*note to self: do not try wet towels to keep George off the counters.
Actually, I already know it wouldn’t work, he has been found sleeping in a laundry basket full of wet clothes. Hubs put a towel under the water fountain to try to limit the wet kitty prints on the floors and George thinks that the fountain is now a water feature/nappy place. Half the time, his head is against the fountain so one ear is sticking into the water fall.
Need pictures or it doesn’t happen~only cause it sounds so damn cute.
Dear thorny_locust
My human complains when I move up because I like to make happy feets before going to sleep and it makes him need to pee.
Imma gunna be able to open the doors next week, then I’ll work on growing into a big furry blankie!
Clearly a feline-dolphin mix. Does he make shrill squealing noises?
Oh, if he’s already on counters…do you have a gas stove, by any chance? If you do, please invest in baby-proof stove knob covers now, before he get much heavier. Back in May, when the boys were 10 months old, I one night smelled a strange smell. When I went into the kitchen to investigate I discovered said odor was the plastic part of my air-drying Instant Pot’s lid melting because Poe was now heavy and awkward enough to kick on a burner when he jumped up on the stove. Knobs were removed that instant until I was able to procure knob covers the next day. We’re lucky nothing worse was damaged.
As for loving water, no one told Poe he isn’t supposed to like wet floors and certainly wasn’t supposed to lie on the freshly washed floor yesterday.
We have an electric stove, but the knobs still turn. They are upright, against the wall and I doubt that he’ll hit them, but child proof knob covers certainly won’t hurt. Thank you SO much for the suggestion.
You might be on to something, George starts making the shrillest noises I’ve ever heard out of a cat when hubs’ alarm goes off. He doesn’t stop until he’s got a bowl of gooshy fud in front of him. He’s not quite as bad at dinner time, but he’s still loud! (Yes he does have kibble out all the time.)
Allie (11yo Siamese-mix) HOWLS at me when I get home in the evening because she wants that canned gunk served NAAAAAOOOOOWWWW!!! Kibble’s always there, but she really wants the royal glop.
Do you mock her? “Oh, poor starving kitty, nobody ever feeds you do they? Nothing to eat, turning into skin and bones, poor baby!”
What? I know George doesn’t understand, but it entertains the hoomans 
I’m worse than that. I tell she has to wait until such other tasks as setting down my tote bag and removing my shoes have taken place, THEN comes the royal supper. I’m also awful enough to enforce supper time on weekends.
One of my cats has turned on a stove burner at least twice. I got a set of these:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07FS2SJDM/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Bernie, my Bernese Mountain Dog, was an alpha male from an exceptionally intelligent lineage with whom many of our interactions were a game of wits – a game that he often won, proving that he was smarter than I was. Beyond the normal puppy training, I actually had to hire a trainer to help me deal with him. One of the suggestions that actually worked, which was supposed to help reinforce my role as the more dominant alpha male, was to make him sit and wait while his dinner was doled out into his dish, and only come when called. He was very good and obedient at doing this, but I could almost see him mentally rolling his eyes at this silly performance art!
“Hoomans–whaddya gonna do?”
(Looking for the shrugging dog emoji.)
lmao I do this all the time. Helena will start licking the floor if she’s not fed promptly at 6, the drama queen. Like “fine, if you’re going to leave me to die of starvation, I’ll get my nutrients from the DUST.”
She does the same if she’s left outside. Barks for a minute and then just lies down and resigns herself to life outside on the end of a chain and starts dreaming about jumping on a boxcar headed out west and getting out of this town.
Anyway, here’s my family portrait
The dog was just at the vet’s following an apparent cardiac episode. So it’s no more walks, keep her quiet, and keep her out of the heat because another episode would likely be fatal. On one hand, that sucks. I planned on having her at least a few years and still do and will do everything in my power to make it happen. On the other, having taken many senior animals to the ends of their lives, the idea that she could just die suddenly one day from having too much fun is a lot better than a slow and painful decline. She’s a happy, healthy, active dog who loves her life and if it’s that way right to the end, it will be a blessing.
I’ll admit when Linden howls for 10ish minutes every weekday morning just as I’m beginning the work day, I still have no idea why, I do say to him “Oh, he’s sad. He’s so so sad” in response to each howl 
How could you possibly starve that beautiful lady? Poor girl being forced to live with such a terrible human!
There, now you have something else to say while she is counting the seconds for dinner. I can just imagine the sad, neglected look on her face when she is trying to convince everyone that she has been left outside with no food or water or shelter for days and weeks, LOL!
We used to have a cat that would reach up and claw at the cabinets while hubs was doling out the gooshy fud. He usually took too long and she would pass out on the floor, fainting from hunger. Hubs would push her limp body out of the way with his foot while he was putting the dinner bowls down. Once the bowls hit the floor, she would suddenly revive, go sniff the gooshy fud and snub it as only a cat can do. (She was a kibble cat through and through.)
Helena’s back up group are fabulous!
Silly hooman, Linden knows that when you start your work day you are sad, so howls with you.
Oh, beautiful family, nicely posed!
Awesome picture, kudos on getting them all in shot and still, hugs and a scritch for Helena, as many as she wants.
This was Mac when it was food time, well his idea of food time.
Or this when trying to exercise and it was near food time.
Helena is just totally adorable – I’m sending virtual hugs & scritches, but please give her real ones for me. And I totally agree with your philosophy. Dogs don’t view death the way we do, and their beautiful love of life should be fully indulged as much as reasonably possible.
As for the cats, meh, I’m a confirmed Dog Person, practically an honorary Dog myself, and to me the cats look like they’re glaring and contemplating murder. Many cat lovers would probably agree because they somehow find it endearing. 
Mac is adorable, too! One reason I love this thread is that, as I said before, just looking at these beautiful animals is good for the soul. There’s a reason that therapy dogs exist, and why they’re effective! There’s also the fact that studies have shown that having a dog in the household, especially if you live alone, helps you live longer (and, I would venture, makes you happier) …
https://www.cnn.com/2021/08/26/health/national-dog-day-2021-benefits-of-dogs-wellness/index.html
George’s 5-month birthday was yesterday and he now weighs 8.2 lbs. He’s a looooong kitty!
I’ve had to move their “peek out the french door” chair into the corner so nobody gets crowded off.
I thought that big boy kitties deserved a piece of birthday catnip, so picked a sprig for him. I don’t know if he’s old enough for it to affect him, but he still had fun chasing it around. That crumbled rug in the hall actually belongs in front of the living room door, no idea how it got there, LOL!
He had so much fun that he needed a little nappy poo, so VBC took the catnip and ate it.
George has a million dollar tale.