Kitty chores!

[Twink]

Ok, so I know everyone's cats like to "help" with various household chores. But how many of your cats have carved out a task of their own that they conduct, unsupervised, with a faithfulness that makes you want to give them an allowance or something?

Rizz has this routine: I keep my old stuffed animals in the loft of our apartment. Two or three months ago, one of these animals began appearing at the base of the stairs or somewhere in the living room every morning. For a long time, I suspected that my husband was doing it to try and make me think that it was Rizzo--just to tease me. But it has since become obvious that the culprit is the cat, and the cat alone! At first it was a different animal every night, and then for a while it appeared that he had it in for artic creatures in particular, as every victim was either a polar bear or a seal. He has now settled on one particular grey seal, which is very nearly as big as he is. Every night, and every day while we're at work, he religiously finds this seal and takes him downstairs. At night, he leaves him in our bedroom beside the bed. During the day, he keeps him near the front door. Just as religiously, we toss the seal back up into the loft twice a day. My husband buried it under other stuffed animals once, just to see what Rizz would do. He unburied it, of course, and the next morning it was reposing in our bedroom, waiting to trip us as usual.

I only hope that we're not misinterpreting his fun. Wouldn't it be awful if the point was that he just wanted the seal downstairs, and we kept throwing it back up?? But he NEVER plays with it or pays attention to it once he has it where he wants it. Also, he never fetches it from upstairs while anyone's watching. Only if we're gone or asleep. But if we *are* gone or asleep, he never fails the hunt! I have no doubt that civilization as we know it would collapse if Rizzo ever failed to perform this important task. Isn't it great of him to do us this service?

So, how do your cats earn their keeps?

PS--I wish I had pictures! But, like I say, he never touches the thing when we're around. I'll have to pose him with it one day for size comparison.

[2kitties]

My boys try very hard to help with the laundry. They also make good paperweights.

[prechrswife]

I can understand the stuffed animal thing. We have finally moved all of the ones that we still have out of kitty cat range. (One or two developed injuries from being relocated by Saphirah and Chloe.) I'm curious to see how they react when we have children who have lots of stuffed animals.

Chloe, our little gray and white cat, does help with the housecleaning. She does not like clutter. If we set something where it doesn't belong, such as keys or the mail on top of the chest of drawers in our bedroom, she will very nicely slide the out of place object onto the floor. It is really funny because she completely ignores the knick-knacks that stay there all of the time. (I am very careful about where I put jewelry when I take it off.)

[catnapper]

My kitties do their chores MUCH better than my kids!

Pouncer's jobs: make sure toilet flushes properly, it must swoosh completely. Take pens off desk - must not have clutter now!

Allen's jobs: Laundry... the basket is not allowed upstairs unless he is on top of the pile getting a "ride" from the basement to the bedroom. Plant maintenance - they must be kept trimmed and tidy.

Of course, these are daily jobs that must be attended to seriously and professionally.

You have one smart little kitty... perhaps he's trying to tell you that there's a fortune worth of diamonds hiding within its cotton stuffing!

[catmandu]

The main things that my cats do , is to make sure that the dishes are kept clean, as a whisle!Every Day!

[Edwina's Secretary]

What funny stories! Edwina considers chores beneath her highness and Eddie....well he is a bit lazy!

I try assigning them some and see what happens!

[Lallypop11]

Wow, Rizzo's seal story is hilarious. Just to see the seal there every morning and when you get home must be a riot.

One of Lucky's chores every morning is to keep me on task so I am not late for work. As soon as I turn off the shower, he meows at me to GET OUT! Then he sits on my lap while I put on my makeup and sucks on my hand and earlobe then falls asleep, perhaps he's analyzing my makeup application or making sure I'm warm?

I'm trying to think of routine things that my cats do EVERY day.

Everyday they get their treats in the morning and when I come home from work so they will all stand there waiting for me, I guess that's MY chore.

EVERY night Bubby comes in when I take my vitamins like clockwork and expects a drink from my bottled water, he loves cold bottled water.

Those are the most routine things they do that are chore like.........they are so funny.

