I woke up with a 16.5 lb cat on my head this morning

[kedrys]

Hell of a way to be hungover... :P

*and* I crashed out in my clothes. Paws on my head were one thing - keys in my pocket should have been a dead giveaway much earlier than 8:30 am. :D

[wildhorses]

1. thatsa alotta

pussy:evilgrin:

[kedrys]

2. The cat in question

Plato Gagarin, having one of his patented tense moments...



:P

[mike_c]

3. mine do that every morning, mass pile on...

...three males and one female-- the other female won't have anything to do with that nonsense-- including an 18 pounder. He is a big kitty! It's a morning ritual-- they usually sleep on the bed, off and on all night, but as soon as I make waking up noises it's time to pile on Mike. One loves to tug on my beard. The purring alone would wake the dead.

I think it has something to do with our other morning ritual, the one involving cat food.

[fizzgig]

5. it's amazing they know the waking up noises

two of mine come bug me as soon as i wake up, but they're telling me that it's been too long since i've given them attention.

[kedrys]

6. Oh, it's his quaint way of letting me know that he's hungry

and that the service in general continues to suck. :rofl: I think he's deputized by the other cats - at least I don't have 100 pounds of cat on my head every morning.

Plato usually just parks next to me and purrs. If I don't react, he'll give me little kitty nose kisses, and if I still don't get up, then it's cat hat time. At least that's the way I *think* it works. :D

[Pool Hall Ace]

4. Aww, that belly is just beggin' to be rubbed!

:hi:

[kedrys]

7. Takes two hands

His brother's bigger, but Plato's softer on the underside than he is on top, and quite irresistible. The only drawback is he comes off in sheets - he won't stand for a brushing, and he sheds by the metric ton. :D

:hi:

[YDogg]

15. He's a handsome fellow!

:-)

[cwydro]

8. Hey, you were not the only one!

:toast: :hangover:

[kedrys]

11. I'll drink to that

:toast: :D :hi:

[lindisfarne]

9. Put your cat on a diet! Otherwise, s/he's going to get high BP and possibly

kidney disease (2nd most frequent natural killer of cats, after feline leukemia). Cut back the food by 10% and over time, the cat should lose weight.

[kedrys]

10. Kinda hard to put a cat on a diet when there's 6 other cats in the house

On the plus side, Plato has insurance, and his last routine checkup at the vet's showed that he's in kick-ass shape. His vet thinks he's got a couple of pounds to spare, but he's also large, as in long and tall. He plays a lot and gets plenty of exercise, and he's 5 and a half.

We do try to give the kitties food that's good for them...sometimes they eat it. :)

Thanks for the advice! :hi:

[lindisfarne]

12. True. I missed that there were 6 other cats. I lost a cat less than a year ago

to kidney disease; he was only slightly overweight (2 pounds or so, but that was 20% of his "ideal" weight). Maybe it didn't matter - but maybe it did. But I wish I had known the risks years in advance - I would have kept his weight more in check (and I'll always ask for copies of vet lab tests in the future - his vet failed to tell me of a high level on one test 1.5 years before he was diagnosed with kidney disease, which should at least have been re-done to rule out a false reading. I'll always be double-checking vets from here on out. I found a great kidney specialist, but that was only because I happen to live in one of the few places in the US where you'll find such a resource).

[Pushed To The Left]

13. The neighbor's cat sleeps with me quite a bit lately!

Her owners don't let her inside at night, but she has become sort of a neighborhood cat. The way her mouth is shaped makes it look like she is always smiling!

[kedrys]

14. I love smilin' kitties

We call it The Perfect Face. All my cats make it.

I've had community cats before - they're a lot of fun if you can avoid the fleas! :D