Rudy's Feathers

From the day I brought Rudy home, all he wanted to play with was play with feather toys. His favorite came from Camille Drake at abccats. He would grab the feather wand just under feathers and drag the wand around the house. He loved to drag the wand up the stairs and deposit it in bed. sometimes it was a present to me, sometimes it was for fun and games.

His passion for feathers on a stick was one of the more endearing things about Rudy. If there was a feather, he was there within seconds. I had to put away the toys because they made me cry.

The thing I miss 4

Rudy won't greet me at the door any more. He won't flip his tail into my open mouth (I was going to say face, but figured I'm better tell the truth). I won't get to see him make that magnificent jump onto the armoire. His body won't be pressed against my legs at night. He won't play with his feather toys. He won't sit for hours watching the wildlife outside. He won't make a mess of Art's African violets. My drinking glass will never be tipped over.

Sometimes I think the whole thing was a dream, such a short life. And then I remember my beautiful red boy and his infectious grin, and it was all real. I am glad I could cherish every minute, not to mention his passion for life with my Twitter pals.

We all miss you, Rudy

Rudy and Doors

Doors were put on earth to be opened. Rudy could open cabinet doors, didn't get in the cabinet, just opened them. He was bound and determined to get into the antique wardrobe doors, but hadn't quite figured them out. He would just bang on them, and that didn't work. If he would have lived longer, he would have figured out doorknobs. I saw him wrap his paws around them several times.

The most interesting time with him and door knobs was when my parents stayed with us. We were dog sitting, and the dogs sleep with Art. Mom and Dad had the spare room, and I had the couch. I was reading, and I heard a terrible rattling upstairs. And then it happened again. Mom came downstairs in the morning and I had to ask her what that was since I really didn't want to know those things about my parents. Turns out Rudy was rattling the door knob until the door popped open. In trotted Rudy with Maggie behind him. Mom had to put a suitcase behind the door, and it sort of dissuaded him in that pursuit.

The Shower and Drinkwell Fountain

Maine Coon cats are not afraid of water. They have a coat with oil to help repel snow and rain. They also have large paws with fur, commonly described as snowshoe paws. Both Rudy and Maggie spend a lot of time in the kitchen sink, not to mention the shower. hey loved to walk through the shower immediately after the water was turned off and track their distnictive pawrints all over the bathroom and bedroom.

Rudy loved to watch the water pour down the glass shower doors. He'd paw at the doors, making them rattle very hard. One day he stuck his head under my towel, spread his front legs, and pressed his chest and chin against the glass. That was bizarre even for him.

I usually left the shower door open a few inches since both cats liked to stick their head in the door. I don't get it, but they did. One day after rinsing off shampoo, I turned around and dman near screamed. There was Rudy sitting like a prince on the shower seat just watching the whole regime.

The Drinkwell fountain was a great hit with Rudy. He played in the fountain, in the "pond" turned the valve which regulated the flow, all the splashing all over. I had to clean up after with a couple bath towels. I believe he did that just so the reservoir would fill the "pond". It was really good when I'd put ice cubes in it, and he could bounce them around. The reservoir absolutely fascinated him. It would glurge big bubbles. He like the glurge so much that he wrapped his front legs around the reservoir. He would then shake it for all he was worth to make the bubbles appear. I was scared he would knock it over and I'd have to mop the entire floor from the spill. That was one of his odd behaviors that I was glad he outgrew.

Rudy's Avatars

Rudy was a party animal. He loved people at our house, and gatherings of anipals. He wasn't fussy. His absolute favorite thing to do was barktend at #pawpawties. Ladies were his favorite to serve. He'd get out a white towel for his forearm, and deliver the drink on a lace doily. That cat was class.

One of his favorite barktending shifts was working with @BuzzLucas. Rudy was serving @CaplinRous some hay. Buzz told him there was some behind the bar. Rudy looked at it, and it became obvious some anipals had been "rolling" in it the previous night. The 2 of them quickly got rid of the hay, and made sure that Caplin got fresh.

Here are some of his avatars. Enjoy!

Little things Part 3

Rudy was a party animal. He loved people, and especially those who visited the house for meetings. If there was a meeting, he felt that he should be the center of it all. He would jump into the middle of the table and lay on the meeting notes. No matter how many times I'd pick him up and toss him off, he insisted he was the hottest thing in cat fur and needed to be included in the meeting.

Art and Rudy had a morning ritual. Art would pour a glass of milk, and Rudy would drink it. Even if Art covered the glass, Rudy would knock off the newspaper and drink the milk. Art got angry every morning.

Clawing carpets was not just sport, but a religion with Rudy. Not even a spray water bottle would disuade him from his favorite past time. He would just look at me when I squirted him as if to say, "and you want me to do what?".

We have a claw foot bathtub, nice and deep. Rudy would jump in it and play with something, never knew what it was, but he obviously did.

Rudy chased Maggie a lot, not that she minded. When they ran through the house, nothing was safe. Paper would fly, lamps got knocked over. One Saturday morning, we heard a big crash. My chair got knocked over.

TV Armoire

The armoire held a fascination for Rudy. He discovered it when I hid some feather toys. He found that he could stick his front leg through the wire hole in the back, and make all kinds of noise. He could spend hours behind the piece, doing god knows what. Maggie and Rudy chased each other behing the armoire and had "fights". They never pulled out any wires, thank god!

One day I saw him contemplating the top of the armoire. It was a matter of time before he figured out how to become king of the mountain. He would jump from the table on the other side of the doorway, saling up with the grace of a young muscular cat. He could spend hours there, snoozing and watching his people.