It's good to do things together ...

My human decided to clean her kitchen cupboards out earlier tonight.

I decided to help her. I like to get involved with anything she's doing.  And from what I've overheard in her counselling room, I believe it's good for the two partners in a relationship to do things together.  And that's all I was doing.  I thought it would be good for our relationship for us to do something together.

I don't know why though, but she didn't seem to appreciate my help.  She didn't seem to think that this was something that would be good for us to do together.








Don't worry though, because it worked out okay.

She gave me some treats to 'persuade' me to get out of the cupboard. 

I knew she'd do that. I knew that if I sat there long enough I'd get some!  I always get what I want!

My human thinks she's clever ... but she's not as clever as me.

I'm not a counsellor. I'm a cat ...

Tee hee!!

My human doesn't let me go into her counselling room when she's got clients in there with her.  I don't understand why.  It's not like I'd be a distraction.  I'd just want a few cuddles from her or her clients.  And I might do a bit of counselling myself; a few miaows at appropriate times might be just what her clients need.  I know she says she doesn't give them advice ... but I could.  And my advice would be very good.

Anyway, earlier today, she thought I was sitting in the living room.  And I was.  But when she went to open the door to let her client in, I sneaked into the counselling room & hid myself under the chair.  I stayed very still and quiet until both her & her client were sitting in their chairs & were just about to start talking ...

This is me sitting on her counselling chair

Then I jumped out!!  Both of them looked a little bit surprised!  My human also looked a little bit embarrassed, and I think a little bit angry with me.  She jumped straight up & apologised to her client.  They just laughed.  Especially when I tried to run away from her!!

I did let her catch me, because I knew she wouldn't let me stay in there.  But I still felt good for having sneaked in there without her noticing!

I know I'm not meant to go in that room when she has clients, but I don't really understand why I can't.  What makes them better than me?  It's my home.  I like sitting in that room.  I know it's got something to do with something called Counselling Ethics and her needing to give her clients her full attention.  And I know she takes her work very seriously & always tries to do the very best for her clients.  So I think that this was why she was probably a little bit angry.  I think she felt that she'd let her
client and also her own strong ethical approach down by allowing
me to sneak in.

But it's okay.  It wasn't her who did it.  It was me.

And I'm not bound by these Counselling Ethics. 

 I'm not a counsellor.  I'm a cat.

It's clean enough to eat my dinner from ...

For someone who's allegedly intelligent, my human can be very stupid.

She cleaned the kitchen this morning & made a very good job of making sure everything was sparkly clean. The floor especially, was lovely.

So much so, that when she gave me my tea I couldn't resist taking some of it out of my bowl so I could eat it off the lovely clean floor. And my tea tasted lovely.

When my human came into the kitchen & saw what I'd done, she seemed a bit upset.

"Elsie!" She said in a voice filled with exasperation. "I've just cleaned that floor. You don't always put your food on floor, so why have you done it today?"

"Well, duh," I thought. "Are you stupid? I know you've cleaned the floor. That's why I put my tea on it. I wouldn't put my food on a dirty floor, would I?!"

I'm having a duvet day ...

I love it when my human changes her bedding.  It's lovely to go to bed when the bedding is all nice and fresh; & I know that this is something that us cats and you humans tend to agree on.


But ... there's something that's even nicer.  And I feel sorry for you humans because you don't seem to appreciate this ...








The best thing of all, is when my human takes off the old bedding & the duvet is left on its own.. It's lovely to snuggle into a nice cosy duvet.  It's peaceful & quiet and it wraps me up in a nice big cuddle

 I know it's a lovely sunny day outside (I've been out earlier, so I know this), & I do like to be outside in the sunshine, but I'm very happy right now having my duvet day.

Warm & cosy in my duvet cuddle ....

I'm meditating ...

You humans make me smile sometimes ... quite a lot of the time actually; you just can't see my smile so clearly because of how our jaws are designed.  But trust me, I'm smiling a lot!

Me meditating ...

