I’ve had a cat diary page for my cat Pusur for a while. But I never remember to update it, so I thought I’d bring it over here instead.
Here’s the page with more about Pusur, including something about cat trees:
Pusur’s site
The old diary, brought over:
Living with a cat can be quite an experience. I know Pusur’s former owner loves him dearly, and wants to be a part of his life still. Partly for that reason I’ve been documenting his life with video and pictures so far. It seemed logical to share with the net as well.
I’ll fill in his early details as I remember them, but start with today’s date - September 20 2002.
Born: March 14 2002
September 20 2002: He caught his first bird today. Quite a large one. Very surprising. Up until now I’ve been unsure if he’s actually caught and killed his own prey, or if he’s found dead animals and seen them as toys. But today I saw him catch a mouse - his two previous were dead by the time I saw him. Quite a killing machine. Well, back to the bird (the first catch of the day). Although it was dead as a doornail by the time I caught sight of it, he still mock attacked it, almost willing it back to life. I caught several photos of him with his mouth full of feathers. What a sight! When he was getting bored with the bird, he obviously caught the sound of a mouse. He eventually stalked it around a bush of lilacs. I saw the mouse trying to outsmart him, and Pusur always getting on his trail again. Eventually he caught the mouse. But wait, the mouse wasn’t dead! Although he was knocked unconscious for a while, he started running again, finally apparently disappearing under the household rubbish compost bin (to die?). Pusur wouldn’t give up, and tried to dig his way under to get to the mouse. By the time I caught up with him, he was smelling so bad it transferred to my jacket. Imagine a cat with the smell of decaying food… I eventually had to get him in the bathtub to wash his paws and underside. Pusur has always liked the bathtub (pingpong ball in bathtub is popular, or even better that foam rubber ball). But this time he realized he’d get VERY WET! Let’s just say I got fairly wet, and the bathtub floor definitely needed a mopping! A cat I used to have hated the water so badly, she would have scratched me to pieces. But Pusur is such a nice cat, he only uses his claws for traction. Although I could feel his claws, I can find no welts anywhere, so I guess it went relatively painless (for me). I think he’s a bit sore at me now, and probably doesn’t trust me too well, though… Also, he really hates the hair dryer. I thought that would help, getting him dry and fluffy really fast. Guess not. He panicked even worse over the hair dryer than over the bathtub with water!
In the past Pusur has dried up quite quickly (a trait of Norwegian Forest Cats), but this time he was still partly wet after a while. He jumped up on my bed to sleep, and was so cold I knew I had to do something. I had two of those large wooden spools I’ve been talking about in connection with cat trees, and put a stack of two in front of the window with a nice flossed carpet on it. Transferred the cat there, and he was quite happily basking in the warm afternoon soon through the window. Kitty cold avoided, I hope!
But anyway, Pusur’s paws have never been cleaner and he smells a lot better!
See some very funny advice for bathing a cat
September 25 2002: I just finished making edges on Pusur’s usual sleeping place in front of a window. He tends to almost slide off that thing (it’s about 16 inches diameter). He has a friend who so wishes she had a cat, and who gave him a blanket yesterday. I used that to drape over the perch, so it’s nice and cosy. He’s already killed it thoroughly (I found saliva and punctures in the fabric), and hopefully he approves.
September 30 2002: I bought Pusur a cage today. I got tired of him bouncing all over me in the car! I didn’t think he’d volunteer to stay in the cage, but I’d underestimated the circumstances. I took him on a walk with his 5 meter lead. He’s really frightened of bicycles and weird noises, and will crawl into any hole he sees, or inside my jacket and under my arm.
When we got back to the car, I brought the cage to the front seat and positioned it front forward with the door taken off. I had bought a fairly big one, and placed his bed inside (that he couldn’t stand until then). It’s made of closed foam and is very sturdy. He can feel safe in that one even in a slightly oversized cage. Anyway, it didn’t take him long to crawl into the cage and stay there! He preferred to stay in the cage for the most part since then. I also took him out in the car another time. He’s free to wander around because I take the door off. Occasionally he’ll do that, but the cage is the safest place, and HIS place.
October 9 2002: Pusur was thoroughly bored today, and climbed to the top of the carpet core all by himself! But when he was up there he tried to access other parts of the book case, and almost knocked down one of my vases. Guess it’s time to tidy up some more, or make sure he can’t get too far down that shelf! Once he’d gotten to the top however, he’d forgotten how to get down! Either that or he’d eaten too much, I guess.
October 2002: Pusur is definitely a boy. Rain and dirt is no problem for this cat. Even in days of pouring rain he wanted to go out, though cold weather will turn him into a couch potato and he won’t stay outside quite that long.
