Monday, February 27, 2012

A Tantrum Tail

Vinny is really a very congenial, expressive cat.

He's not one of those sneaky, passive-aggressive, do-what-I-want-or-I'll-piss-in-your-favorite-shoes kind of a guy. He doesn't even get into the trash can. Mostly he just follows me around chattering in Catonese, his tail shivering and shaking in excitement when I talk back to him, and only occasionally whines when I pick him up and cart him around.

About the only thing he does to truly annoy me (other than drinking out of the toilet) is when he plays what I call the "Hop on Pop" game whereby, when I'm sleeping in and he's ready to be paid attention to, he will launch himself on top of me in a bounce-bounce-bounce pattern and then sit by my head and just stare intently. Who knew a 9-pound cat could make himself feel like 50?

Regardless, I'm convinced he doesn't have it in him to be deceptive...

Except...

At night, when we're snuggling down for a good old fashioned cuddle, if I stop petting him or don't pet him in just the right way, he'll purr purr purr and nuzzle...but his tail betrays him.

*THWAP* It comes thumping down on my arm.

He winds it up, swings back and up and *THWAP* down it comes again.

It is impossible to ignore. A 9-pound cat's tail carries a significant amount of weight. Something to do with physics and force = mass times acceleration. Anyway! He will continue to beat me, throwing his tantrum with his tail, until I make all necessary adjustments to my behavior to satisfy him.

Then, and only then, will his *THWAP*ing turn into the sweetest, most gentle caresses with that very same tail...as though he's petting me.

Tantrum over.

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

I kind of do the same thing on the rare occasion that the hubs passes out a backrub that's just a backrub. If he stops before I want him to (which is never), I might possibly scrunch back and forth to send the message that he's not quite done.

I'm guilty of having a cat tantrum? I've never even been much of a cat person. Damn.

Gaelyn said...

Cat's are so wonderful about their control issues.

Jenn and Casey said...

Haha. Aren't cats great? My dog also throws a tantrum when he doesn't get what he wants.

Celeste Neumann said...

Simon has this problem too...
Cat Man Do

cdnkaro said...

I love that this turned into him petting you. 9 lb? What a teeny, tiny cat! I'm kind of jealous. Our smallest cat is 15 lb and we now keep them closed off in the downstairs section of the house during the night since they also like to sit on our heads while we sleep:) They have, thankfully, settled for sprawling on the sofas.

Just Jane said...

Word Nerd: I think, in that way, we're all cat like *laughing*.

cdnkaro: HA! Yeah, Vinny is a tiny little guy physically but he's HUGE in personality.

NGS said...

Our kitty is

NGS said...

Our kitty is 8 pounds and 8 months. I'm a bit jealous of your little cat! She has bouts of insanity because she's still a kitten, but I'm hoping someday she will be a congenial cat rather than crazyface.

alienbody said...

Nabby The Cat is very fond of getting my attention by jumping up next to me and the giving me a might head-butt. As long as I'm scratching his most favorite scratchable areas he's happy to not try and knock things out of my hand.

Lucy said...

I smiled while reading this post! Loved it!!

Masked Mom said...

Our two male dogs are both very demanding and to begin petting either of them is to be committed to petting them for quite a while. If you stop, they will nudge your hand with their noses, or run a (large) paw across your idle arm. My favorite is when I am on the computer with my hand resting on the mouse and they come up and stick their snouts under my forearm, removing my hand from the mouse so that I can do something more productive like scratch their ears, etc. They're sooooo needy.

Bᴜɴɴʏ ☥ said...

I swear cats can defy the laws of physics, aside from the "heavy" trick they do, our ferrel cats recently started teleporting into the attic at night. Mind you, there us a gaping hole where a door should be on the outside if the house, but it's up like 15 feet off the ground.

Bᴜɴɴʏ ☥ said...

I swear cats can defy the laws of physics, aside from the "heavy" trick they do, our ferrel cats recently started teleporting into the attic at night. Mind you, there us a gaping hole where a door should be on the outside if the house, but it's up like 15 feet off the ground.