Tag: cats

FFS Friday 6/20/25- Fed, fussy feline

This is a change from my normal FFS Friday content and is brought to you because I wanted to.

Also my husband suggested it. After suggesting the four horsemen of the apocalypse, War, Death, Famine, Pollution and Pestilence, all of which were well represented this past week in the past week, we had to stop talking because the cat was SCREAMING at me to get my attention. He laughed and said I needed to write about her.

This is a FFS Friday on the lighter side. I believe we all need something on the lighter side today in the midst of all the chaos.

You can’t tell me that cats do not have a rudimentary grasp of time.

Ask me how I know? Dot knows roughly when I am due back from work. Dot knows roughly when the spare human is due back from work and also when he goes to work.

Before the other cat died last summer, Dot would wake me to make sure the other cat got fed at 0800. Even if I had just gotten to bed at 0700. Dot is free fed, which means there is always dry cat food in her dish.

Conversations I have with my cat every day include.

Yes, you’ve been fed.

Yes, I will touch your food.

No, I will not top off your dish. You get food added at 0800 and 2000.

No, you cannot have your wet cat food. You don’t get that at 1000 and 1600, you know that.

Cats also have a grasp on simple mathematics.

Dot, despite not having any sweet receptors on her tongue, long ago developed a taste for mini marshmallows. She knows I keep a bag in my desk for her. She knows that she gets TWO at 2000. I fear for my safety if I only have 1 to give her. Not really, but she will plant herself in front of the monitor and STARE until I give her the second one. Even if that means I have to go downstairs to the kitchen and pull out another bag. And if we are ever out of them? She pouts.

Did you know that it is possible to be too touched out by a cat? Again, ask me how I know.

Dot has to be within arms reach of me at all times. We’ve compromised to where she will sleep in her window perch if I am reading on the couch. If I get up to come upstairs to the computer she follows me. If she wants my attention she yells at me. If I am on a zoom meeting she wants in. In fact, I warn people that they will see a white cat, her name is Dot and she has zero Zoom or Teams manners.

If I am called in she is waiting for me, her little head visible in the sidelight, when I pull in.

She absolutely HATES thunder and will hide under the bed. Fireworks are somehow okay though.

Her latest cute-ism is demanding to be lifted to the lip of the bath where one of her water cups is while I am brushing my teeth. You know, so she can keep an eye on me while I am brushing.

She has perfected sitting between me and the keyboard but I can still reach the keyboard and type.

She’s perfect the way she is.

This is a PSA that most of the US will be under a heat dome Saturday-Wednesday. Maybe put out some water for outside animals to drink. Maybe provide shelter/shade if you can.

It’s gonna be hot, damned hot.

Yes, that is an Airplane! reference.

Post-it Sunday 11/24/24- Bbbbiiiiiggggg stretch/cough

The gown card reads, “Sometimes anesthesia reminds me of doting pet parents every time a cat stretches its entire length out, but instead of saying big stretch, the commentary is big cough.”

If you have a cat, or some dogs, you’ve given this commentary.

The cat stretches out their back legs or their front legs in an elongating stretch that makes you comment, every time, “big stretch”. The human extends the i sound to mimic the satisfying stretch the cat has just done. This comment is definitely a reflex on the human’s part.

When a patient is breathing on their own after anesthesia and is extubated by the anesthesia provider there is often a reflective cough after the tube is removed. Without fail, anesthesia will comment “big cough”. Extending the same i sound to encourage the patient to cough again.

I have a cat. I know how this goes.

The cat stretches for a variety of reasons. To say hi, to loosen up their muscles after a nap, and even to invite their owners to play. These are all positive affirmations by the cat that the human is a good human. A good stretch is also an indication that the cat is content and feels safe in the human’s company.

A good cough after extubation and the accompanying praise can also be a good indication that the patient is safe with the OR staff.

After all, a good couch stirs up the juices (for lack of a better, less icky word) that have been stagnating in the lungs during the duration of anesthesia and surgery. This improves lung exchange and can have a positive effect on the pulse oximeter reading.

The intonation and the elongated i in big is the same.

Both instances are hilarious.