Anyway, when he’s coming in on a rainy day, he’s running as fast as he can, with leaves and other detritus flying off him in all directions. And he’s generally so wet he has to sustain a rubdown. I originally used a towel, but it wasn’t good enough, so I had to start using a microfiber cloth to soak up more moisture. I can’t remember any cat ever being that wet, or caring so little if he gets wet! That said, he’ll jump up on a windowsill over a panel oven that’s always on to get some warmth after he’s been out in the cold or wet weather.
December 2002: I had him neutered at the end of November. After he’d recovered, he got way more rowdy than he used to be. I’m guessing his hormones weren’t messing with his brain anymore, and he was more interested in play. But more than anything, I think the cold weather was the reason. He was stuck inside most of the time because he didn’t want to stay outside for very long. He got absolutely crazy! His favorite toy these days is a stick with sisal rope tied to it, and now - I’ve tied a turkey feather at the end! The feather makes the rope wave more slowly in the air, so it’s much easier to catch.
The Christmas Tree… I bought plastic based ornaments and put on the tree this time. Even if he batted them on to the floor, they wouldn’t break. In fact, he tired of it rather quickly, but the first few days he had a lot of glitter in his face, from a glitter covered ornament! I guess the worst thing about having a cat and a tree in the same room was that he chewed the tree! The tree is plastic, and he chewed a lot on it for some reason! He also dragged down a string of beads I had on the tree. It was dangling, so of course it was fun to drag it off!
January 2003: By the time the temperature got bearable again (for now anyway), Pusur got less rowdy. By now he’s outside for hours at a time, and pretends not to hear when he’s called in - if he’s got a prey going! When he’s inside, he’s tired, sleepy, less rowdy and a lot more cuddly!
September 2003: It’s been quite a while since I wrote anything, and Pusur has been through a lot since last time.
He’s turned into quite a mouser. Most nights he’ll kill one to two mice. Although he gets copious amounts of cat food, he’ll quite often eat the mice he kills. Looks like he gets hungry during the night, and will munch on them while waiting to be let in and get to the cat food. Really disgusting! Although I’ve had mouse hunters before, this is the first recreational mouse snacker I’ve had! He’ll leave most of the mice near the front door, on a nice part of macadam - makes eating them less messy. You know, I don’t object to the mouse hunting. I’m quite proud of him that he’s overcome his early clumsiness and become an accomplished cat. But eating the mice? That’s not only disgusting, it’s probably given him worms!
I just had to deworm him. Yuck! This guy is like an eel when I try to force something down his throat (paste from a syringe). Even with a towel and a rug wrapped tightly around him, he’ll swivel out of there! And then he’ll eventually bleat pitifully. When the sounds eventually turn into a deep belly growl - watch out. It may take a minute more, but then he’ll get the claws and teeth out! Actually quite useful to have a cat with a pretty reliable warning system. He warns early, so there’s usually no risk of getting mauled by this one!
Since Pusur is now outside most of the night (except if it’s cold or rainy, he’s a bit spoiled…), he gets most of his excercise done with mice. He isn’t half as much fun anymore. If I keep him inside at night when he wants to go out, he’ll kick the stuffing out of something, so if I really want to play, there’s a way…! Most of the day he’ll just spend sleeping, either in his little cabin, or outside in the flower beds - halfway behind the plants so he’ll have some sun and some shade.
Since last time there’s one more cat in the neighborhood (Emil). This one is about the same color as Pusur, and pretty old and sedate. He’s a very different type from the other neighbor cat (Boots) - who’s got the ambition of becoming top cat around here. It took Pusur a long time to realize that Boots did not want to be friends. But Emil is physically the biggest cat here, and has been around the block a few times. He’s managed to stare down Boots. I saw Boots leave a confrontation, and I’ve never seen anything that pitiful. Slow, careful retreat with his head down. It looked like slow motion! Pusur tried his regular approach, and went straight to Emil and snuggled up against him. So they’re mostly friends. Apparently, Emil has swatted at Pusur at least once, with claws detracted, but they’ve also been seen snuggling.
October 2003. After Pusur got dewormed, he put on weight quickly. He looks very different now than he used to. I’m not sure if he’s chubby or just pleasantly plush. But I definitely need to watch his weight from now on!
Pusur got injured about September 29, probably in a cat fight. I hoped the wound would heal by itself initially, but after a while I realized I had to bring him to the vet. The vet gave him a shot, cut away the fur from the wound, and opened it. Then Pusur had to wear a collar and stay inside for quite a while.
I had bought him a tunnel a few months before, but he’d had absolutely no interest it. I really regretted that purchase! Pusur had been way too busy with mice and rats to bother with indoor toys. But now that he had to be an indoor cat for a while, he really took a shine to that tunnel.
Pusur eventually recovered, and was let out to play outside. But he still plays with the tunnel, especially if I don’t let him out at night when he still has energy left to spend.
November 2003. Pusur is even heavier, and his fur is up to winter quality again. His tail was rather sparse during the summer, considering it’s the most beautiful tail I’ve ever seen on a cat. I hoped it would get luxurious again, and it has!
