Sunday, May 17, 2009
Animal Friends: Cat turns out to be an escape artist
By Linda Goldston
Mercury News
This story begins when Katherine Filice of Gilroy adopted a feral kitten from Town Cats in Morgan Hill.
She named him Pixel and learned right away that he could still be "a little wild sometimes." So Katherine's husband, Dean, asked that Pixel, who's now 1-year-old, be kept in a spare room at night and when Katherine wasn't at home "so he didn't claw too much of our furniture."
That didn't stop Pixel from falling in love with Katherine and adopting her as his own. (Katherine is creative director at a graphic design agency, which was the inspiration for his name.)
Almost nightly, Pixel climbs into Katherine's lap and "just stares my husband down — as if he is saying, 'She's mine, and there
Video: Pixel opens the door is nothing you can do about it.'''
That includes keeping little Pixel locked up.
Katherine and Dean came home one day, and Pixel was out of his room, the door left open. The couple feared a burglar had broken in.
But nothing else was amiss and after a few days of finding Pixel out of his room when they came home, they had their suspect.
"We realized he must be doing it!" Katherine said.
Pixel had learned how to turn the handle and open the door. He jumps up, pulls down on the lever until the door pulls open a crack. Then Pixel drops down and listens at the door — making sure the coast is clear and the big bad husband is not there — before venturing out.
Not to be outdone, Dean tried stretching
a bungee cord to Pixel's door and the door knob across the hall "so he can't open the door when he isn't allowed out," Katherine said. "It is a total man thing — I am surprised he didn't use duct tape."
Still, friends and family refused to believe that Pixel was actually doing this. That's when Katherine decided to set up a video camera to catch her feline escape artist in the act. The video is so charming — and funny.
"It turns out that he only lets himself out near the time I am supposed to be home," Katherine said. "If just my husband is home, he stays in his room, as if he knows he would get in trouble."
Pixel has learned to stay away from the family's 13-year-old German shepherd, Franklin, a female who is blind, deaf and hates cats. And when Katherine is outside with her horse, Styx, Pixel yells — meows — at them from a window.
Ever active and curious, Pixel also likes to play fetch — and catch when he gets bored with that.
"He jumps on my lap and drops a toy mouse," Katherine said. "I throw it and he runs after it and brings it back to my lap. He will do this for hours.
"One time I didn't throw the mouse far enough, and he jumped up and caught it between his paws, so now sometimes we play catch and sometimes we play fetch. I am worried someday he will find a real mouse and drop it into my lap."
Most endearing to Katherine — and frankly to me — was when Pixel went up to her daughter Aly's room and found one of her stuffed kittens.
"He brought it to me and ever since that has been his 'buddy.' He will put that little stuffed kitten in his bed and sleep with it. I was shocked to see out of the dozens of stuffed toys, he picked a little gray kitten."
Alas, Pixel mostly has the run of the house.
No doubt he'll be moving those bungee cords from his room to the couple's bedroom — at least when Dean is there — in no time.
Mercury News
This story begins when Katherine Filice of Gilroy adopted a feral kitten from Town Cats in Morgan Hill.
She named him Pixel and learned right away that he could still be "a little wild sometimes." So Katherine's husband, Dean, asked that Pixel, who's now 1-year-old, be kept in a spare room at night and when Katherine wasn't at home "so he didn't claw too much of our furniture."
That didn't stop Pixel from falling in love with Katherine and adopting her as his own. (Katherine is creative director at a graphic design agency, which was the inspiration for his name.)
Almost nightly, Pixel climbs into Katherine's lap and "just stares my husband down — as if he is saying, 'She's mine, and there
Video: Pixel opens the door is nothing you can do about it.'''
That includes keeping little Pixel locked up.
Katherine and Dean came home one day, and Pixel was out of his room, the door left open. The couple feared a burglar had broken in.
But nothing else was amiss and after a few days of finding Pixel out of his room when they came home, they had their suspect.
"We realized he must be doing it!" Katherine said.
Pixel had learned how to turn the handle and open the door. He jumps up, pulls down on the lever until the door pulls open a crack. Then Pixel drops down and listens at the door — making sure the coast is clear and the big bad husband is not there — before venturing out.
