KittyPeter's Big Adventures 1

How perfect can life be for a cat?

MetPet.com Staff Writer and designated Peter Feeder

Likes and Dislikes
Peter loves dogs, is suspicious of humans and hates other cats.  How and why he came to these conclusions is beyond us.  Dogs generally ignore or try to chase him, humans only want to pet him and other cats might become his most interesting acquaintances. 

It's not the size of the dog but how little training it has
The neighborhood terror dog, also known as a labrador puppy, regularly flies out of his house (leash, what leash?) and straight for Peter.  In his exuberance, he forgets that he has brakes but does manage to leap over a sitting Peter at the last minute. 

Finding that this is fun indeed, the puppy whirls around and jumps again.  At about the fifth time, Peter decides that he's had enough and makes a convincing attempt to slash the dog's underside open with his front paw.  The dog, completely unharmed, makes a yelping dash for the other side of the street where he continues barking at Peter.  This little game will be repeated another day.

Even after these incidents, Peter was still seen going nose to muzzle with an enormous Mastiff.  He was a stranger but he moved slowly and didn't try to chase or eat Peter and was accepted as a passing acquaintance. 

We've tried finger bowls
Does your cat have KittyPeter's bad table manners?  Cats have the reputation for being delicate, tidy creatures but their eating habits leave much to be desired.

KittyPeter has several messy eating habits including using his front paw as a spoon.  He scoops soft food out of the bowl and then turns his paw around and eats from it.

We have no idea where he learned this little trick but it's very funny.  The only problem is that he doesn't always get everything off his paw and sometimes walks away from dinner leaving a trail of paw marks. 

He is frequently followed by someone with a paper towel and Windex. 

You walk, I'll sit
Since the dogs go out walking on leash, they can travel far and wide past busy streets and into neighborhoods where they would otherwise get lost.  They don't understand the concept of traffic and show complete disregard for looking up at all when crossing any strip of asphalt.   

KittyPeter, on the other hand, is not thrilled by brisk walks, preferring to spend his precious time guarding his turf and looking for small things to chase.  

Most evenings, we walk down a steep ravine, past a small creek and through a small wooded area.  KP follows the dogs but stops at the edge of the woods where the road starts.  This is the end of his territory and he sits underneath a bush and waits for the dogs to return.  Whether we've been gone for ten minutes or two hours, even in the pouring rain, KP is always waiting (sometimes yeowling unhappily).  

We keep a Walking Jacket on us just in case he decides to venture further out.  In the worst case, he will have to be carried or ride on someone's shoulder since he can't keep up with the walking pace of dogs.  To date, however, he has always stopped and waited for our return.  He greets the dogs, ignores us, and follows us inside.  

This type of behavior may seem unusual for a house cat but KittyPeter is the third such cat we've known to follow walking dogs.

Related information:
KittyPeter's Big Adventures 2