The Cuteness Factor

Our "kitten" is no longer a kitten.  He's more like a puppy. Anyone who has ever had a Ragdoll breed mix will tell you they're…well, different.  We renamed him Simon because Snickers just didn't work for me.  It sounded too much like Tigger and just saying it made me well up with tears and I just can't go there... still.

You can see for yourself he's grown since his original blog photo:

He thinks he's a pillow

Anyway, back to my wittle kitty.  First, he's not so little anymore. He is a typical kitty in most ways.  He eats.  He sleeps.  He plays.  He sleeps again.  But this cat has sleeping down to an art form.  I have never had a cat who can mold himself to any piece of furniture or person he is laying on and almost morph into it like a lizard taking on some kind of camouflage.

????

Where does the blanket end and the cat begin?

Ahhh, if only I could get that comfortable.  We have tried many times to allow him to sleep with us, but for some reason he insists on prancing around with his dagger paws on our organs while we sleep, therefore he has been banished from the bedroom.  He is finally settling down to the routine of most cats and sleeping 22 of the 24 hours in the day.  The other two hours are spent snorting down kibble or hunting the other cats so that he can practice his predatory tactics.  Why it's necessary for him to wait for the other kitties to be doing their business in the litter boxes to play "sneak attack" is beyond me.  Evidence of this skirmish is the litter sprayed everywhere and the sound of the thundering chase. When we catch him in the act, we would love to say he is scolded, but the problem is he has a cuteness factor of "+10".  Where our other cats have had at least "+8", Simon has this gift of looking precious even when we catch him in the act of doing something that you know HE KNOWS is a NO NO.

For example, the other day I was bending over some files in my office and as I stood up I noticed him perched on the edge of the chair preparing to leap onto my back.  ONTO MY BACK. Yes, he was going to ambush ME.

This was the photo I took when I peeked up and saw him about to jump >>>

I was just sitting here, really….

You can see from his demon stare that nothing good was going to happen in the next 10 seconds.  But the cuteness factor required that I go over and scoop him up and squeeze and kiss him instead of scold him…He is a spoiled rotten baby.

He also doesn't get along well with one of our other cats, Pepper.  Not only does he provoke her at every opportunity, he tries to look innocent while doing so.  Before Simon came along, Pepper was the sassy kitty who walked around, tail in the air, determining who was worthy of her cuteness.  Now we are lucky if we see her.  In fact, if she makes an appearance, Simon will blatantly "cat block" her so that she can't get to me.  Of course he did it all while looking cute.

You shall not pass!

Poor Pepper.  All I can say is that his cuteness isn't wasted.  My iPhone has never had so many photos of felines before.  If I happen to scroll through to show someone my latest vacation photos, they realize quickly that I am certainly the "cat lady" from the quantity of Simon "selfies" contained in those albums.  Now that fall is approaching, I may as well start searching for my cat lady sweaters and crazy catalogs of whatever knickknacks you find in a hoarders home.  That's where I'm headed I suppose.  Hoarding cute cats.