Conference misery::feline_v1

    A few of my cats are always knocking things off the night stands by our
    bed.  This is particularly annoying to Ken, who keeps his asthma
    inhaler there and often has to go searching under the bed for it in the
    middle of the night.
    
    They also seem to like to knock our bills off the kitchen table.  I
    think that cats are just fascinated watching things drop.  I have
    watched Surrey clear the table very methodically, knocking one thing
    off at a time, then peering over the edge of the table to watch it
    fall.  Then she will do another thing, and watch it fall, and so on
    until the table is clear and the fun is over. 
    
    Jo

    Kelsey does this too.  He loves to play with my water glass on the
    nightstand, often pawing it until it dumps over.  He thinks this is the
    greatest trick; cat dumps water, mom wakes up and pays attention.  If
    the glass (actually it's tupperware!) is empty he still bats it off the
    nightstand.  I once had a cat that would clear the nightstand every
    morning of all the small stuff.  Once I didn't wake up in time to scold
    him and he ended up almost knocking off the ceramic lamp!  It was
    thiclose to the edge before I finally opened my eyes and realized what
    he was doing!
    
    I agree w/Jo.  Cats seem to be fascinated by watching things drop.
    

    
    
      I have to agree, I think they find things dropping fascinating
    too.  I often come home to find the bills and/or pens & pencils
    on the floor, only to put them back on the table and a little while
     later find them back on the floor.  Or sometimes i'll stand there
    and watch one of them play and play with a pencil until they have
    succeeded in pushing it off the table.  One of my babies used to "love" 
    cut flowers and he would rub up against them on the kitchen table til 
    they fell over..
    Another one of mine happens to be very fascinated by watching the
    water go round & round in the toilet, she's totally mesmerized by
    it.
    
    Although, I will admit sometimes when larger items are knocked off
    in the middle of the night - it leaves me "hoping" that it's the
    kids playing..
                                            
    Diana, Tykey, Domino

    Otis is two now and knocked things off tables, counters, bureau's etc.
    all the time, but now that he is older he doesn't do that as much.  He
    found other _annoying_ things to do - such as dig at the dirt in ALL
    my plants and go in the panty and knock off a few cans on to the floor.
    
    My daughter and I were playing cards the other night and he jumped up
    and started swishing them off the table  - he LOVED watching them sail
    to the floor.  Then my daughter got the bright idea to slide a card in
    where the leaf was connected....he went NUTS.  She then ran her fingers
    under the table and he started digging (didn't use his claws though) to 
    try to capture it...I think it thought it was a mouse.  It was so funny 
    - however - it did get annoying after awhile.  Now he hears us shuffle 
    the cards and gets right up there to start 'playing'.
    
    The most annoying habit however, was when Tiffany answered the phone.
    She HATED the phone ringing and would jump up and knock the phone off
    the hook.  Some callers really got angry when they kept saying hello
    and no one answered....
    
    Marilyn
    

      I can relate to this... I used to have a cat that could tell
    time...she KNEW that exactly 6:30 was food-time....and she'd let you
    know if you slipped a few minutes... If there was STILL no response
    after she wailed about it for about a minute, her next move was to go
    into the living room and very deliberately CLEAR the coffee table in
    front of the sofa...
    
    JM

    I am so used to picking things up off the floor that I forget
    what an annoying habit this is.
    
    Almost every night Mocha gets up on my night table and clears it
    of my lens lubricant, and my nose spray. He has learned to leave
    the "Big" things like the clock radio and lamp alone. I NEVER leave
    a glass of water on the night table, as this was the first to go,
    and when I got up I had the joy of walking on the wet carpet.
    
    Mocha also cannot stand to have car keys, sunglasses, pen, pencils
    or a twistem on the counter. He is choosie what he pushes off but if
    it rolls, it's the first to go.
    
    Barbara & her 3M's
    

    
    
    	Can I relate to this note too as can my Mom.  She "lost" a very
    	expensive bracelet once and a few months later, her cat came out
    	of the bedroom carrying it in it's mouth.  the cat must have
    	knocked it off the dresser and hide it!  Boy was Mom glad to see
    	the cat and the bracelet!
    
    	My Siamese loves to knock pens, pencils, bottle caps etc off the
    	counter.  We just live with it - I guess that's part of owning
    	a cat - excuse me - being owned by a cat!
    
    	-dee
    
    	

    I've got one out of the three who just loves to knock things down -
    she's been at it since she was 6 weeks old.  Her favorite is the
    perfume bottles on the dresser and she tips them over one by one if we
    sleep a little past feeding time in the am.  This morning it was my
    reading glasses off the night stand, my Amethyst crystal (quite large)
    which fortunately fell on the carpet, the TV remote and a book.  I
    rolled over (just 5 more minutes-ok) but she proceeded to the dresser
    and started in on the bottles.  Sometimes if she really wants to Piss
    me off she'll get into the waste basket and tip it over and start
    playing with the paper.  By this time (who needs a clock) we are wide
    awake but pretend to still be sleeping just so she can jump on my chest
    and screem in my face.
    
    Good morning kids, mom will have your breakfast on the 'table' in just
    a minute - what was it you said you wanted TODAY?????
    
