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.)

One of my Mastodon followers (an old friend from my '90s art-scene days) donated a Chewy.com gift certificate to my #rescue #abandoned #shorthaired #orange #tabby #cat, and I've been trying out various different treats to see which one might be (in Jackson Galaxy's words) his "Jackpot!" treat (i.e. the one you can train him with, because he's so nutso for that particular treat). I seem to have found one, the Tiki Cat Duets (crunchy on the outside, creamy on the inside), and I'm using them to encourage him finally up to the very top level of his cat tree. (He sleeps all the time in that cave on level 3 you're seeing, but that level above him has been eluding him up to now.) The treats work, and he's now voluntarily getting up to the biggest height currently in my room, about five feet off the ground. I had been in the middle of renovating my bedroom here at the co-op in honor of my fifth anniversary of living here; I had finished the floor revitalizing before Sunny came into my life, but didn't get to the painting, so am moving immediately into installing closet doors this weekend and then constructing my new loft bed and under-bed freelance office/video chatting "studio." (You'll see what I mean!) Once that happens, I plan on installing cat steps up to the loft attached to the wall; that will let him get really far up in my unusual eleven-foot-tall room (I live in a bizarre 125-year-old building here in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago), and satisfy his "raw cat" instinct to get as high up into the air as possible so to safely survey his domain below.

Got my camera out again for one of Sunny and I's sunset prowls and patrols around his territory on the third floor of my co-op in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago (we seriously live two blocks from Obama's mansion). So far, three of my housemates have invited my new #rescue #cat (a #shorthaired #orange #tabby) to come in and explore anytime we find their doors open during a patrol (I directly supervise, so that he doesn't eat the plants, tip over perfume, etc.), which added to my room, two bathrooms, and an enormous U-shaped hallway running the entire length and width of the house, gives him the same amount of space to explore as a housecat in a small apartment would. We go out three times a day, and he's usually ready to head back in about 20 minutes, about the same as walking a dog. The hope is that this winter, when everyone is more sedentary and spending a lot more time indoors, the people leaving their bedroom doors open will actually want to take him in for a whole afternoon or evening in their room; in fact, that's why two of them are specifically leaving their doors open, in the hopes of getting Sunny used to their scents and convincing him to more easily hang out with them this coming winter. I also think this series is kind of a lovely showcase of the delightfully funky, always slightly broken-down vibe up here on the third floor of the co-op, one of the things I've really come to love about living here.

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. It's fun to post images of him that are funny or adorable, but a lot of my most favorite times around here are when seeing him looking comfortable, stable, even somewhat regal, perhaps. It's easy in these moments to see why cats were venerated in ancient Egypt, and why they're often used as symbolic examples in Zen Buddhism. After two weeks of it being in my room now, Sunny has really taken to this gigantic cat tree I got him, and I often find him here up on the top level during the day when I stop in quickly for something I need, either asleep in his felt cave or lounging around on the carpeted patio outside it. As Jackson Galaxy says, that's a portrait of a cat who's comfortable in his territory, so for being abandoned and deeply sick as little as one month ago, I consider the image you're seeing here to be a pretty remarkable turnaround.

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. Sunny is an unusually affectionate cat, one who makes friends with humans easily and then will happily lay still and purr for hours on end, as long as the human is willing to pet them that long (which I often do in the evenings, on my couch with him while I watch streaming video). I actually grew up with big dogs (boxers), and this is one of the dog-like things I really love about Sunny, how excited he always is to hang out with the humans around him; as I've talked about before, another dog-like aspect of him I find adorable is that he drools and slobbers whenever he's particularly happy. For having this cat essentially land in my lap randomly, the universe has given me one I particularly get along with really well.

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 #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. Three weeks ago when I first rescued him, he was profoundly sick and ended up having to make an emergency trip to the animal hospital; today was our follow-up, where he was given a clean bill of health, was weighed for the first time (exactly ten pounds), and had his age approximated by the vet (he's likely around three years old). It was his very first trip in his new carrier, which has hipster backpack straps; I've been treat-training him to get in it every day for two weeks now, which *somewhat* helped (he was at least quiet and calm during the actual ride), but it was still a struggle to get his whole body in and the door zipped. It's been a real rollercoaster of emotions the last couple of weeks, but there are only two days left that his mentally ill former owner can legally make a claim to get him back, so we're almost free and clear at this point.

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.