The ultimate revenge

Last December, TT and I adopted a kitten...er...cat from a local animal rescue league. We were told Piper was a kitten (4 months old), but by the time we adopted him, his file stated he was 7 months old. We went to the vet to have his first check up, and we were told he was a year old. OK fine, so he's not a kitten, he's an adolescent male. Piper is one of those cats that is more dog than cat. He'll see you approaching from the window and he'll run to be right at the door the second you open it. He also is an attention snob. He constantly demands attention. If you are thinking about anything but him, he'll make sure you notice him. Take for example, picture A below:

Rather than allowing me to type on my computer, he enjoys sitting on it. Makes sense to me... Not only does he sit on it, but he sits on the keyboard, so I couldn't even type if I wanted to. Ever wonder what happens when you hit every key at once? It makes a noise that goes "Beep Beep Beep...". Go ahead, you know you want to try it. The best part is that he hears the noise when he steps on it, and just sits there because he knows that he is king of the moment.

When not grabbing the attention of those in the room, Piper is either eating, sleeping, or sitting on his perch where he can make sure he sees all that is going on. You see, if something gets out of hand, he'll be the first one to jump into the situation to say "Look at me! Remember me! What about me!". Here is example B, where Piper hears a noise and leaves his perch to go investigate.

And much like a dog, Piper enjoys a good game of ball. Whether its stalking a rolling golf ball, or chasing his toy mouse, if you throw it, he'll go after it. Picture this, only as a cat and the cat rarely catches the ball. The game only stops when one of us actually hits Piper in the head...by accident. Example C shows Piper stalking out the "crazy" golf ball that just seems to roll and roll.

Where was I....oh yea...back to the ultimate revenge. As much fun as Piper is, he seems to find it amusing to wake me up whenever he feels like it. And being the attention snob that he is, he has found new ways of getting my attention in the morning. It started with a simple meow. And if I didn't hear that one, he'd come closer to my face and it would be a bit louder. Then it escalated to pretending that my legs are mice and attacking them, even though they weren't moving. What else does Piper have up his sleeve, you ask? After he has tried ALL of these options, he will intentionally knock things off my night stand. For example, my tv remote, stereo remote, glasses, and anything else that happens to be on there. But its the way he does it that makes it so hilarious. He'll knock them off one at a time. After he taps one, he'll look back at me to see if I have moved yet. No movement...down goes the next item and so on. You get the idea.

So this morning, I had the ultimate revenge on Piper. I decided to go for an early morning swim before work. I woke up at 6 am, without the alarm clock (that's the key to my revenge). Got out of bed and noticed that Mr. Piper has not yet budged. I think to myself, "Now is the chance to get him back for all those mornings..." So I poked and prodded until HE woke up. He looked at me with disgust, I kid you not. I was getting stared down by a cat, who was surely saying "WTF was that! Its not time yet!"

So I got my revenge on him...but the question now is, will he respect my sleeping until the alarm goes off, or will he continue to pester me with his games? I might just have to go swimming in the morning more often ;)