It's curious, I admit, but allow me to clarify. The cat likes to keep warm. In our household we categorize it as "The Bunny Hugging the Pipe." It's her favorite spot so I feel I needed to document it.My geriatric 21 year old cat, The Bunny, spends a lot of time sleeping, In human years, she's practically 97 years old. Her habits are thus: sleep in very warm parts of the apartment from 7 am till 6:30 pm when Fang gets home from work. Food is supplied. She ambles around and yowls for 30 minutes until she returns to one of her warm spots. She sleeps until I go to bed. When I wash up to go to bed, she is suddenly alert. She follows me to bed and once I climb in, she piles on top of me (reposing on my belly or my ass or her favorite position, curled up under my neck) until I get up at 5 am. She then follows me to the kitchen for more food while I slurp my morning coffee. More yowling ensues followed by some errant sniffing, She's usually hugging the pipe again by 6:30 am. And so begins the cycle of her rather limited life.
In the pre-war apartments that are a hallmark of New York, we have risers within various rooms (where heat is transferred) that gives off copious heat. The warmest riser of all is the one in the bathroom. The Bunny soon discovered it in her 19th year and she enjoys nothing more than curling her supine frame around the hot pipe. Realizing this penchant for warm area repositories, we put down a cozy bathmat near the warm pipe for her to enjoy. We've subjugated design aesthetics for this geriatric feline's comfort, And comfortable she is, indeed.
Every day I expect to wake up and find her gone to that big catbox in the sky. She's old. She's practically Guinness World Record's old (for the record, the oldest cat is age 29). Yet sometimes she dashes with youthful bounce through the apartment after imaginary prey. She ambles up the library steps I set up for her to get on the bed with ease. She'll always look (in her face) like the three month old kitten she was when I adopted her in 1988. I am amazed every day by her.
Our remodeling project keeps getting pushed back, I suspect Fang has had a hand in this, delaying the tearing up of our home until The Bunny meets her maker. I silently approve. The stress of the remodel will undermine her. I don't expect her to last much longer and I would never wish her demise come at the hand of her comfy home being torn apart. It's not worth it,
So for now,, let the The Bunny hug the bathroom pipe. I couldn't imagine a better way to go.
4 comments:
The Bunny sounds like a love. My cat, Shamroc, loves to sleep on top of me too. Her favorite place is my hip (I sleep on my side)and she isn't happy when I change positions, otherwise, she's on my lap as long as I'm covered with a blanket. One more thing, she pushes the buttons on the clock radio to wake us if she thinks we have slept past her feeding time. She can be a real pain in the ass, but we love her.
Your cat is older than me! That's just crazy! She sounds like a best friend too, I'm sure.
My cat is like that with me, sleeps on me or next to my face and watches me sleep through the night, and meows plenty early to wake me up to feed her.
I told Kyle, (him being allergic), that after Izzy goes, she'll be my last cat for his sake. But with his luck... she'll live to be 21. And I'll be happy with that, Izzy is my best friend, and I still put her before him, lol.
We have two cats, twins, Milkshake and Smoothie. Milkshake prefers to sleep under the covers with Dr. Doolittle on his side. Smoothie likes to sleep on top of the covers at my feet. Milkshake isn't happy unless he gets in a good 18 hours. You don't hear much from him unless he feels slighted at the food dish, which he is always first in line for. Smoothie asks to be let out for his daily hunting expedition, asks you to turn the TV down, and asks for fresh water to be run in the bathroom sink (usually about 5am which is annoying, but hey). Milkshake prefers Dr. Doolittle, Smoothie prefers me. They're very odd, but equally loveable.
Awww, sweet Bunny. I miss my Stella. I always figured she would be one to live that long. She was in robust health for most of her 14 years.
Post a Comment