Not to be outdone, Dean tried stretching
a bungee cord to Pixel's door and the door knob across the hall "so he can't open the door when he isn't allowed out," Katherine said. "It is a total man thing — I am surprised he didn't use duct tape."
Still, friends and family refused to believe that Pixel was actually doing this. That's when Katherine decided to set up a video camera to catch her feline escape artist in the act. The video is so charming — and funny.
"It turns out that he only lets himself out near the time I am supposed to be home," Katherine said. "If just my husband is home, he stays in his room, as if he knows he would get in trouble."
Pixel has learned to stay away from the family's 13-year-old German shepherd, Franklin, a female who is blind, deaf and hates cats. And when Katherine is outside with her horse, Styx, Pixel yells — meows — at them from a window.
Ever active and curious, Pixel also likes to play fetch — and catch when he gets bored with that.
"He jumps on my lap and drops a toy mouse," Katherine said. "I throw it and he runs after it and brings it back to my lap. He will do this for hours.
"One time I didn't throw the mouse far enough, and he jumped up and caught it between his paws, so now sometimes we play catch and sometimes we play fetch. I am worried someday he will find a real mouse and drop it into my lap."
Most endearing to Katherine — and frankly to me — was when Pixel went up to her daughter Aly's room and found one of her stuffed kittens.
"He brought it to me and ever since that has been his 'buddy.' He will put that little stuffed kitten in his bed and sleep with it. I was shocked to see out of the dozens of stuffed toys, he picked a little gray kitten."
Alas, Pixel mostly has the run of the house.
No doubt he'll be moving those bungee cords from his room to the couple's bedroom — at least when Dean is there — in no time.
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Animal Friends: The kitten that won them over
By Linda Goldston
Mercury News
Rho was just a handful of dirty fur when Randy Thompson of Livermore found... ( Randy Thompson )«1»Some people spend days, even weeks, trying to decide on their next pet. Some people just luck into one.
Randy Thompson was sitting at his desk in Milpitas working away in August when a co-worker said she saw a tiny cat outside the window.
Randy ran outside and saw "a little fluff of fur in the bushes." The kitten was terrified and would hiss and growl when Randy tried to get close.
After several trips outside to talk to the cat, Randy and another co-worker were able to corral the kitten, throw a towel over him and quickly place him inside a cardboard box. Randy still had several more hours of work before he could take the kitten home, and the scared animal "was very noisy and hostile. Any noise or movement around him would set him off on a hissing, meowing fit."
When the towel was taken off, "we found a tiny little dirty, white, furred ball of teeth and claws," Randy said. The kitten appeared to be 4 to 5 weeks old and obviously had been on his own for several days.
Randy put water in the box and soaked some dry food he had in the car in water so the kitten could eat it. After the food disappeared, Randy wrapped his hand in the towel and picked up the kitten: "He became a totally different kitten. He was shaking and meowing incredibly loud — he was no longer the tiny scared kitten; he was wanting his mommy!"
The Livermore resident knew he couldn't keep the little critter because his housemate, Larry Pelz, is allergic to cats. But home he went with the kitten in the box.
They made it through the first night, with a make-do litter box and kitty litter borrowed from a neighbor, but first on their to-do list for the next day was take the kitten to the local animal shelter. They were getting ready to go to the shelter when the phone rang. Larry's new Toyota Prius had come in; could he come pick it up?
Well, you know what happened after that. By the time the two housemates got back that night, the kitten had become pretty adorable. Randy had given him a Beanie Baby teddy bear to sleep and play with the night before, and the mini tiger loved taking a running lunge at the bear, tackling it and then embedding his claws and teeth into it.
The next day, on Sunday, both men helped give the kitten a bath. As soon as they started drying off the kitten, "Larry said that he looked like a drowned rodent," Randy said in an e-mailed story. Larry started calling the kitten Rodent and the name stuck, though it was refined to Rho Dent or Rho for short.
About eight months later, all is well. The dirty kitten has grown into a beautiful cat, as you can see from the photo of Rho; Larry is taking allergy shots; the cat's teddy bears are piling up; and both Larry and Randy are taking the two daily alarms set by Rho in stride.
