I've been using a squirt bottle to train Socrates. We've been going round and round about his biting. He just wants to play but I am trying to teach him that biting is a bad thing. When he starts biting I'll tell him "NO!" and sometimes that will work. If he continues after the second "NO!", I say "I'm gonna get the squirt bottle." That works now as he's experienced the squirt bottle enough times to know exactly what that phrase means. I don't even need to squirt him any more, just threate...

Up until tonight Socrates has express no interest at all in going outside. In fact the few times I have carried him outside he has been scared near to death and clung to me for protection. Tonight I rode to the C-store to get a couple of beers. When I got back he was sitting directly in front of the door when I opened it. He stuck his head out and sniffed around a bit and then I shooed him back so I could get inside and close the door. For a few minutes after that he meowed and clawed at t...

As I mentioned in another article Socrates likes to follow me into the bathroom. He likes to jump up on the sink but because it's so high for his little self he has to get a really good running start at it. A few minutes ago I was in there and he came running full speed, launched himself too soon, let out a loud "mreoooooorw", and slammed squarely into the vanity door and rolled back out the bathroom door. I couldn't help it, I was laughing my ass off, it was so hilarious. He wasn't hur...

Today I purchased a new personal trimmer which is a fancy name for one of those gadgets one uses to trim the hair out of the nose and ears. The less hair I have on my head, the more I have in my ears. Who says God has no sense of humor? I installed a battery and tried out my new gadget. Socrates was quite fascinated with the new toy until I switched it on. The buzzing noise freaked him out and he couldn't put some distance bewteen the buzzing thing and himself quickly enough. He stayed a f...

While we were coming into the house after our long tour a fly managed to follow us in. Socrates is fascinated. While the fly was walking on the celing Socrates was trying to figure out some way to get at it. He tried jumping from the floor and realized there was no way he could get that high. He tried from my footstool and nearly made it casuing the fly to start buzzing around. That's when the real fun started. Socrates chased that fly from one end of the house to the other, using anything...

Socrates has started some new sort of game. He'll play with his favorite toy, an orange stuffed dinosaur, and then after beating the hell out of it he'll lay it next to his food dish with it's head over the rim as if he's feeding it. I have to wonder if he's pretending to feed his playmate. Do cats have the capacity to play make believe? Does he really think his stuffed friend may be hungry? Or has he simply found this to be a handy place to leave his toy? I think it would be very inter...

When I returned to the truck after dinner I caught a thief stealing my crackers. I keep a box of crackers on a shelf where they're both handy and out of the way. There was Socrates up on the shelf happily munching on a pack of saltines he had ripped open. Caught red pawed. I removed him from the shelf, scolded him while trying not to laugh, and cleaned up the cracker crumbs he had scattered both on the shelf and my bed. I guess I'm going to have to lock up the crackers now.

Geez, who knew a cat could be so damned hard to hold on to. I'm putting the drops in Socrates' ears as the vet instructed in order to get rid of the ear mites. Of course he doesn't understand why I'm putting something wet in his ears and doesn't appreciate it much at all. It's a real struggle to hold on to him and get the drops in his ears and then rub it around so that it makes contact where it has to do so. He fights me every step of the way. I don't want to hold his head so tightly that...

Well we made it back home from Socrates' first trip to the vet. Being as I am the only person he is used to interacting with he was frightened by the people there. He especially didn't like the fact that they kept putting their hands on him, and was totally put out when the girl inserted the swab to get a sample for the worm test. I think he was very insulted by that. The physical and injection went pretty well. He voiced a smal objection to the injection, but actually took it better than ...

After being left alone all day Socrates is attention starved I think. He's finally settled down from a fit of insanity, running around, attacking, biting, and generally playing. Now he's switched to "love on me" mode. He wants to be right on me, in my face, purring and wanting to be petted. While this isn't abnormal for him, his persistence is. I'll pet him a bit and then lay him down on the couch beside me and he'll immediately jump right back up on me. I put him down and he jumps right b...

Ok, today Socrates has thought up a new game. No matter where I go or what I'm doing he comes and stands on top of my feet and then looks up at me like "What are you gonna do about it?" At first I thought he was wanting me to pick him up or play with him or something, but that's not it. If I pick him up he wants back down and when I put him down he stands on my feet again. I'm not sure exactly how this is fun for him, but whatever, as long as he's amused I guess.

This past week I have tried very hard to not think about Socrates, but it's been impossible. Come on, he was just a cat. But to me he was more than that. He was my friend. He was my family. There were times when he drove me nuts. There were times when he pissed me off. But there were also times when he was loving. He was family. And he was too damn young. I miss the little guy more than you can know. And I shed tears.

My heart is broken. Today Socrates dumped my coffee cup over in the floor. I set aside my laptop and started cleaning up the mess when he jumped on the laptop and broke off one of the keys from the keyboard. I was angry and yelled at him for it. I guess he was upset or scared from my yelling at him because when I opened the door to get out of the truck he jumped out. I tried to catch him but wasn't able to do so. The poor little guy ran under the wheels of another truck before I could stop...

Up until now I haven't purchased any treats for Socrates as I wanted him to stick to a healthy diet during his big growth stage. Now that he's 6 months old and is pretty close to his adult size (man has he grown!) I bought a package of treats while picking up some kitten food today. They're something called 'Pounce Moist Seafood Medley"" cat treats. I think we have a winner folks. He really seems to like them. He's quite polite about eating them though. If I hold it out to him with my fing...

My little gray buddy is back home from the vet's office. He doesn't seem much worse for wear. It's obvious that he's a little sore and still feeling a bit off from being put under, but otherwise doesn't seem too upset by the whole ordeal. After getting a bit of reassuring petting he wandered around to make sure home was still as he expected it to be, he enjoyed some food and water before taking up his favorite perch in the front window. He seems to be fine if moving a bit gingerly. ...