Understanding the Balloon
Every now and then, I find myself watching videos on YouTube. Usually, my intentions are very clear-cut – I want to watch a specific video, or check for new releases from one of my subscriptions. However, because of the way the site is designed, I sometimes find myself wandering from video to video, occasionally ending up pretty far from my origin. Today, I’d like to share one video I just-so-happened to stumble upon. The video features a cat named Nashville who is trying to understand a balloon, and was uploaded by a user named Myystical1.
The video itself is cute, but aside from that, is fairly ordinary considering everything else that exists on YouTube. That is, until you read the description:
Basically, this is a video of my cat (Nashville, or Nash for short) I filmed some years ago. In the opening sequence, Nashville is on my carpet playing with a yellow balloon. As the suspense heightens, it becomes clear to the viewer that something is going to transpire between the cat and the balloon. POP! The balloon pops, most likely due to puncture via a tooth, although one cannot rule out a claw as the culprit. As the video draws to a close, Nashville tries desperately to understand what has happened to his precious yellow balloon. The video ends on a note of uncertainty and despair, as Nashville comes to realize the consequences of his actions – he has destroyed something beautiful, and there is nothing he can do to bring it back. I am most proud of this video because of the profound character development in both Nashville and the balloon.
The author took what was a fairly simple video, and described the events as if they were part of an epic storyline, leading to a significant lesson in the life of his cat. I had a really good laugh reading that description, and thought some of you might enjoy it as well. I always appreciate seeing something simple explained in a very detailed, professional manner – it’s a special brand of comedy.
The Peculiar Ways Of My Cat 2
Soon after writing the first “Peculiar Ways of My Cat” post, I bought two seven foot cat towers. I figured the offering would be my best chance at preventing the critter from shredding the contents of my home. Though it wasn’t completely successful, it at least proved to be partially effective. At this point in time, the towers have taken quite a beating, and may not survive for much longer. Clawed nearly beyond recognition, they offer a mere glimpse at their earlier days. Too bad, considering I originally thought of placing the cat’s food bowl on the highest level. I figured it would be a good way to keep him in shape, while I would benefit from the entertainment. Having no easy way to secure the food dish up there, I decided against it, ultimately.
Besides the towers, I’ve taken steps to train him beyond his existing ability to follow a particular procedure whenever it is time to eat. As my next challenge, I’m teaching him to come to me at any time, not only when he’s hungry. To do this, I will discreetly pick up some treats, and call his name from a distance. If he approaches me, he gets a treat. Once he starts to understand that I have treats, I have to utilize the stop command – keeping him in place. Then, all I need to do is move across the apartment, and call him over. If he starts moving before I call him over, he doesn’t get a treat, and the exercise starts all over again. So far, it is working well, but much more repetition is needed before I am ready to write another “Turning a Cat into a Dog” article.
The more I observe his behavior, the more I become aware of the intelligence he possesses. For example, he has learned to associate the squeal of my mother’s brakes with her arrival. The squeal itself is fairly subtle, but very often I will see him dart suddenly across the room. This usually means he heard the brakes, and wants to get to the balcony as fast as possible, to confirm that she has, in fact, arrived. Once he does, he will sometimes proceed to run back and forth across the length of the window, in excitement. If that’s not the behavior of a dog, I don’t know what is.
On the transportation side, there have been new developments. Originally, I would simply put him a fabric grocery bag, and hand him off to my mother, who would then bring him to her place by car. Once he arrives at my parents place, he had other cats to play with and/or terrorize, and that always brings good physical exercise.
Eventually, I had the idea of walking to my parents place with the cat in tow. Since they leave only 15 mins away on foot, this was a realistic possibility. To accomplish this, I wrapped the cat up in multiple fabric shopping bags, creating a very complex restraint with the bag handles. Only his head was out in the open, the rest of his body was completely wrapped in the bag, and tangled with the handles. My entanglement approach was designed to decrease the chance of him running away, should he to somehow get free while in transit. My plan worked well – I was able to walk to and from my parents place by simply carrying him with one arm. Despite being an indoor cat, he proved to be quite the professional urbanite, rarely getting nervous from what he was witnessing. The only signs of nervousness were perfectly understandable, for example: a loud bus drove by, relatively close. All I had to do was use both arms in these moments, to calm him down and prevent him from moving. One day, I will look into getting some sort of an animal carrier, as it should make the whole process easier. During these adventures, the cat seems to enjoy being out of his limited indoor environment. Also, the reactions I get from random people are too priceless to pass up.
The Peculiar Ways Of My Cat
Last year, I spontaneously adopted a male kitten from a local pet shop. I’d always walked by this pet shop, but was never actively interested in getting a kitten. Having grown up with cats, they weren’t anything new to me – but this particular kitten was different. His fur was blond… I had never seen a cat that color before – the ones I grew up with had been much darker. I was used to black, gray, brown, and mixes based upon those colors. So ultimately, I bought the kitten – and soon realized he was very different from other cats.
First off, he isn’t afraid of water – at all. In fact, he has a weird attraction to it. Whenever I turn on a faucet, he runs right over, and when he can’t see what I’m doing, or can’t maneuver to get a better view, he just looks up at me and meows. The reaction is almost like what you would expect when you open up a can of cat food, except it’s for water. He does have a bowl of water accessible at all times, and the water is changed once a day; yet, it seems he actually prefers water from the sink. After realizing this, I started partially filling up the sink with water before I leave for work – I know for a fact he much prefers drinking from there. My theory is that he thinks it is fresher than the water he gets from his bowl, and that is usually correct. It also turns out that he doesn’t mind being almost completely submerged in water. I found this out when I had to give him a bath – he just stays still and looks a little confused. After the bath is over, he looks slightly irritated, though… but I can’t blame him.
The next thing I found unusual was his reaction to being transported around. See, on the weekends, my parents usually drop by and bring him over to their place. I realized early on that this was a good idea, seeing as it gives him contact with other cats – and it also helps make up for the fact that he’s an indoor cat. My parents have five cats – three females and two males. To move him around, I had to come up with some unique transportation methods. The default cardboard box idea never worked well – he would just freak out on the drive over. If we let him loose in the car, he’d be very calm, but would explore way too much – too dangerous when we are driving.
The next idea I had was to put him in my jacket,with his head popping out – this worked exceptionally well. He was pinned between my jacket and me, but he could still see what was going on. A new trend began – transporting the cat was as simple as putting him in a jacket, and supporting his weight with one arm.
This approach worked well for a long time; however, he eventually grew larger, and I had to come up with a better way to move him around. I thought about using a bag – but my backpack was pretty expensive, so I didn’t want to use that. Also, if I wore the backpack as it was intended – the cat would be out of my reach. Since he’s an indoor cat, I can’t risk him escaping in-transit. Instead of a backpack, I grabbed a re-usable grocery bag, and tried putting him inside. He didn’t seem to mind. I could walk around, and he’d make like a bag of potatoes – rarely moving – rarely even taking a peek from the opening. After a few field tests, it was proven that the bag idea worked just as well as the jacket. You can even tie the bag shut, and he’d just stay calm.
Another interesting thing about my cat is that he also stays pretty calm when I put him on my shoulder. I’ve actually had a cat before that would stay on my shoulder for many minutes – at times, up to an hour. So, naturally, I began training my cat in the same manner. With that in mind, whenever a delivery person arrives at my door, I always place my cat on my shoulder while I interact with the person. My cat just lays there and watches curiously as I give the guy my credit card and we finish off the payment. As a bonus, it usually amuses the delivery people.