I see my human reading stuff about meditation and mindfulness or I hear it being talked about on telly so I know that you know all about it & yet, you always seem to be amazed when you see us cats sat staring at a wall.

Like I was this morning.

I sat out in the lovely morning sunshine for about 45 minutes just staring at the wall in front of me & enjoying the feel of the sun on my fur.  My human seemed to find it amusing ... and yet I know, she extolls the benefits of meditation when it's right for her clients.  She doesn't do it very much herself though.  I think she should.

And I think it's about time she realised that I'm not just sitting looking at a wall ... I'm meditating.

It's wonderful to just sit and just be ... 

& stare at a wall ...

Her finger's having panic attacks ...

Do you remember me telling you yesterday that I was worried I was going to have one of those 'sleepless nights' that I hear you humans have?

I hope you didn't have a sleepless night last night worrying about me having a sleepless night?

Because I didn't! I slept like a kitten ... well; like any cat does really. You know how good we are at sleeping ... practice makes purrfect & all that ...

I did though, when I was snuggling into my human before we went to sleep, spend a little bit of time thinking about what my human had told me about her finger after her latest trip to the vets.  And I think I believe her now that the latest contraption she has to wear really does have nothing to do with me & that silly little scratch.

This was me thinking about her finger before my sleepfull night ...

Now I thought, when I've heard my human talking about 'panic attacks,' that they were just something like a trick a human's mind plays on them to scare themselves. And I didn't realise that bits of a human's body (cats' bodies too, I guess) could get panic attacks.

But it seems to me that that's what's happening to my human's finger ...

Her finger got a big fright when she burned it. The nerves especially,were frightened ... so would I be I think, if I'd been burned! They, and her skin, are still working hard to repair themselves & get back to normal. But they're still traumatised. And now, whenever anything gets close to them, or they're moved, they panic. Aarrgghhh!! They get scared that they're going to get hurt again & so they go on high alert (like when a cat is stalking tasty prey), meaning that my human now feels a lot of pain whenever she moves her finger or touches anything with it.

Her poor little nerves are terrified. Her finger is living in constant fear of being hurt again.

It seems to me that she needs to spend some time doing that counselling thing that she does with her clients to her own finger to help it get over its trauma & fear.

I wonder if my human realises that her finger keeps having panic attacks? 

She will if she reads this ...

That was a spider ...

See that black splodge in the middle of the picture? That was a spider!

I've done the picture in black and white because I thought full colour might be a bit much for you ... & I'm also showing the spider a little bit of respect.

I played with it on the bathroom floor this morning before trying to eat it.  Quite often, spiders can be really tasty to eat; especially when their legs are still wriggling & the meat is really fresh.

This one wasn't. 

I had to spit it out ...

I hope it's not really my fault ...

My human came back from her vets today with something called a 'silicone sleeve' on her finger. It looks a bit like a skin-coloured bandage, but she can bend her finger in it.

She says it's to help with the scar tissue that's building up on her finger, but I'm a bit scared that it's because I scratched it last night ...

She wouldn't lie to me, would she? 

I'm now all anxious & worried that I'm going to have one of those 'sleepless nights' that I sometimes hear you humans talking about. As a cat, I'm very good at sleeping, & I've never had a sleepless night. But when I've listened in at the door when my human has had a client, I've heard them talking about not being able to sleep because of worrying.

Worrying & anxiety can be very troubling. I hope I'm going to be alright ...

Oops!! I think I'm in trouble ...

Oops! I think I'm in trouble!

I got annoyed with my human because she wouldn't let me go outside & I scratched her, & made her bleed ... on her sore finger. And now she's worrying about how she's going to explain it when she goes back to the hospital tomorrow!

Which seems silly really ... it's easy to explain. I was angry; I scratched her. What's so difficult about that? It could have been worse; I could have scratched her on the other side of her finger which is the side that's still really sore & is still causing her problems. 

See; even in my anger, I was still thoughtful!  And look, it's not that big a scratch is it? Just enough to draw blood so I made my point. 

