Nighttime Crazies

b - which is how I've decided to call the little black cat here - has developed a nighttime routine in which she, simply put, goes absolutely farkin' nuts. She spends about a half an hour to an hour with her eyes completely dilated, her brow furrowed, and her ears out to the sides, attacking prey and foes real and imaginary.

There's the soft catnip-filled mouse that she holds and kicks furiously (she did this with a pink Hot Cat "sausage" but it has disappeared somewhere - I'm hoping it didn't go down the ash grate in the fireplace). Another soft mouse, this one of suede with a long knotted tail, is for leaping wildly into the air in response to its being tossed and for dragging around by the tail. A furry ball and a bunch of tiny mice are good for batting under the furniture. Other mice with crinkly ears are perfect for batting and chewing.

And that's just the official toys. b has added to her repertoire rug surfing and rug wrestling, attacking an empty tissue box and scooting it about the room, and clawing and climbing into and scratching and biting a basket that used to collect newspapers for recycling. When these things get old, she'll dash madly about the house, ears all askew, paws thumping on the stairs, skidding as she rounds the corners (she has yet to get the hang of the wooden floors).

It's hilarious to watch - I egg her on by tossing mice at her, rolling balls, and stuffing the tissue box full of prey, while hiss-whistling through my teeth - tssss tssss tssss! The craziness has the added benefit of wearing her out so she won't sit outside the bedroom and yell when we're trying to sleep.

And to think that I was worried, when she was a visiting stray, by her apparent inability to play.

Comments

[Jill Smith]

Oh, marvelous - sounds like she's settling in perfectly.

Perhaps when she was a stray, most of her energy went towards staying alive, and she felt she had to reserve any excess for a sudden dash away from a dog or car or towards a tasty mouse...

[Rana]

That's quite probable. I think, too, that she never felt quite safe enough to play.

[New Kid on the Hallway]

I can just picture it! She sounds like she's having SO much fun. (And how nice that she's not doing this while you sleep, like my cats do! :-P)

[Pica]

This sounds great fun, good energy for your house.

[Rana]

One of these days I'm going to post pictures of her. Unfortunately, I've been unable to get any live action shots, as the fact that she's a black cat seems to spaz out the camera's autofocus and light meter - by the time the camera's figured out where she is, she's long gone.

But I do have a few of her looking more sedate, and a couple of ones of her being fierce with her catnip sausage. ;)

[jo(e)]

I love your descriptions. I can just picture her! Our cats are all getting old now and spend most of their time sleeping ...

[Linkmeister]

Our Lady Jane Grey (so called because of her color and usual disposition) would do that too. Racing around the house for no apparent reason was evidently GOOD FUN.