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.
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