If she'd gone to a proper vet in the first who'd mended her properly, I'm sure it wouldn't still be sore.  And then I wouldn't need to feel so guilty about making it bleed. 

But, as I'm sure you know, us cats don't feel guilty for long. What's the point? It serves no purpose. It doesn't change anything. 

And anyway, it's her own fault. If she'd opened the door for me & let me go out, I wouldn't have felt so angry that I had no choice but to scratch her ...

How else do you express your anger other than through a sharp little scratch, or bite? I understand that you humans don't think that biting & scratching is a good way of dealing with anger? It works okay for me. But maybe I need to think about this a little bit more ...

At least she's forgiven me ... she always does; but then, how could she not?! ... & I'm now relaxing in bed, preparing to settle down for the night ...

Watch this space ... (I've always wanted to say that!) ... I might just let you know my thoughts about 'anger management' (something my human sometimes talks about with her clients) very soon ...

Cuddles are mutual things ...

Last week I wrote a post about the importance of cuddles ... for both humans and cats.

Today, I just want to share a couple of photos with you ...






This is me giving my human a cuddle ... no reason, I just wanted to give her one.  Aren't they the best cuddles to get?

I hope she liked it as much as I did.  I think she did.  She always seems to enjoy our cuddle time.

 


And then, later in the evening, this was me snuggling in & being cuddled by my human.

Cuddles are mutual things though aren't they?

  If you're giving someone a cuddle, you can't help but get a cuddle back ...

The meaning behind the present is what really matters ...

As you already know, 'Dreamies' are my very favourite treats.  They're just so yummy!!  Have you ever tried them?  I won't let my human try mine ... I want to keep them all for myself.

So just imagine how happy I was earlier when I was playing out in the back yard & the human who lives upstairs from me & my human gave me a present!  Well, she actually gave the present to my human ... I can't carry many things in my paws when I'm walking ... but the present is mine!

And just see what it is!!!

She always has a few treats ready to give me when we're in the back yard at the same time, but today, she gave me these treats to keep in my house!!

It's lovely to receive presents isn't it?  Because it means that the person who gives you the present has been thinking about you ... & that's nice.  The human who lives upstairs was obviously thinking about me when she was doing her shopping!

I think there was a special reason the human was thinking about me this week; and that reason makes her thinking about me even more precious.  I think that when she bought my present, she was probably thinking about someone else too; & giving me this present has made me & my human remember happy & sad times.  Not in a bad way, but with fondness.  Things we all experienced together, being remembered & shared again through a present.

And it's this that makes presents more precious.  It's not the actual physical thing or how much it cost ... as a cat, I don't really understand money anyway.  Why do you need it?  What is it?  Bits of paper and metal as far as I can work out.  But it's the thought behind the present that really matters. The memories that are maybe tied in with that particular present.  The unique meaning that the present has, both for the person who gave it & the one (cat) who receives it.

Presents can be a way of sharing memories.  They can be a way of people saying things to each other without words.  Don't just see the present, see the past & future that are also maybe symbolised there.  See the meaning and feel the emotions that are so much more powerful and precious than the physical gift.

I'm off now to try & persuade my human to give me some of those treats ...

Happy making cuddles ...

My human is reading one of her books. I'm sitting here, as you can see, snuggled into the crook of her arm.  I just hope her hand doesn't get too tired holding me up.  I don't want to end up with a headache if she drops me.

This is a lovely happy-making cuddle ...

Cuddles are important ...

Me & human snuggling together 

I've learned a little bit about 'depression' since living with my human.  From what I've learned from her and her books, it sounds like a nasty thing to experience.  It can leave human feeling sad, lonely and hurting.  I understand that for someone living with depression, life can feel very hard, and each day can feel like a chore to get through. And that doesn't sound like a good way to live.  I wouldn't like to feel like that.