"Rho has two alarm settings — 4:15 a.m. and 6:30 a.m.," Randy said. "No one gets to sleep past those two times, and anyone who tries gets to feel the feline alarm go off: jumping, licking, more jumping, banging the window blinds and general obnoxious cat behavior until everyone is up and showering."
Go, Rho!
And never doubt the potential of a rescued pet. They don't come with papers — they come with love and joy. Still, if Larry's Prius hadn't arrived when it did, would Randy and Larry have missed out? Nah, they were hooked by then.
Doggy drive-in
A new dog group in the Santa Cruz area — called Woofers and Walkers — has some fun things lined up for dog owners there. There's an "adventure walk" every Sunday and planned movies for dog owners and their canine friends. This Sunday, it's "Best in Show" on the patio of the Crepe Place in Santa Cruz. For more information, check out www.woofersandwalkers.com or call 831-427-0350
Mercury News
Rho was just a handful of dirty fur when Randy Thompson of Livermore found... ( Randy Thompson )«1»Some people spend days, even weeks, trying to decide on their next pet. Some people just luck into one.
Randy Thompson was sitting at his desk in Milpitas working away in August when a co-worker said she saw a tiny cat outside the window.
Randy ran outside and saw "a little fluff of fur in the bushes." The kitten was terrified and would hiss and growl when Randy tried to get close.
After several trips outside to talk to the cat, Randy and another co-worker were able to corral the kitten, throw a towel over him and quickly place him inside a cardboard box. Randy still had several more hours of work before he could take the kitten home, and the scared animal "was very noisy and hostile. Any noise or movement around him would set him off on a hissing, meowing fit."
When the towel was taken off, "we found a tiny little dirty, white, furred ball of teeth and claws," Randy said. The kitten appeared to be 4 to 5 weeks old and obviously had been on his own for several days.
Randy put water in the box and soaked some dry food he had in the car in water so the kitten could eat it. After the food disappeared, Randy wrapped his hand in the towel and picked up the kitten: "He became a totally different kitten. He was shaking and meowing incredibly loud — he was no longer the tiny scared kitten; he was wanting his mommy!"
The Livermore resident knew he couldn't keep the little critter because his housemate, Larry Pelz, is allergic to cats. But home he went with the kitten in the box.
They made it through the first night, with a make-do litter box and kitty litter borrowed from a neighbor, but first on their to-do list for the next day was take the kitten to the local animal shelter. They were getting ready to go to the shelter when the phone rang. Larry's new Toyota Prius had come in; could he come pick it up?
Well, you know what happened after that. By the time the two housemates got back that night, the kitten had become pretty adorable. Randy had given him a Beanie Baby teddy bear to sleep and play with the night before, and the mini tiger loved taking a running lunge at the bear, tackling it and then embedding his claws and teeth into it.
The next day, on Sunday, both men helped give the kitten a bath. As soon as they started drying off the kitten, "Larry said that he looked like a drowned rodent," Randy said in an e-mailed story. Larry started calling the kitten Rodent and the name stuck, though it was refined to Rho Dent or Rho for short.
About eight months later, all is well. The dirty kitten has grown into a beautiful cat, as you can see from the photo of Rho; Larry is taking allergy shots; the cat's teddy bears are piling up; and both Larry and Randy are taking the two daily alarms set by Rho in stride.
"Rho has two alarm settings — 4:15 a.m. and 6:30 a.m.," Randy said. "No one gets to sleep past those two times, and anyone who tries gets to feel the feline alarm go off: jumping, licking, more jumping, banging the window blinds and general obnoxious cat behavior until everyone is up and showering."
Go, Rho!
And never doubt the potential of a rescued pet. They don't come with papers — they come with love and joy. Still, if Larry's Prius hadn't arrived when it did, would Randy and Larry have missed out? Nah, they were hooked by then.
Doggy drive-in
A new dog group in the Santa Cruz area — called Woofers and Walkers — has some fun things lined up for dog owners there. There's an "adventure walk" every Sunday and planned movies for dog owners and their canine friends. This Sunday, it's "Best in Show" on the patio of the Crepe Place in Santa Cruz. For more information, check out www.woofersandwalkers.com or call 831-427-0350
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