Bedwarmers

People think I'm crazy when I tell them that I have actually trained my cats. Molly and Moses came to live with me 8 years ago. I like the idea of having a dog, but with out all the work and extra care required of dog ownership. So I set out to train the cats as if they were dogs and it has worked. Moses and Molly (almost always) come when I call them. Moses responds specifically to whistling but not just any whistling my whistling and he is especially fond of the tun "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" typically I get a 95% response rate with that tune. Molly will fetch a small cloth ball and return it to me and both of them are more than happy to oblige me when I ask them to come sit with me and keep me warm.

I've also trained them to go to bed at night, typically around 7:30 or 8:00 p.m. I will say "time for bed" or "let's go up" they then follow me upstairs to the office, where they hunker down for the evening. All this training has gone to pot since my hospital stay. I was gone for 10 days and while my mom lovingly cared for them she did not try to put them to bed each night.

My first night home from the hospital was horrible, I felt lousy and they were very aware of my intense pain and quite frankly my lack of interest in them. I didn't try to instill my bed time rules but instead have allowed something I know I will be sorry for. The cats are now sleeping in bed with me. I had always said my bedroom would be a cat free zone, but as I sit here in bed, Molly is warming my left side and Moses is taking care of keeping my feet cozy. I actually find their purring to be soothing and their snoring to be a bit amusing.

It is still up for a debate how long I will allow this to go on, I'm also wondering how easy it is to retrain a cat.