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!!