    Giudi + Pippin, Gino & StItCh

	Andy helped me solve the water-on-the-nightstand problem.  Actually,
	I bring a can of diet Coke, and I wedge it into the open top drawer
	of the nightstand.  They haven't yet figured out how to tip it, but
	every now and then, Tas steals my straw :^}

	Sandy

	

    Recently CVS gave away travel cups that stick to the dashboard of the
    car and the cup part slips into a shoe part, that's stuck to the
    dash (hope I'm being clear).  It was part of their contribution
    to earth week.  I have stuck mine to a metal tray which now sits
    on my nightstand (try knocking that off furface).  The tray also 
    makes it difficult to knock other things off the stand.  Guido
    Tiggerini is as mad as hell, said he would report me to the
    brotherhood, but I get some piece and quiet at night. 
    
    The evil Miss Moffet, however, was seen trying to hook a (full) bottle 
    of Glass Plus off the kitchen table, aimed to land on top of the poor
    unsuspecting Peakie eating on the floor below.  (I think she IS part 
    of the brotherhood.)
             
    It's all in a day's work for a cat I guess.
    

    Ah, your note brings back memories!  
    
    Brat used to push things off the bureaus all the time when he was younger. 
    His habit was to do so between midnight and 6 a.m.  If the sound of my 
    possessions falling on the floor and shattering didn't get me up, he'd run 
    from the living room, into the bedroom, and do a four-point landing onto 
    the bed. Since I was sprawled out on the bed, I usually got landed on.  It 
    took me a couple of years (I never said I was quick), but I finally figured
    out that he was doing this stuff to get my attention.  He didn't care
    that it was negative attention (I'd get angry and chase him through the
    house.  When I finally caught him, I shut him up in the bathroom).  I
    solved the problem by taking everything breakable off the bureaus and
    ignoring Brat -- even when he did his four-point landings.  Within
    weeks, he'd stopped his nighttime maneauvers.
    
    Brat is much older now, everything's back on the bureaus, and he
    quietly follows me to bed every night and stays there until 6 a.m. 
    Sometimes you have to stand back and try to think like a cat in order
    to come up with a solution to the problem.  Of course, lack of sleep is
    a great motivator.

    Gee, once again I find that Misty isn't as unique as I thought.  She
    likes to clean up after us and sweep the nightstand of little things,
    such as the TV remote control, pen, keys, etc.  When she starts on the
    ceramic musicbox I quickly call her over to me.  (She only does this
    cleaning routine when we are sleeping (or trying to sleep).  She also
    sits on top of my clock radio and turns it on or off.  It was a
    mistake, getting a radio with controls on top. :-)
    
    Steffi and the 3M's & L

    Well, I've learned to keep the top of the headboard totally clear
    unless I want a book or other object dropped on top of my head in
    the middle of the night.
    
    Mao and Isis both get on Jack's bureau and systematically knock things
    off (and there's ALOT to knock off) when we're a little slow getting
    up in the morning.
      N
    

    I can handle the books, alarm clocks, and other junk flying off
    the nightstand most of the time, but, when my glasses go its really
    a problem.  My vision is 20/400 and when I'm not wearing my contacts
    (usually before bed and when I wake up, they aren't lenses I can
    wear all the time) I get a little miffed when Carrie sends them
    flying.  It really is difficult to find them by braille.  I honestly
    can't see them that well because they have light colored frames
    that blend in to the carpet (of course when they end up under the
    bed blending doesn't really matter).  I just have to keep looking/
    squinting to seem them and feeling around till my hands hit something
    that feels like them.
           
    But, when she really wants to get my attention.  She jumps off the
    windowsill onto the bed (my bed is right under the window) and lands
    smack on my head.
    
    Jan

    HEE HEE HEE!
    
    I love these little mischief makers!!  It seems like Callie WAITS for
    me to make potatoes w/ out meals! I put them up on the counter after I 
    take them out & she LOVES to jump up & roll em' off as soon as I turn
    my back. What a little ham she is!! When I go to pick it up, she begs
    me to let her play with it for just a little while longer!!
    
    Bonnie

    I meant to say, "With OUR meals", not "with out meals!"
    
    Bonnie

Winchester discovered one of his games by accident:  "Catch the quarters."

I was getting ready to do laundry, and I had gathered a stack of quarters on the
kitchen table.  Winchester was curious, so he jumped up onto the chair near the
stack.  One swat of his paw demolished the stack.  Then, he carefully pulled
each quarter just to the edge of the table, stared at it, and then pushed it off
the edge.  He looked so delighted to see gravity at work :-)

Well, eventually he decided that yes, indeed, without exception, the quarter
would drop to the floor.  So, he tried something else.  Now, he slowly pulls the
quarter off the edge and tries to catch it between his front paws.  He got it
once; if a cat can possibly make a face, he did!  He had this look of "Holy
smokes, what do I do with it _NOW_?"  Silly boy -- he ended up letting go of
it and watching it drop to the floor. :-)

To this day, all I have to do is take the change out of my pocket and put it on
the table, and he's ready for his catcher's practice!

                                        - Ken