Cats and Birds ... the Silly Version

Rumba is a goofy cat. 

You may recall she is a foundling from the local park who had her 15 minutes of fame in The Lima News thanks to the wonderful Tom Harrison. She is now 4 years old and has gone through the wonderful kitten and terrible teenager phases to end up an extremely affectionate goofball.

She chatters (as all feline members of the household do) out the window at the birds and seems desperate to get out there and go after them. In fact the screens on the porch need to be replaced due to SOMEone's dexterity with her claws. She has successfully escaped the confines of the porch to go after the aforementioned birds. But Rumba's relationship with a certain indoor bird is really amusing.

Figuring it out all by herself, Rumba has decided that the game of "fetch" is fun. She picks up her bird and wanders around the house crying until I come to play with her. She drops it, I throw it and she goes through amazing acrobatics to catch it (which she always does). After which she brings it back so I can throw it again. When I throw it I always call out "Bird!" That way I can ask her where the bird is and eventually she will associate the word with the toy ... only took her a day to figure that out.

The little goof has no concept of time however as often the crying to come play happens at 2:00 a.m. Naturally there is no playing with mama at that hour but as soon as I am awake and up or the minute I get home she HAS to play.

What sort of bird are we talking about? Pets Supplies Plus has this line of small, flat (no stuffing) toys that Rumba loves. recently they had a "clearance" sale on pink flamingoes. That is her "bird" a flat, pink flamingo. She also has a mouse she adores from the same line of toys (that one is realistic and kind of creepy).

 

Rumba's Bird

Rumba's Mouse

The other great thing about Pets Supplies Plus is that if you register your pets they send a coupon for a toy on the pet's birthday. Good for a free toy up to $5 in value. Which would be how Miss Rummie acquired all her flat toys. There are two others - a flattened squirrel and a flattened chipmunk. The mouse and bird are her favorites though ... right now Bird is winning the popularity contest over Mouse.

The really interesting thing about her sudden increase in affection is that occurred after Lucky passed away. She wasn't overly fond of Lucky. In fact Rumba chased Lucky and teased her a lot. She even bit poor Lucky on the fanny resulting in an abscess that required surgery to fix. Yet all of a sudden Lucky is gone and Rumba is acting lonely and clingy. Just as suddenly she wants to play ... all the time. I wonder how long Bird is going to last at this rate. 

I wonder how long I am going to last ....