COLUMN: It’s really his world, not ours

We have three people living in our household…yet we had five stockings for Christmas.

I expect we are far from alone in this situation.

Our daughter added a stocking for her boyfriend, which is totally understandable.

And then there is an equal-sized stocking for another individual.

Bob.

Our cat.

Yep, our daughter got the cat his own stocking. Heck my wife bid on a cat basket during the recent Music for the Mind online auction. She didn’t win. I had visions of the little cat having more toys and treats than he’d ever know what to do with.

That’s the case already. This is our daughter’s cat, so, in a way, it’s our grand-cat-son…or something like that. And he’s spoiled under our roof. The dude has cat tunnels, a cat tree, cat hammock/platform, his own ball pit, and toys galore.

And being the cat he is, he ignores a lot of it. But he does make good use of certain items. His tree in the basement allows him to peer out into the backyard from ground level. Or sleep with visions of squirrels dancing before him.

In our living room, he’s got an oval hammock/platform that’s at the perfect height for looking out our front window. Or for sleeping while squirrels actually come up to the window and look right at him.

Of course, being a cat, he also has other preferred slumber spots. The top of the couch is a great location. Or when he wants to hide from the world, the chair in the office. My wife has to check her seat before using her computer.

Bob rules our house, obviously. It’s his world and we’re just living in it. And we are living furniture. He loves sleeping on my wife when she’s on the couch. Or on our daughter.

But not me. I’m the treat guy. He comes to me each evening for cat treats. I toss them into the kitchen or into his ball pit to chase down or find. It entertains me and keeps him hunting.

As we opened his stocking this year, there was a new supply of treats for the little ball of fur. And new toys to play with for a bit before ignoring them…until it’s the middle of the night. A couple of the ones we have, such as a mechanical fish and bird, are battery operated. He’ll dig that bird out of the ball pit and chuck it across the living room, where it lands with a loud thunk before it springs to life chirping and flapping. And, of course, this occurs after most everyone has gone to bed.

I’ve heard sounds at night in the house and got up to see what it is…It’s invariably a cat toy sounding off in another room.