I am the new guardian of a formerly #abandoned #shorthaired #orange #tabby #cat named Sunny, the very first cat I've ever owned in my life, so in typical fashion am posting a ton of pictures of him online these days. Like every cat in existence, Sunny LOVES TO WALK ALL OVER MY KEYBOARD, where like a savant he always manages to open eight apps, change all their settings, then hit some magical Hogwarts combination of keys that freezes and crashes the entire computer. Even when I have my cheap little Chromebook travel laptop out, he'll just plunk his ass right down on top of it as it sits across the bottom part of my legs. Of course, when cat behaviorist #JacksonGalaxy explains what's going on, it all makes sense -- the cat considers you part of his tribe, so what's of interest to one is of interest to all, and he's trying to share the pleasure he can clearly see you get out of it. But when it happens, it sure does feel like it's the cat getting pissed that you're on your computer instead of paying attention to him, and is sitting on the keyboard as a way of punishing you. (Also, if anyone knows what key combination he's walking over that is crashing my Windows 11 computer, THANK YOU FOR LETTING ME KNOW.)

I am the new guardian of a formerly #abandoned #shorthaired #orange #tabby #cat named Sunny, the very first cat I've ever owned in my life, so in typical fashion am posting a ton of pictures of him online these days. One thing cat behaviorist #JacksonGalaxy talks about a lot is providing your cat with as much "intellectual stimulation" as possible, by which I mean things that get their eyes and brain going during the day when you're at work, and especially interesting things to see out the window (which Galaxy calls "cat TV" -- turns out that far and away what your cat is doing the most when you're not home isn't sleeping but actually looking out the window). In that spirit, I installed a bird feeder outside my window a week and a half ago, but frustratingly wasn't having any birds come by, because I'm on the top floor of a three-story building and far away from any trees. Fortunately, though, the neighborhood sparrows have finally figured out the feeder is there, and are coming by every few minutes now all day long. Sunny thankfully finds this exactly as riveting as I had hoped he would, and always stops what he's doing and runs straight over to the window whenever he notices them. Interestingly, he doesn't get up on the top of his cat tree, where he could be nose-to-nose with the birds, but always watches them from the windowsill, three feet below the feeder. You do you, Sunny!

I am the new guardian of a formerly #abandoned #shorthaired #orange #tabby #cat named Sunny, the very first cat I've ever owned in my life, so in typical fashion am posting a ton of pictures of him online these days. Yesterday I was talking about how I've become a religious devotee of cat behaviorist #JacksonGalaxy (of "My Cat From Hell" fame), and that based on his advice, in order to better tap into Sunny's wild cat DNA instincts, we go out every sunrise and sunset for a patrol around his territory (the third floor here in my co-op in Chicago's Hyde Park, which unfortunately he's not allowed to roam unsupervised), then followed by 15 or 20 minutes of "prey play," using a lure on a string attached to a wand. Galaxy says it's the only cat toy you ever need to own, because it's the only one that lets you realistically mimic the jittery, random movements of the prey the cat thinks it's hunting, catching, and killing (the HCK of Galaxy's HCKEGS), and he also says that this is one of the subjects where you see individual personalities in cats, in that most have only one very specific type of prey they go nuts for. The one I bought at Amazon came with bird feather lures (which he completely ignored) and ones looked like lizards (which he halfheartedly played with), but it wasn't until I bought a couple that look exactly like field mice (one gray, one white) that he would suddenly jump straight up in the air during prey-play like a kitten, and keep going nuts until he was completely worn out. After the prowl and the hunting, I then immediately give him his food to eat (Galaxy's E), which he follows with grooming and then conking out asleep, making up the HCKEGS cycle Galaxy says will keep your cat happy and confident if you can mimic in your home as much as possible.

I am the new guardian of a formerly #abandoned #shorthaired #orange #tabby #cat named Sunny, the very first cat I've ever owned in my life, so in typical fashion am posting a ton of pictures of him online these days. I'm a religious devotee of cat behaviorist #JacksonGalaxy (of "My Cat From Hell" fame), and two related things he's always talking about is 1) how important it is to a cat's instinctual wild brain to very strongly mark off territory that unequivocally belongs to his tribe (basically them and you), and to have the ability to constantly patrol it; and 2) that the natural cycle for a cat in the wild is the six-step "hunt, catch, kill, eat, groom, sleep," done mostly at sunrise and sunset because of being crepuscular hunters. The problem is that some of my floormates at the 20-person co-op where I live in Hyde Park, Chicago have demanded that the cat never be out of my room by itself unsupervised; so the solution is supervised trips outside my room three times a day, two of them at sunrise and sunset, with all the artificial lights on the third floor off, where Sunny gets to prowl his territory, explore the wide and long boundaries, hunt for mice (i.e. my wand toy), and get in some decent exercise. Here's a little tender secret not to tell my friends -- it's easily become my favorite moment of my day, a half hour when we powerfully bond over a shared hunt in our comingled tribe's territory.

I am the new guardian of a formerly #abandoned #shorthaired #tabby #cat named Sunny, the very first cat I've ever owned in my life, so in typical fashion am posting a ton of pictures of him online these days. I've only had him for three weeks now, so I've been scrambling every day to get my room first cat-proof, then cat-friendly, then "catified" (to quote #JacksonGalaxy); this has all happened right in the middle of me doing a big renovation of my room too, to celebrate my fifth anniversary of living in my 20-person co-op in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago, so I'm incorporating #catification efforts into the new design. I'm also trying to build in as much stimulus as I can for this room-bound cat (I have floormates who dislike cats and have asked me not to let him roam the third floor unsupervised), and currently have some catgrass growing that I'll install soon, and have hung a bird feeder outside my window, right in line with his new cat tree, to name some early efforts. The recent storms we've been having here have been a big boon to all that; Sunny is fascinated with watching the raindrops splatter against the window, the nearby trees blow in the wind, and my bird feeder swing to and fro (or "cat TV," as Galaxy calls it). In these early days of cat guardianship, I enjoy these moments the most, when Sunny and I are hanging out like two peers and buddies, and I get to see the world through his eyes for a bit.