[andrea_NMAggie]

Pookie Bear is my 'backup' alarm clock. I say backup, but she really is my "ah, the alarm's gonna go off in 10 minutes" alarm. She also makes sure that if I get back into bed after the alarm sounds, I don't oversleep.

[jazzcat]

Love the story about Rizzo - too funny.

Jazz has made it her duty in life to make sure that my husband's watch is always in the floor. Anywhere he puts it she will eventually get it to the floor.

Scout likes to help me with my silk flower arrangements. Ever so often I find a section of silk ivy in various spots in the house. Guess she decides other areas need some greenery.

Ripley has helped with everything at one time or another in his 11+ years.

[Russian Blue]

Originally posted by Twink
At first it was a different animal every night, and then for a while it appeared that he had it in for artic creatures in particular, as every victim was either a polar bear or a seal.
So, how do your cats earn their keeps?

PS--I wish I had pictures! But, like I say, he never touches the thing when we're around. I'll have to pose him with it one day for size comparison.

That is tooo funny! Your cat must be very intelligent to know that polar bears and seals live in the arctic!

Nakita also brings her one toy to the bottom of our stairs each night. Maybe the 'toy' is actually a secret surveillance unit protecting the house at night??

Nakita also helps me clean the house. She loves it when I bring out the Swiffer and start cleaning the floors. She follows me around in case I miss a spot and then she jumps on the bottom of the Swiffer to make sure there is nothing alive underneath it! So I guess she is protecting me while I do housework. I'm so lucky I don't have to pay for such service!


Also, I don't have to iron my clothes anymore because Nakita lays on it as soon as it comes out of the dryer. No more wrinkles!

[catlover4ever]

Rizzo's story is just too funny.

Tigger is my Monday through Friday alarm clock. She wakes me every morning at exactly 6:46 am. On the weekends it is Abner who is the alarm clock, he sits up on side of me at exactly 8 am. I try to pretend that I'm still sleeping but he cries and takes a paw and whaps me in the head. This is his way of saying that I slept enough for him and it's time to get up and let him out.

[CatDad]

I am glad that mine is not the only one, loved the story. Read below for mine.

Bob is pretty much a lazy kitty and he thinks his job is to monitor, and of course get us up on the weekends for food.

Joey on the other hand has the very important job to bring up towels from the laundry room to a place in the house, she chooses the location. It is mostly our bedroom or the treat place.

She started to do this shortly after she got run of the house. We had some towels out in the laundry room and just after we turned out the light one night. We heard her just meowing like crazy. This is not just a little meow, this is a loud long MEEEEEEOOOOWWWW, with a little purr thrown in. It sounds cute, but it is loud. I got up to make sure that she was OK, and I caught her with a towel in her mouth at the top of the first half flight of stairs. She saw me, dropped the towel and ran. Later that night we heard her meowing again and in the morning we had all of the towels from the laundry room, in our bedroom. Some of these were bath towels that are at least twice as long as she is.

She is a feral kitty, so I thought that maybe she is trying to nest somewhere, so I left them where they were. That was a mistake, she started to bring up clothes next. So I put the towels back and that night, meowing all the way she brought all of the towels to the bedroom again. I figured that since she had no mice to bring us, she was bringing us presents to show that she loved us. It may not be that, but I am going to think that is it.

She now has her own basket of towels and 4 big ones on the washer, and every night she brings some or all of them to us, all the while meowing. I have learned to sleep through it. Like I said, she has moved places, some times our bedroom and sometimes the treat spot, or some other random place in the house.

She has now done this every night and sometimes during the day for the entire time we have had her. That has been a year and some months. Sometimes there are only 3 or 4 towels and sometimes we get all of them. If we do not put them back she will start to bring up articles of clothing, so were pretty good about the towel roundup in the morning. I still don't know how she carries them and walks and meows.

Anyway that is our Joey girls chore in the house.

[trayi52]

I loved the story of all the chores these cats have to do. My cats jobs are to be, well just paper weights, and make sure I don't read any bad news, when reading the paper.

Catdad, Joey is so funny, I loved that story. Maybe she will start doing the laundry soon, and you will never have that job to do again.