The Truth About Needy

It’s not a new habit per se but it’s an annoying old habit that seems to have resurfaced in the last few weeks. Needy has restarted obsessing about the litter pan, usually around 4 or 5 a.m. He goes to the litter pan and possibly uses it and then begins scratching the litter, the area around the litterbox, etc. He does this for five or ten minutes and then wanders around the living area (hotel room, suite, apartment) meowing somewhat loudly and usually walks all over me before repeating the process. The scratching is particularly annoying because of the plastic litter liner and the newspaper under the litterbox. I don’t know which disturbs my sleep more, the scratching or the meowing.

After about 35 minutes of it this morning, I called him to me and then held onto him. He was pretty pissed and tried to get away for a while. I tried petting him and he purred all the while trying to get away. I admit, I swatted him when he tried meowing in my ear — Siamese cats’ voices are like nails on chalkboards. After 30 minutes, I let him go and he went and hid under the bed rather than go back to the scratching routine. I went back to sleep for an hour before I had to get up and get ready for work.

He doesn’t seem to do this Obsessive-Compulsive thing during the daytime — I know because I was home for 3 months with nothing to do but observe my cats. :crazy:

I wish there was something I could do to help him — and by that I mean help him be quiet so I can sleep. I’ve tried changing the litterbox when he does that but the clean litterbox doesn’t seem to help stop the behavior. Ironically, I had cleaned the box before I went to bed last night.

Plus, I miss having him sleep all night with me in the bed — something he hasn’t done at all since we got to the inn. For the most part, he did sleep with me in the hotel because he had buried himself under the covers for the duration, but now that the bed actually has room under it, he’s staying there.

In other news, I have located an apartment for around what I expected to pay though more than I wish to. It’s in a complex and has Washer/Dryer hookups and a large kitchen. I think the Dining Room/Living Room suffers a little because of the nice kitchen but I’ll find a place for all of my stuff somehow. Of course, my father has taken the wind out of my sails. I asked him the other day that if I signed the paperwork today, could he be up here with my stuff for the weekend of the 23rd. Now that appears to be a problem. He wants to go to some club meeting on Thursday and the dog needs a trim at the vet on Friday…blah, blah, blah. O.K. I kind of understand that they have their lives too, but mine has been on hold for so long and I just want to get into my own place. Tomorrow I have to call the complex to ask if I can push back the move in date until the end of the month. I’m tired of being in a hotel/inn. I want me and the cats to be someplace real where we can have a routine, etc. and start paying bills and saving money and getting back on my feet.

So now I can start working on the other things in my life like getting my car fixed. Ever since I got up here, I’ve had this weird issue with my gear shift. Randomly I have trouble getting it back into park. At first I thought the problem was the cold, but it doesn’t always happen when it’s cold and it sometimes happens when it’s over 40 degrees. It seems to happen most often when the car has been driven less than 20 minutes and not with consistency — ie. in traffic. I can turn the car off in neutral but I can only get the key out when it’s in Park. It’s very frustrating. I was 20 minutes late last Friday to work because I couldn’t put my car in Park in the parking garage. So, MJ at work has given me the name of a garage and I guess I’ll call tomorrow.

I also need to get my hair cut and colored. It’s been 6 weeks and my red hair is getting all bleached and the roots are showing.

I couldn’t do those things while I was apartment hunting because they take the use of the car and my time. Now that I’m sitting around twiddling my thumbs waiting for my crap to show up, I can do that stuff. Heh. What else do I have to do. :doze:

Also, every day that I’ve been here, I’ve woken up with a headache. At first I thought it was the rain but then the sun came out (though the rain is all dreary again). Last night I left the windows open and finally woke up without one. It was the oppressive heat in the hotel and inn that made me too hot while I slept and triggered the damned headache. So, tonight there will be windows up again. Heh.

tags: the cats, discombobulated

2 comments

1. on April 14, 2004 at 9:33 am

   Sharon said:

   We used to have a cat that would howl at our door at 3AM. We sleep with our door closed to keep the dogs in. I tried opening the door to coax her in, that didn’t work. I tried getting up - with her. Which worked, but was a mistake. Finally I didn’t feed her her evening meal until just before bedtime, that seemed to keep her quiet through the night. That’s funny about Needy & his box, it sounds like he’s sressed about something. Fortunately now there is an ‘end’ in sight to this huge transition.

2. on April 15, 2004 at 3:18 pm

   Maggie said:

   Funny you should have the same problem that I have with my Siamese cat…she was my dad’s cat which I have had since his passing…my husband has had such a hard time getting used to the howling of that cat…she would usually start at 5am…we prayed for the time change and she now has changed to 6am..thank goodness!! I figure she is hungry…the above suggestion of delaying dinner meal sounds great, but I think the howling would be during the evening..not sure which one would be worse…and I don’t think my other two cats would appreciate the delay, but it’s a thought I didn’t have…I’m glad that you have found an apartment and will soon have a routine down…is your new place in Portland?? All the best to you.

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