Tot, Soon To Be Famous For Retrieving Skills

Print this entry

As previously discussed, we have acquired two kittens who are now about six months old. Tater and Tot are brothers in arms, or I suppose paws. Tater is the larger sibling, far more gregarious and mischievous. I named the water spray bottle “The Taterator” in his honor, since he is often on the receiving end for landing in places he should not be — such as the kitchen counter. Tot is smaller, fluffier and considerably more cautious.

We let the kitties go outside when we are home, always with an ear tuned to caterwauling. There are at least two mean — and full-sized — tomcats in the neighborhood. They stand ready to pick a fight with our cats. Tot wisely disappears and lays low, but Tater is fearless and ready to tangle with a rival — even though it is twice his size. Tater got pretty beat up in his first duel and spent a full day laying on furniture and recuperating. Since then, we do our best to break up the fights. I am thinking about pulling the Nerf water cannon out of the pool-toy collection, loading it up and taking aim at those bullies each time they appear.

It has taken months for Tot to trust me, and even then it is often ephemeral. Tater, on the other hand, is likely to appear as I type this and tap dance on the keyboard while meowing in my face. Tot will eventually sneak into my lap while we watch television, but he far prefers my Beautiful Mystery Companion. That is certainly understandable.

Tot’s favorite toy is a little ball with a bell inside and a tag outside, which allows him to carry it around in his mouth. He loves for me to toss it across the wood floors for him to chase. Nothing surprising about that, though his devotion to this ball — and ability to find it in this rambling house — is impressive.

One night, as we watched a show on Netflix, Tot hopped up on the couch, ball in mouth. He dropped it and I tossed it a few feet. He went and got it, hopped back on the couch with it, and let it loose. I threw it again, and he brought it back. This went on over a dozen times. I realized, that for the first time in my long career of being the Food Guy for cats, we have a Cat That Retrieves.

I went to YouTube to determine the prevalence of retrieving cats in society. It is a dead-lock cinch that anyone who has a retrieving cat is going to post a video on either YouTube or Facebook. The phrase “retrieving cats” brought up 11,900 videos, of which I watched three. Tot is far from alone in his ability to retrieve. I decided to see if I could get Tot up to cataclysmic abilities in retrieving. Sorry, couldn’t resist.

So I expanded my training regimen with Tot. A few days later I was tossing the ball about 30 feet. Tot bounded down the stairs to the lower level, found the ball under the drop-leaf table, trotted back and laid it at my feet, over and over.

It was time to make the video.

Using my iPhone and providing sparse audio commentary, I filmed Tot twice returning the ball. I was not thrilled with the result, so we produced another take the next day. This one was cleaner and includes Tater making a cameo appearance, darting into the picture for a few seconds. However, Tater seems to understand this is Tot’s chance for stardom. He has taken no interest in retrieving and seems to disdain the notion of performing tricks for the Food Guy.

Not to be immodest, but I believe I nailed it on the second take. Rather, Tot nailed it. He performed perfectly, retrieving it twice and then taking a bow. So, for the first time, I am posting a Silly Cat Video online, along with this piece. Take a look and let me know what you think. (It’s on my Facebook page, if you have gone to my website first. I’m not smart enough to post it on my website.)

You can be the judge. Personally, I think a star is born.

Print this entry