Freddie and I have a routine every morning and evening where I feed him, prepare his medicine, then sit on the couch with the furry blanket in my lap and wait for him. After he’s satisfied himself with food and drink, he comes to find me and sits on my lap. Then he gets his shot and two treats. We sit and relax until one of us has to get up. Usually, me.
And yes, he’s developed an entire repertoire of sad little squeaks to make me feel guilty for moving him.
Freddie is a master of psychological manipulation.
Anyway.
Lately, the morning sun has been coming in through the window in just the right way to hit my phone and throw a little ball of reflected light onto the floor or wall. And Freddie is very interested in it.
So I had an idea.
A gentle reminder of how we do things: 🐱🐶🐦
- Do not troll the diary. If you hate pootie diaries, leave now. No harm, no foul.
- Please do share pics of your fur kids! If you have health/behavior issues with your pets, feel free to bring it to the community.
- Pooties are cats; Woozles are dogs. Birds... are birds! Peeps are people.
- Whatever happens in the outer blog STAYS in the outer blog. If you’re having “issues” with another Kossack, keep it “out there.” This is a place to relax and play; please treat it accordingly.
- There are some pics we never post: snakes, creepy crawlies, any and all photos that depict or encourage human cruelty toward animals. These are considered “out of bounds” and will not be tolerated. If we alert you to it, please remember that we do have phobic peeps who react strongly to them. If you keep posting banned pics...well then...the Tigress will have to take matters in hand. Or, paw.
I came in through the garage door as I always did, happy to see Freddie standing by the water we keep in the hallway for him. He’s never been one to drink the water next to his food. “There’s the boy!” I cried, struggling to get both myself and the bags I was carrying through the door.
Freddie shook his tail in excitement and happiness.
“You had a good hunt today, human!” he said, trotting ahead of me into the kitchen.
“I did,” I agreed, setting all my bags on the kitchen island. “Groceries for me and for you,” I elaborated. I quickly emptied the bags, putting everything away except for one item that I set on the counter. It was packaged in that hard plastic that’s impossible to open without a bowie knife and blowtorch.
“What did you get for me?” Freddie asked, watching as I picked up my sharp kitchen shears.
“Kibble,” I said, absently. I cut the plastic around the object and carefully pried it out. That plastic could be sharp and I didn’t feel like bleeding.
“Kibble is very good,” Freddie said, seriously, rubbing his whole body across my shins.
“Uh-huh,” I said, freeing the object. “Let’s go into the family room,” I added, walking in that direction, knowing he’d follow.
I sat and made myself comfortable, watching as Freddie wandered around the room. He occasionally had to inspect his territory, smelling things and marking them with his face and his backside.
I pressed the button on the side of the object and a red dot appeared on the ground in front of him.
He gasped and dropped to his belly, instantly in hunting mode.
After some experimentation, I discovered that Freddie likes it best when I shake the laser pointed a little, so the dot moves back and forth very fast. He also lost interest when the dot moved too far away from him. But if I was careful, I could get him to chase it.
All the way up the wall.
I giggled every time I got him to leap to his hind legs and attempt to catch the red dot. It made me happy to see him play.
”Human,” Freddie panted. “Did you see? Did you see the dot?”
I nodded, palming the laser pointer. “You were doing a good job hunting it.”
He jumped up next to me and climbed onto my lap, sitting on me without hesitation. “I am a very good hunter,” he told me.
I petted him. “You sure are.”
He shook me off. “I gotta keep watch,” he said, lying down between my legs, his tail thumping against my belly. He kept his head up and his ears forward, alert for the reappearance of the dot.
“I don’t think it’ll be back for a while,” I said, stroking his tail.
“Stop that,” he snapped at me. I stopped that.
“You should take a nap,” I suggested, picking up the television remote. I had earned some veg time.
”Maybe,” he muttered.
Freddie startled awake. “Didthedotcomeback?” he said, his words running together in his haste.
I started to feel a little guilty. “No, not yet.”
His little body tensed and relaxed again.
“I bet the dot won’t come back until you’re fully awake,” I continued. “You should just take a nap and rest up so you’ll be ready.”
He thought about it. “I think I should rest up so I’ll be ready,” he said.
“That’s a great idea.”
"I have a confession,” I told him later when he had woken up fully.
“You ate all the tuna?” he guessed.
“What? No. I wouldn’t do that.” I held up the laser pointer. “This is the source of the red dot,” I explained.
He frowned at it. “I don’t understand.”
I pressed the button and the dot appeared. He gasped.
“It’s a toy,” I explained. “To give you something to hunt. For fun.”
“Can we play with it right now?” he asked, standing.
I smiled. “You’re not mad?”
“Human, let’s play!”
Happy Caturday, Peeps! I used to have a laser pointer for Dest but I got rid of it because it didn’t seem like she was having fun with it. She was obsessive and angry when the dot appeared. It wasn’t until this week that I realized that Freddie might not take it the same way. And I was right! He loves it, but is able to walk away from it when he’s done playing. Does your pootie like the red dot?
