-=> Quoting Dianne Robbins to Walter Luffman <=-
 DR> Six-month-old crazies?  Uh oh!  I haven't heard of this one before. 
 DR> Boy will I be in trouble!  
Get ready for your kitten to begin climbing the curtains,
getting into everything that isn't closed *and locked*,
and otherwise becoming a real (but temporary) "problem
child".  It isn't as bad as I make it sound, but it is
a definite change from the sweet, gentle kitten you know
right now.  Just think of it as "a phase" every cat goes
through.
 DR> That happened with me and KD.  Two or three days after I adopted her,
 DR> she was off to the vet's office.  It worked out well, though.  She's a
 DR> happy little critter.
Same with Meko.  She has lots of toys, lots of crunchy
food (no interest in canned or moist foods), plenty of
hiding places, at least a dozen favorite sleeping places
(every chair and sofa, plus a couple of window sills
and my desk), and _two_ humans to pay attention to her.
(My mother, who used to claim she didn't like pets, now
spends nearly as much time with Meko as I do.  I'm not
complaining -- I get to see a lot more of Mother thanks
to this.)  If only I'd let her go outside whenever she
wants, she'd probably think her life is purrfect.
 DR> Clean laundry gets put away?  Well I'll be darned.    Actually, I
 DR> have fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue, so the apartment suffers in its
 DR> cleaning detail.  The cats don't seem to mind.  More stuff that they
 DR> can play with and get into.
I suffer from depression, and one of the symptoms is a
"who cares?" attitude toward neatness and housecleaning.
But where medication and psychotherapy were only
somewhat effective, adding a cat to my personal
treatment program has done wonders for me.  Besides,
anything that isn't put out of reach (in a closed
drawer, for example) _will_ become a cat-toy, so I have
to do "defensive housecleaning". 
 WL> She's a *strange* kitty.
 DR> How can you tell?  
My error -- "strange kitty" is redundant. 
 DR> The vacuum-cleaner monster moves around a lot.  Sometimes it is in the
 DR> hallway, sometimes in the living room, sometimes the bedroom,
 DR> sometimes in their bathroom (the walk-in closet at the end of the
 DR> hall).  The odd thing is that the hall closet door keeps opening and
 DR> closing at various times during the day.  The cats and I live alone and
 DR> no one else is doing it.  Hmmm....maybe there is *something* in there.
The cats know, you can be sure of that.
 WL> NEWS FLASH!  It appears Meko is not interested in catnip --
 WL> but that toy mouse's tail is irresistible.
 DR> Cool!  So she won't have to go to catnip anonymous(e) one day.  
I'm not sure I'd notice much difference if Meko _did_ become
a catnip addict.  She's a very laid-back kitty most of the
time, but can go from catnapping to running crazily about
the house almost instantly.  And the mere sight of a piece
of string (with me attached, of course) is enough to turn
her into a Mighty Feline Huntress.
Walter and Meko    wluffman@usit.net    CompuServe: 74721,3464
... The best cat toys always have a human attached.
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