5: 00 AM...
"Let us know how we can help."
"Sure, okay."
"Will you feed my cat at 5:00 AM?"
I learned from a fellow juror this week that getting up between 4:30-5:00 AM to be fed is what cats do. I like to sleep until 7:00. It's what people do--people who don't have ravenous cats.
Here we are facing off early every morning. I've tried riding it out and making Sebastian wait until I get up. It isn't pretty. The pain is real. At times, he actually cries himself sick. And then he is sick, and I am tired...
I received an unexpected invitation from a "guest" at Piedmont Hospital. When we have episodes like this and our friends sincerely want to help, it's tempting to ask, "Do you want to feed my cat at 5:00 AM?" I know deep down, their offer to help is for something else. Anything else. Maybe a pan of vegetable lasagne.
Living with Seb is like living with a two-year-old who is destined never to grow up. I'm in it for the long haul. And since I never had my own furless, curly-headed two-year-old progeny, I'm good with that.
Seb has his good qualities: he likes to curl up and occasionally cuddle without swatting or biting; he has personality plus and is exceptionally entertaining. I'm convinced he understands language and now we resort to spelling out words like E-A-T and F-O-O-D. He also recognizes which shelf in the refrigerator we keep his food. We relegate catfood storage to the frig in the garage. Doesn't everyone have a spare frig for that purpose?
Seb also learned to open the cabinet door under the kitchen sink and retrieve empty cat food cans. This takes time and major, repetitive banging on the cabinet door. We mitigate by hanging a thick towel on the door to muffle the chaos.
Isn't he a clever boy!
Recently, my husband taught Seb to sit in exchange for a treat. Seb also knows how to play fetch which early on won over my husband who was not, in the beginning, a cat lover.
I realize I am beginning to sound like a proud parent of a gifted child. (Ugh. I hate it when that happens.) But Seb is without doubt far above the average cat--gifted for sure. I think I need a bumper sticker: "Proud parent of a gifted cat."
"Do you still want to help?"
"That's what I thought."
"Yes, vegetable lasagne will be perfect."
"Oh, can you make that gluten-free, please? Thank you."
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