It's difficult for me to understand what depression for humans feels like, but I think I have a little idea.  Before I moved in with my human and was just living outside I felt very sad and lonely.  So sad sometimes, that I just needed to keep licking my tummy & my legs ... and lots of the fur fell out.  I didn't really understand what I was doing, or why I was doing it at the time.  It was just something I felt I had to do.

Look at how much love I needed ... all those bald spots

I now understand though, from my human, that I was probably trying to comfort myself.  I felt so sad and lonely because I had no human to live with or to stroke or cuddle me.  Us cats like the feeling of being stroked because it reminds us of when we were little babies & our mummy cats licked & groomed us.  Because I was feeling so sad and lonely, I was craving that loving feeling that I'd gotten from my mummy cat.  But she wasn't there.  And I wasn't living with a human who could substitute, so I had to try to love, cuddle & groom myself.  And I did that by licking & cleaning my fur.  Lots.  Because I felt so sad and lonely and needed lots of love.

And I believe that this is a similar thing to when humans 'self harm.'  It might look like they're hurting themselves, but whatever they're doing (cutting or scratching themselves, maybe over-eating or drinking), they're trying to comfort themselves or bring about a sense of relief.  I'll write more about this another day ... it's something else I've learned about from my human.

Once I moved in with my human though, she gave me lots of cuddles & spent a long time stroking me and she became a very good substitute mummy cat.  I purr a lot these days when she cuddles me.  Because I'm happy now.  I know I'm loved.  I know I'm safe.  I have a lovely home to live in & I get lots of nice food ... & treats!

A cute picture I found on Facebook

And cuddles are good for human too.  Humans feel safe & happy & connected too, when they give & receive cuddles.  Research (so my human tells me) shows that humans who don't get cuddles tend to be less happy, less fulfilled & experience more depression than those who do.  So people who live on their own, are more likely to feel depressed.  Not just because of the loneliness and isolation they can feel, having no one to talk to or share things with.  But also because of the lack of touch, of bodily contact they experience.

Apparently though, there are also some people who live together, in couples and families, who don't like cuddles.  And that can be hard for the people in the family who do.  They can feel deprived of contact & feel sad and lonely, even when they're together.  And that's sad.  I

And that's why furry friends (cats especially, I'd say!!) are so good for people.  And one of the reasons why it's good for humans to find, & live with a furry friend.  Especially for those people who live on their own, or don't get the cuddles and bodily contact they need from their families.

Me & my human cuddling each other 

I love cuddles with my human.  And I'm very happy now.

Coloured in claws ...

This is me looking in utter disbelief at my human's feet. Why would anyone want to colour their claws in? It doesn't make sense to me.

I just hope she doesn't get any ideas about colouring in my claws ... it's NOT happening.

I don't have a cardigan to wear ...

I know it's a nice day outside ... I've been out lots today.

But ... is there any need for my human to have all the windows and the back door open?  I think not.  I'm freezing and have had to come under the duvet to keep warm.

See that bump on the right?  That's me keeping warm.

Now, I know fresh air is good for us.  And I know from what  my human tells me, and what I've read in some of her books, that fresh air and exercise is good for us all ... cats, humans & all other animals too.
Fresh air and exercise apparently helps ease depression and can cheer people up, and make them feel better.

I can understand that because I get lots of fresh air and exercise.  I go out a few times every day.  Sometimes, I just sit in the yard, sometimes I run round it & sometimes I go for long walks or runs along the back yard walls.  I also like to go for a run around the block ... my human lets me out the back door & I go running along the walls & the pavements & then I turn up at the front door!! Or rather, I sit on the sill of my human's counselling room window until she can be bothered to come & let me in.

See ... .we both get our exercise.  Me outside & my human from when she has to keep getting up to see if I'm ready to come in yet or not.  Just another example of me looking after my human, making sure she gets enough exercise.  And then of course, there's all the times she has to get up from working at her computer when I'm shouting at her to give me those yummy treats I wrote about earlier!!  We're a good team!

But it's about time, she thought about me as much.  Because there she is, happily working away on her computer with all the windows open, letting lots of nice fresh air into our house.

