Tabby Teddy Bear

I recently reconnected with a friend on Facebook who said I should write about my kitty, Teddy. It came about because I said since I’m retired I have no boss. She said she thought Teddy was my boss. I have to admit that is true.

We got Teddy when he was trapped at Cal State University, Stanislaus by the Campus Cat Coalition. He was brought to our house in a huge cage. We might have thought we had rescued him, but he thought different. The hissing and growling and snarling that came out of that teeny three-month-old cat were unnerving. After a few days in the cage and our continued talking to him, and more importantly, feeding him he started to calm down. That was three years ago and he is now a very loving and cuddly boy.

He still gets a little crazed though. He sometimes gets into fights with his own tail when he is up on his perch. When his tail gets the better of him he jumps down and tears through the house bouncing off the walls. He makes me a little afraid. My hubby says cats just have bad tail days. In the process of these tail fights he would often knock over his perch scaring the daylights out of me. We finally bolted it to the floor. Teddy doesn’t like that much. He liked knocking it over, getting an adrenalin rush when he would barely get out of the way when it fell.

Teddy doesn’t get much people food, but he does like his coffee. Every morning I have to watch him closely because he will sneak sips of my coffee by dipping his paw into my cup. He does the same with cola and tea. I may have allowed him to become a caffeine addict. Could explain the tail fights. I also get to share yogurt with him. His favorite is vanilla, which he could eat a gallon of if I would let him. One morning when I was eating cereal he very politely asked if he could have a taste. He daintily took a little bite then stomped off telling me I should eat something more nutritious than Frosted Flakes. He also added we should switch to Starbucks.

Teddy is strictly an indoor cat. However, we took him outside one day after we had put down new sod. When he got into the grass he was horrified by the feel of it, lifting his paws way up high trying to avoid touching it. He went streaking back into the house and started to bathe. He licked his paws, then his tummy, then back to his paws, then his face. He didn’t know what to wash first that yucky grass was so stinky. Of course, that was all done after he rolled in the mud.

Teddy sleeps with me, starting out curled up under my chin. He started doing that when he was little and sees no reason why it would be uncomfortable for me now that he is grown. After I start snoring he moves down to sleep on my feet. When he hears the coffee pot start up in the morning he starts tromping all over me to get me up. “I want my coffee, mommie!”

When I recently had surgery on my foot and had to stay in bed for a few days, Teddy decided it was his job to make sure I did. He wedged himself full length along my bad leg with one paw on my bandaged foot. He would meow very sternly if I moved around too much. He barely left my room while I was recuperating. He had to make sure my hubby was taking good care of me.

When he decides I have been on the computer long enough, he jumps up on my desk and sprawls out over all my papers and books, ever so slowly nudging things off onto the floor. Stop it, Teddy, now look what you’ve done. You are going to break that lamp! No, don’t tear up my calendar. Don’t eat tape, your insides will stick together.

OK, I guess I’d better get of this com…

OK, I had to reboot after Teddy hit cont+alt+delete.