I am reading so many "elder bloggers" recently who are complaining about the unfairness of being treated as an older citizen, that I thought I would give equal time to the problems of the elder cat.
The elder cat has problems too, but no forum to solicit sympathy.
Sherman is aging asymmetrically. His whiskers on one side are coming in strong and white while the other side is very sparse but the whiskers are still black.
He still looks fit, which is quite a feat for an animal that sleeps about 20 hours a day and eats at least 3 times a day. His sister, Buffy, on the same diet and with less sleep, is quite rotund.
Now in his 15th year, he is beginning to show signs of slowing down. Jumping from the floor to the kitchen counter is done infrequently and with some difficulty.
He is more cautious about charging out the front door these days as we have two neighboring dogs who have taken it upon themselves to be our watchdogs and constant companions.
He seems to have resigned himself to watching local events from the security of our back deck which is only accessible from the house. From this lofty perch he can observe deer and local dogs without fear of being attacked.
He will occasionally request that I accompany him on outside expeditions. He has finally learned that I am willing to serve as a cat bodyguard and that he is safe from inquisitive dogs when I am with him.
He is not the most demonstrative animal I have lived with but he has his moments. If either Gretchen or I become ill, he will make every effort to sit right next to us until we are well again. He will also remove bandages and will attempt to clean wounds.
Once in a while, I will have minor scratches and splinters from working with wood and I put on a bandage and forget about it. In the middle of the night, I will feel Sherman gently pulling at the bandage in an effort to remove it. I thank him profusely for the attention and get him to settle down and go back to sleep.
When I attended FloydFest 2007, I wore a Tyvek wristband for several days and had to contend with Sherman fiddling with the wristband at odd hours of the night. For the last two days, my wristband looked rather tattered because it had cat teethmarks in it.
Cats require little attention for the most part. They are generally companionable and they can be a constant source of amusement. They don’t need to be walked, but they enjoy company at the oddest times and places. Four AM is when they decide that they need quality time with us and we have not been able to discourage them from attempting to wake us up and get with the program.
Right now, they are concerned that I will be blogging all night. Their impatient actions seem to be saying, "Enough already! Let’s all settle down for some quality sleep."
They evidently find it hard to sleep when I am pounding the keyboard and generating any level of excitement.
It’s been a very challenging week. I may have launched another micro business. I will wait until it achieves a degree of stability before blogging about it. More later…
Have a good weekend!
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