And okay, that's a good thing, but she's got her cardigan on ... I don't have a cardigan to wear.  So I've had to come to bed ...

The human thinks I'm stupid ... I'm not ...

My human is very kind and buys me yummy treats.  She keeps them in the cupboard where I can't reach them and so I have to ask her when I want some.

I don't know why, but she seems to get annoyed with me.  I know I ask for them lots of times, but so would you, if you knew that yummy treats were in the cupboard and you couldn't get them.


She keeps saying to me; "You can't just keep eating these."

Well; what else does she expect me to do with them?  And she's not going to eat them is she?

And then she says; "These are meant to be treats.  You're just meant to get these when you've been a good girl."

Well; I'm always good.

Sometimes she gives me them to 'bribe' me out of here counselling room when she's got clients coming.  She shakes the packet and I go running into the kitchen.  She thinks she's clever because I always go running for the yummy treats.  What she hasn't realised is that I only go into the counselling room when I know she's got clients coming because I know that if I sit in there, she'll give me treats.  See; these humans think they're clever, but they're not as clever as us cats.

And then today, she tried to con me.  The second time I asked her for yummy treats, instead of the treats, she just put a few of my crunchy biscuits on the plate!?  Does she think I'm stupid?  Did she think I wouldn't spot the difference?

Of course, I knew straight away.

I just looked at them.  And then I looked up at her.

And then she laughed at me.

And then she gave the proper treats ...

My Sunday night take away ...

Those of you who have 'liked' me on Facebook might have already read this story; but for those of you who haven't, here it is again.  

And for those of you who haven't 'liked' me on Facebook, please click on my badge over on the right and 'like' me!!

Most Sundays my human goes out somewhere.  I'm not sure where she goes, but when she comes back, she brings me my very own Take Away.  And you thought it was just humans who had take aways!?!

It's always a bit of a surprise because, although I know that it will be meat and gravy, I never know what flavour it will be.

Yesterday, I was really lucky.  When my human put my take away in my dish for me to eat, there was loads of yummy gravy on it ... which, of course, I licked off first.  How else do you eat it?  And then I saved the meat for later.  When I went back for it, and tasted it, I was surprised at just how yummy it was!  It turned out to be chicken flavoured with garlic!  Mmmmm .... I wonder if my breath smells today?  I'll have to ask my human later ....

But then, I was having a conversation with a human who has 'liked' me on Facebook and she asked me why I never go out to eat.  I thought it was a bit of a funny question, because I often eat out ... me and my human have a lovely neighbour who lives upstairs from us. She keeps a bag of my favourite treats at the bottom of her stairs, and if we're out in the yard at the same time, she puts some on the ground for me ...

 ... So you see, I often get to eat out ...

The stupid finger pointing the way forward ...

My human and I have been having a meeting this morning about the direction in which I should take this blog.  I have lots of ideas about things I would like to write about, but my human has been trying to tell me that I should find a better focus for it  ... I think it's just because she doesn't like that I've just been writing about her recently.  Or more specifically, about her and her clumsy attempt to light a candle, which ended up in lots of trips to the vets; & it's still not mended.  I'm not going to get distracted by my thoughts on those useless vets though ...

So anyway, we sat down together ... she on her chair, me on the desk and did some of this 'brain storming' I've heard humans talking about.  We came up with lots of ideas together ... I let her write them all down, because I can't hold a pen very easily in my paws.  And why should I do all the work anyway when I've got a human to do it for me?

Mind you, her attempts at holding a pen are a bit clumsy right now too!!  Just look at the way that finger sticks out!  Looks stupid, doesn't it?  She says it's because her finger is still very sore & stiff & she still can't use it properly ... I think it's just an excuse for her untidy writing.

After posting this, I'm off to bed to sleep & dream about the direction my blog is going in.  My human spoke some sense, but I have to think about it myself.  It is my blog afterall.  And it's up to me what I write about.  Tough if she doesn't like it.

But I did like some of her ideas ... I'm off to sleep on them now though ...