Saturday, January 7, 2012

Welcome, Bobby!

It's come to my attention that I neglected to tell my blog friends about our kitty, Bobby, and his Christmas wish...
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Bobby
Bobby WAS an outside feral cat.  He did great work out there, taking care of the rodent population, and even taking care of any wild birds that ventured too close to him, too.  He enjoyed working with the chickens and always kept me company at chore-time, although he HATED when he was locked in the chicken pen by mistake.  He dealt with the guineas - he really didn't like them, but they allowed him to live outside, so he respected them and kept his distance when they came close.
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Bobby outside
But Bobby didn't understand why he had to stay outside in the cold when two other cats lived the good life inside.
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Jack and Shadow

And so, Bobby was granted his Christmas wish...
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Bobby
Bobby moved inside the house, and now lives the high life.  He's still a teenager, he's full of spunk and plays 24/7.  (In the picture above he removed the tail from the toy mouse.)  He gets into everything, but he listens and wants to please.  He watches the other two cats and imitates their actions.  Bob is now a happy boy.  My only problem is that he looks VERY similar to Shadow, and when he flies by at 10 MPH, or when I hear a crash and enter a room just in time to see a black tail disappearing around the corner, I never know if it's Bob or Shad.  But most of the time it's Bobby who's causing the commotion these days.  

He lived a few weeks locked in a bathroom, then moved into the kitchen, then after he kept escaping from the kitchen, we decided to let him have the run of the house.  None of our cats get up on tables or counters or anything.  They eat in the kitchen like respectable beings - their food bowls are in the corner all in a row.  They come when called to eat.  So far Bob hasn't learned to shake hands for treats, but he will.  Shad and Jack both happily sit and shake hands and earn treats.  Shad is funny because she's not good at sitting and shaking, she needs to lay down to give us her hand to shake.  It's something about her balance, I think, and she's plump .  Bob's just a little too hyper to sit down and shake hands right now.  We worry that we didn't keep him locked up long enough when we first brought him in and he's too hyper now because of lack of restraint in the beginning, but I think he's hyper because he's young and he'll mellow out.  He's very curious, and he learns by watching.  He can meow, unlike Jack, but he's not loud.  I've found that he needs toys.  He'll play with the table legs or Jack's tail or whatever else is available if he doesn't have toys.  Maybe I'll work on teaching Bob to fetch since he's so full of energy...
Happy New Year!!

11 comments:

Carolyn said...

So glad that Bobby got his wish! I've always wanted an outdoor barn cat (to take care of the mice problem in the barn), but the problem would be ME....always wanting the barn cat to come INSIDE during the cold weather (and it doesn't even get THAT cold here in the winter). I'm such a sucker for cats! Me thinks, you may be too?! :)

Farm Girl said...

I am so glad he finally was brave enough to venture in the house. It sounds like our little Hobo. She did the same thing.
He is really pretty.

Knatolee said...

Yaaaay for Bobby! Best Christmas present EVER! :)

Razzberry Corner said...

Carolyn Renee - Yes, I'm a sucker for all animals! :)

Farm Girl - Bob was really scared at first! I'm glad you brought in Hobo!

Nat - yes, it was! And you have Emily!!! :)

~Lynn

CaliforniaGrammy said...

I was afraid your Bobby story was going to end this way. You see, we adopted what we thought was a feral cat however she is actually quite tame. Our problem is that my husband grew up with cats and I did not. I have been in too many "cat lover's homes" where the furniture is absolutely destroyed by cat claws. So I agreed that we needed a barn cat and Ken was fine with that idea. We named her GiGi ("Gopher Guard") and she does a fine job at that while earning her keep. I know she'd love to come inside because she tries to sneak in whenever possible. So now that it's getting cold at night we not only have purchased a comfy bed for her but also a rather lavish cat-house with a heating pad built in and she gets to choose which "outdoor bedroom" she sleeps in and she seems quite happy! Occasionally I feel guilty because she sits at the sliding door looking cute, but I think we've done enough for her creature comforts.

LindaG said...

We have an older cat that we have kind of taken in. He has a lot of white on his muzzle.
However, he does not like to be held, and has not really been accepted by our 2 house cats (who don't always get along together even though they have lived together for a little over 2 years now).

Either he or one of our other cats has started peeing on the floor. I am not happy, but no one has been caught in the act yet and Buddy, as hubby named him, is usually pretty good about letting us know when he wants out - presumably to go to the bathroom.

Hope Bobby stops getting into trouble soon. :-)

Chai Chai said...

Cats that play with toys are so much fun to have around, it allows them to show off their personality in the most humorous ways.

Did he take to the litter box immediately?

Ronna said...

So happy Bobby is inside. Yippee!

Mary Ann said...

He's a beauty, and I'm glad he's a housecat now!

Benita said...

Wow, he's a beautiful cat! And he should mellow down a bit as he gets older. My two boys play hard and chanse each other all over the place, but I can already see a lot of maturity developing in them.

Robin said...

He is so pretty. I love those little white hairs on his chest.