Thomas Plays Bedmouse

These days, Thomas is spry. As Thomas has no claws, he compensates in his fighting strategies with more biting. That's what he has to do to communicate. Typically, in the morning, as we are just groggy and waking up, and particularly before anyone heads to serious work, Thomas would like to play a round of bedmouse.

What does this do to the sleepyhead? Well, you might get a bite on a stray hand or thumb. He does his initial sweet cuddle, but five minutes or so in, he turns his attention to play. After you say hi, you play. So, CatDad groggily pet his head, and chomp he got it on his thumb. That woke CatDad up. It sure did. CatDad was just a bit grumpy for a bit. He did not play bedmouse.

Other days, CatMom plays bedmouse. After Thomas and her are both up, she pulls all the sheets tight on the bed. She calls Thomas. "Bedmouse!" He jumps on the bed. They fight sort of. The goal of bedmouse is to move your hand around underneath the comforter in such a way that Thomas must use his ears and jump on the target. He usually gets the target. The best part is his enthusiasm. We've played bedmouse with him since he was a kitten. Most of his life, he has not had claws, so his teeth were the only concern for shredding cloth.

Now, Thomas has two other little furry friends who also want to play bedmouse. CatMom does not encourage it, at least with her good bedspread. She puts on old blankets to play with the clawed kittens. Mostly, she encourages this game with Thomas. He's the most fun to play it with.

She loves how his ears point to the target. Then, he pounces. He lands on her fingers under the sheets. Sometimes, she uses two hands on two sides of Thomas. He puts up with it, but it is distracting. He prefers one hand at a time. Each time he strikes her, CatMom cries, "You got me. Good boy."

After CatMom has clearly received 8-10 battle wounds (just joking), she asks Tomcat if its time to go downstairs and have coffee. She sets him up again, so he looks royal on his bed. She smooths the sheets around him. She tells him, "I am going downstairs. Do you want to come?" And off she goes. The day has begun for Thomas and CatMom.

CatMom Game - Catch Me if You Can

I play this game with the cats on our stairs. My 2 young cats understand I am not as fast as they are. They have that concept down pat. When I do catch them, it is either because they have tired or want me to catch them. I don't always play by the rules. If I am tired of chasing them, I will shut a key door. Usually though, I do play by our established rules.

So, I stand two-thirds up our stairs. I call them. I ask them to run up the stairs. With just one this works, or with two. I interact more with one cat when it is just one. It is really fun. I call. I tell them, "Mom is going to catch you. Run by and see if I can catch you."

They always run. They race by me. They may push it a little bit up to either two stairs below or above me and then they turn on after burners. They take off. I try to catch them. I have caught them, but infrequently. I have to focus. They always look back at me with pride. "Huh, you could not catch me!"

This started when Martius was a kitten. He was stuck with three older cats. I really wanted to bring home 2 matching kittens that day. His brother or sister had been taken. So, he was alone. Especially when he was alone, he tore up and down the halls and up and down the stairs.

Seeing the value of stairs to cats, I decided then that as long as I have cats in my home, I need some carpeted areas for them. It is so much more expansive than just a cat tree. Carpet gives them traction to launch into high speed, like a rocket launcher. That is, if the cats have claws.

CatMom gets limited exercise this way. She always gets some. She loves her cats, so she gets some walking and just going to pick them up. The outdoor cat supervision is much more intense.

Afternote: Have you ever picked up your cat and had them velcroed to the carpet? Then, you use your nail effectively unhooking each little claw till they are all loose and you can then give them a hug. It has happened here.

This game is also why I can run Lucius up and down the hill by our house. It is the same game with the rules expanded greatly. We have a huge area in comparison. He runs 60 feet in a go. He understands all the commands. It just sort of makes sense.

When he has done this 20-30 times, he has really gotten exercise. When he gets in, Lightning Paws Lucius can be seen not streaking across the 3D space we call home. You can see him. He would not be a blur in a photo.