Cat Cams: What DO Cats Do Home Alone?

Republished from Huffington Post, which sites http://www.friskies.com/scratchingtonpost for the original story.

LOS ANGELES — What do cats do when their owners are away? There was one way to find out – "cat cams."

Fifty house cats were given collar cameras that took a photo every 15 minutes. The results put a digital dent in some human theories about catnapping.

Based on the photos, about 22 percent of the cats' time was spent looking out of windows, 12 percent was used to interact with other family pets and 8 percent was spent climbing on chairs or kitty condos. Just 6 percent of their hours were spent sleeping.

"What surprised me was how active the cats were. I believed my three cats were sleeping during the day," said Jill Villarreal, an animal behavior scientist who collected the data for Nestle Purina PetCare's Friskies brand of cat food.

The 777 photos studied by Villarreal showed the cats looking at a television, computer, DVDs or other media 6 percent of the time and hiding under tables 6 percent of the time.

Coming in at 5 percent was playing with toys; eating or looking at food finished at 4 percent.

Will the cats get movie cameras next? "We are in the think tank now," Villarreal said.

Is this incest??

Our cats are not related by blood, but have been raised together. This is what I caught them at this morning:

Granted, George was keeping his eyes closed, but I am pretty sure he was peeking.

Ha!

I think I find this picture so funny because they look like old men! "GET OFF MY LAWN!"

But, the cutest part: their names are Shalom and Salam. Both names mean "Peace" in Hebrew and Arabic, respectively. Awww! They were about to receive vaccinations. This is exactly what Cole does when we take him to the vet.

Mammaries...

We had one of these when I was growing up, and it was one of my favorite Christmas decorations:

I know... ugly, right?  But it's one of my favorite Christmas decorating memories.  That's why I've been asking Mom to send it to me since moving away from home.  She hasn't been able to find it, which means she did not have the same emotional attachment to it that I did.  This is when I'm glad for ebay* -- I was able to find the lovely plastic monster you see above for $12.99.  The funny part: it shipped from West Seneca, NY which is very close to my parents' house.  I wonder if the woman who sold it bought it from my Mom's yard sale?  

*Yes, even though the CEO was a McCain campaign advisor.

Also, I thought I would take this opportunity to show everyone P's and my Christmas tree.  I am including two photos below.  The first is blurry, but I find it funny because Sheila is staring at the camera.  She won't do that normally -- only when you are trying to get a picture of something you don't want her in.  

From both photos, you can tell the cats like to play on the tree skirt.  And you can see Cole in the back.  He's the black lump.

Cheers!

What I Accomplished Today (A Day in the Life of the Unemployed)

I kept thinking the cats were being cute and took their pictures. These represent the highlights, taken over the course of the day.

Superdelegate Revealed

In a political stunner, Cole Erik O'Donnell has just revealed himself to be one of the fabled Democratic Party superdelegates!  C.E.O., President of the Cook County Cats for Change, has thrown his support behind Democratic front-runner Barack Obama.  O'Donnell refused to comment on his decision, but his sister, Sheila Beyoncé Solange Knowles Dytri, held a press conference to announce her support for George W. Bush's third term.  It is unclear what Dytri's support will mean considering a third term is unconstitutional, and considering she has absolutely no say in the matter.  We will have more on this breaking story as it unfolds.

Photo Caption: Cole Erik O'Donnell in his office at the Cook County Cats for Change

Anything but work

If this website isn't enough to keep you distracted at work, I don't know what is. It's like someone got inside my head and made a site specifically for me!

*enraged, suddenly*

So this morning, as I was innocently waiting for the bus, I saw something that appalled me. Several highschool-aged kids get on the bus at my stop. Many times, they go to the McDonald's that is right next to the stop before boarding. This morning, I watched as one of them took the breakfast sandwich he had just purchased out of its bag and let it drop to the ground. I thought he would realize what had happened at some point, but then I saw him look down and kick the bag! He then finished his sandwich and threw the wrapper on the ground. Then he finished his drink and did the same! I was SO mad! Who do people think they are?! Like I want to see their crappy wrappers from their crappy food all over the place? And like someone else should just pick it up for them? Would you like me to come to your house and scoop my cats' poo on your bed? Cause I could do that!

I was clearly giving him the stink eye, and he saw me. He meekly bent down and picked up his trash. He then threw it in the trash can that was 5 feet away. I wanted to strangle him. I don't know how I stopped myself.

Cole pooped his pants.

I really meant to post this yesterday, but two things: (1) I was super busy at work and (2) I didn't want to post it without a picture of Cole.  I can't log in to Myspace at work (where this picture is a part of my profile) because work just installed this stupid blocking software... 

Anyway, two nights ago, I awoke at 12:30am to P saying, "He'd better not have brought that up here!"  To which I responded, "What?"

P: Can't you SMELL that?

D: No *brief pause* OH GOD, YES *turn on light*

Come to find out, our beloved, long-haired male cat, Cole, had had problems pooing.  It was slightly runny, and, as a result, had gotten smeared all over his hind-end.  Well, if you've met Cole (and most of you have), you'll remember that he's a whiney baby.  He meows very whiningly whenever you pick him up, meow at him, put you hand on or near him, for no apparent reason, etc.  And, this has been upsetting Sheila of late.  I could go into THAT story, but that's for another post when I'm feeling up to it.  The long and short of it is, when he does something she doesn't like, she beats the living crap out of him.  He then hides for days on end, and we have to keep them separated until things are smoothed over.  SO, we were trying to do the clean-up very delicately.  

He would have none of it, though, no matter how careful we were.  We quickly came to the realization that (1) we needed more than a tiny sheet of toilet paper to do THIS job and (2) we needed to get him into the bathroom asap.  So, we did.  But then we realized that even large amounts of TP were having little to no impact on the situation.  So, Cole got a bath.  At 12:30am.  A groggy bath.  He yowled the entire time, and we kept shushing him (to no avail).  

Upon completion, we realized that now he was wet and would try to get on things to dry off.  Things like the bed (with the multi-million dollar coverlet from Pottery Barn that my parents got us) and the couch that we spent a fortune on.  We threw blankets haphazardly on the couch.  I then cleaned the litter box and realized C had dragged his ass across the floor.  P cleaned that up, and then we went to bed. 

The good news: Sheila didn't seem to care throughout.  I'm sure she thought it was very funny. 

Circle Cats