In my stream yesterday, I was asked for an update on my cat Morloth, since it's been a few years since I really shared anything about her here. My response was "well...she's a cat. lol" There hasn't been much for me to speak of really, hence the lack of posts. But, since I was asked, I'll oblige. If I was going to do it, I was going to do it properly, so I grabbed a few pictures from my personal Facebook and threw together a collage. I hope this suffices for a visual. ;)

So anyway, this is my cat, for those who might be new here, or if anyone forgot. lol Her name is Morloth, which is Elvish for "Dark Flower", and she is my little mini house panther. She's just a little past 4 years old now. There's not really much else to tell, she pretty much just does cat things. Sits inside things like boxes and laundry baskets, and lays on things like plastic bags and suitcases (which are her favorite bed, for whatever reason). When there's nothing to sit in or lay on, she likes stretching out on her back on the floor. Her other hobbies include sleeping, staring at the feeder waiting for it to open, watching birds in the window, and playing with things-that-are-not-cat-toys. (She has a whole box of toys but you know how that goes. lol Those twistee ties that come with packaged bread are her favorite thing to play with.) She also has a mild shoe fetish for Kova's work shoes (probably because they smell like pizza scraps, he's a delivery driver for Dominoes and I imagine walking around in the food prep area probably has him tracking through a lot of dropped toppings) and a somewhat weird fascination with eating dryer lint off the floor.

She's not without her own personality though. Truth be told, this cat has kind of a love-hate relationship with any other living thing, particularly humans. She adores me - pretty much sees me as her mother, naturally. So she always has to know what I'm doing and always has to be in the same room as me, even if that means not sleeping in the most comfy spot. She also likes Kova. But anyone else? It's anyone's guess. She hates my mom, no idea why. She basically helped nurse her back to health when she was a kitten, and came over to play with her on weekends when I was away from home, so I honesty cannot figure out why she despises her so much. My mom can't pet her, can't play with her, can't even look at her sometimes without getting hissed at. It's baffling. My mom is a cat person btw, has three of her own, one of which is Morloth's mother. (Actually, I kind of wonder if she smells the other cats and it sets her off, she did live with them for a while and seemed to at least tolerate them, but maybe now that they don't share a territory they are seen as rivals again.) My sister has Morloth's littermate, Pixie, and she's the exact same way.

Morloth definitely doesn't like other cats. We tried having a second cat last year, remember Lyra? That became such a hassle for everyone involved (including Morloth) we ended up taking Lyra back to the rescue out of fairness for both cats. We've had small dogs over before (my dad's, when he and my stepmom were visiting for the day) and she basically just hid, glaring at them from the safety of her tree perch. She's been around fish and small pets and mostly she's just curious with those. I do plan to get rats again after we move at the end of the year, so that's going to be kind of a new experience for her, even though she's been around them briefly before when I rat-sat for a friend. All playtime will of course be supervised and the rats will be housed in an off-limits room, just to make sure everyone's safe and happy.

Jackson Galaxy says cats usually fall into one of two categories: Tree-dwellers (cats that like to be up high) and Bush-dwellers (cats that like to stay low and hidden). Morloth is definitely a bush-dweller. She's always quick to sit inside boxes or sneak into hidey-holes, and prefers being under things to being on top of them. Right now two of her favorite spots to sleep are inside one of the cubbies on her tree and behind the curtains on the floor. (At time of writing, she's actually sleeping in her bed.) She never sleeps on our bed, despite being invited. She doesn't really have much interest in our bedroom at all, though she does sometimes come in to see if we're awake and will sit with us on the bed for attention, but only for a few minutes at a time.

Since I work at home, she's afforded the luxury of always having me around. We have this routine in the mornings, when I get up and make my coffee. She spazzes out, and makes this funny, half-meow, half chirp sound at me (I read that this is similar to a mother cat talking to her kittens) when she knows I'm about to sit down. When I stir the coffee, she goes bonkers and dashes up her tree to the top platform, where she waits for me to walk over and pet her before I plant myself at my computer. She learned this routine in maybe two days. She drools when I pet her, another holdover from kittenhood, but her purr is really faint. She isn't a super cuddly cat, but she does enjoy sitting on me if I place myself somewhere other than my computer chair. She doesn't necessarily want to be petted at all times, she just likes the contact, and will in fact get nippy if someone doesn't pick up on her body-language saying she's had enough. I've learned to interpret her signals pretty well but visitors usually aren't so observant.

Food is her absolute OBSESSION. Like, if you asked her, she'd tell you she was starving. This may stem from her health issues when she was little, because she's never lived in a situation where she didn't get enough food or where she had to fight other cats for it. I'm very strict with feeding - she doesn't get people-food ever (she learns behaviors extremely easily and I have to be careful not to reinforce anything I don't want her to constantly repeat, and this includes begging in the kitchen or at the table), and her feedings happen at specific times in the morning and evening since I use an auto-feeder. But that doesn't stop her from making every attempt at getting to food if given the opportunity, so we have to be really careful about leaving things out. I'm one of those cat owners who prefers my cat to not be on the kitchen counters, so to train her out of trying to go up there I had to booby-trap the countertops with tape turned sticky-side-up. It seems to have worked though, as she's only made one attempt to go up and hasn't tried since. (I know some people don't mind their cats going up on the kitchen counters, but I do. Its a sanitary issue and also a safety issue. No matter how much you argue with me, you will never get me to change my mind about it.)

She has also been trained (not sure if trained is the right word with a cat...more like she's accepted it) to go outside on a leash. (Seen on the bottom right corner up there.) We started her off by just putting the harness on her and letting her walk around the house a bit. Then we added the leash. Then when she was used to that, we took her outside. She really didn't seem to mind it once we got her out there - she was way more interested in her newfound freedom and her surroundings so she forgot all about the harness. She doesn't walk on it like a dog - with cats, you pretty much have to let them lead, but it allows her to roam and explore a bit with me safely nearby. It's been pretty hot lately so we haven't been outside for a while, but its a great way to allow her some fresh air when the weather is nice. I keep her indoors otherwise, for her own safety.

We don't always get along 100%, I will admit. She likes to test my patience and see how much she can get away with, usually its just little things to get me to chase her or yell at her (like jumping on the kitchen counters), but she's always been good about the major things that most people dislike about cats. She's never clawed the furniture, she's never pooped or peed outside the litterbox, she doesn't destroy things. Most of her irksome behaviors stem from a need for attention, so I've learned to just not respond whatsoever if she's doing something naughty and she eventually learns it doesn't work and stops doing it. I'm not a "Cat Person" by any means but I have learned quite a bit through her on how to react (or not react) to cats to have a harmonious coexistent with them.

I'm not sure what else there is to tell you about her, really. She's in good health, just had her yearly exam a couple weeks ago actually. Got her shots updated and all the basic tests done. One issue she's always had has been her weight, having always been slightly over. On the vet's advice from her last visit, I'd adjusted her food portions and since then, she's actually gotten down to a healthy weight. Her teeth are looking good and all her tests and bloodwork came back normal, so she's a healthy, happy kitty. :)

If you'd like to see more pictures of Morloth, I have a few in my scraps from when she was younger. All the ones above were taken in the last couple years. I tried to get a good mix of her doing things she does a lot, and also had to find ones that were in focus and not too dark to see her. Fun fact: The picture that has her name on it was taken when she was high on 'Nip. lol

Hopefully this satisfies the kitty curiosity for you guys, I'm off to go do actual commission work now. >u<