain is, but it sounds like it might be stinky. So we’re hoping they decide not to do it. I think we need to tell them that we like our new room just the way it is.

 

It’s Zaturday – When Mommy’s Away…

Posted on by Carol J. Post

It’s Zaturday, the day we (Ziggy and Zorro) take over Mommy’s blog.

Ziggy here. Mommy and Daddy left us. (Do you feel sorry for us yet?)

Okay, Zorro says I need to tell you what’s really going on. They didn’t leave us permanently. At least, that’s what they said. When they were telling us goodbye, they told us they would only be gone for a few days. They said they were going away for their anniversary. I’m not sure what anniversaries are, but since it means Mommy and Daddy go off without us, I’m glad they don’t happen very often.

When Mommy and Daddy were making their plans, I heard Mommy say something about taking us with them. Daddy said, “When you go away for your anniversary, you usually don’t take your kids.” (I guess that’s us.) Mommy laughed, so Daddy must have been joking. I wasn’t sure how I felt about going with them. We’re used to North Carolina, because we go there every month. We even like riding in the car. But where Mommy and Daddy are right now sounded like somewhere Zorro and I have never been. New places make us a little nervous at first, but once we check everything out, then we’re good.

I’m kind of glad, though, that Mommy and Daddy left us home. Their friend is here taking care of us. We like Miss Audi. She feeds us the same good kitty food that Mommy and Daddy do and gives us lots of love. She even lets us sleep with her. Having Miss Audi around is like having another Mommy.

But tomorrow, Mommy and Daddy will be back, and Miss Audi will leave. It would be nice if we could keep all three of them—more people to own…I mean love is always a good thing. But Miss Audi probably already has a home.

Zorro and I are talking about pouting when Mommy and Daddy arrive, to make them feel guilty for leaving us. But I don’t think Zorro will follow through. He’s going to be so happy to see them that he’s going to forget all about our plans. He’s really needy that way.

Okay, I admit it. I’ll be happy to see them, too. I’m looking forward to Daddy picking me up and calling me Ziglet the Piglet…then giving me a big bowl of food. Maybe even tuna.

It’s Zaturday – Go, Rescue Cats!

Posted on by Carol J. Post

It’s Zaturday, the day we (Ziggy and Zorro) take over Mommy’s blog!

Zorro here. Everyone knows about Morris the Cat. Mommy says he’s probably the most famous cat ever. He’s the spokescat for 9-Lives catfood, has starred in zillions of commercials and is an advo-cat for animals in need.

What most people don’t know, though, is that before Morris became famous, he was a shelter cat. He was discovered at the Hinsdale Humane Society shelter near Chicago.

I’m not nearly as famous as Morris, but I came from the Humane Society, too. Here’s the picture they took of me to try to find someone to adopt me. Aren’t I cute?

I was in a kennel with a gate on the front. The nice people there fed me good and had blankets for me to lay on, but I was so happy when I finally got adopted by Mommy and Daddy. Now I get lots of love…

And I can sleep anywhere I want. On the couch…

On the bed…

 

In our kitty condo…

And instead of being alone in a kennel, I get to be with Ziggy. He’s my buddy and keeps me from getting lonely when Mommy and Daddy aren’t home. We lick each other…

And play together…

And sometimes just hang out.

I think all kitties and doggies should be adopted into good homes. I’m so glad Mommy and Daddy are the ones who adopted me, even if I never get as famous as Morris.