Spoiled kitties

When people find out we have cats and no kids, they often ask if our cats are spoiled. This post should leave no doubt on this matter.

Smokey believes that poppies are special cat toys that we bring home just for him this time of year. For as long as he's been around, poppies have disappeared from any unsuspecting lapels left within cat reach. At first we just tried to be more vigilant in hanging our coats in the closet, but he inevitably got his paws on the bright red prize each year. This resulted in more than a few frantic moments chasing him around the house to retrieve the pin from a poppy. So, to relieve our fears of a huge vet bill to surgically remove a straight pin (or worse) and to indulge in Smokey's poppy fetish, we provide him with poppies, pins removed, each fall. He bats them around, throws them in the air, races madly around the house, and hides the poppies from his brother. The most amusing part of these antics (and maybe one of the main reasons we keep giving them to him) is when he carries the poppy around in his mouth folded in half, giving him the appearance of wearing red lipstick on big pouty lips.

I hope this story hasn't offended anyone. I understand, respect, and honour what poppies symbolize. But we certainly can't expect a cat to do the same.

His brother Bear, not to be outdone, has his own peculiar vice. He would risk furry life and limb for.... cheez.whiz. Never mind the fishy cat treats, just hand over a blob of that golden orange processed goodness. He hears the clink-clink-clink of a knife in that glass jar from anywhere in the house and comes galloping. He then stands up on his back feet and walks on tiptoes sideways to wedge himself between my body and the kitchen counter, looking up at me with the closest thing to puppy dog eyes that a cat can muster. Then comes the high-pitched, two-syllable, baby kitten meeeeee-ow... "how can you refuse me when I am so cute"???? And, if I am too slow to oblige, he reaches up with his paw and frantically taps the edge of the counter.

Spoiled? ROTTEN! If we give in like this to cats, what hope will we have with kids?