Catwars

(Click for a large version)

I thought I had my desk mostly set up, but I guess not. I forgot to make room for my cats. If I don't make a place for them to sit, they will sit on my drawing tablet or stand on my keyboards and just stare at me while my computers and I start making very urgent noises about there being a problem, get paw prints all over my printers and scanner, in Rodney's case he will sit on the floor by my chair and cry plaintively and/or stick his claws in my leg. Nothing can really get done until they have their own spot right in the middle of everything.

First thing I did was make a place for China. I took a cat bed, placed an electric heating pad on it, and put a micro fiber dish cloth on top of that. Heated bed? Oh, she loooooves that, and the dish towel is perfect for sopping up snot. Hey, she is the Cancer Kitty and she needs a nice warm spot that isn't the closet.

Now, check out Rodney, on the right. Does he look like he is looking at China all jealous and stuff? Good, because that is exactly what he was doing at that moment. (And a lot of other moments not captured on film.) Rodney longs for that bed. Actually, he longs for anything China is using at the moment, the catfood dish, the water dish, the hammock in the other room, a certain corner of the bed, the grass on the balcony that he had ignored until China decided she wanted some, etc.

Being a little short of options at the moment, I set Rodney up with one of China's cat carriers (he loves both of them. Every time she comes back from the vet he will squeeze into the carrier du jour and take a nap.) The thing you have to understand is, China is just barely 7 pounds and Rodney is at least 14. (Yeah, I don't know when that happened, either.) He can BARELY squeeze himself into the carrier. Fortunately for me (and for China, who he has actually tried to sit on when she was in her bed) he can and does squeeze himself into her carrier...but of course he still stares longingly at her bed and sometimes manages to aquire it for himself.

Today I ordered a new little hammock bed that should go right beside the desk at the same height. Hopefully both cats will think this is great spot and they'll use it. Meanwhile, the cat carrier HAS been known to fall off the desk with Rodney in it. Ouch.