The Antics of Amos & Andy

Amos and Andy are over two years old and have begun the battle for Top Cat. Since they have not been neutered, they are fighting each other for their territory. Cats are extremely territorial and will constantly mark their boundaries to let other animals know they enter at their own risk. Andy marks me every day, sometimes several times a day, by rubbing my jaw line with his. That is were his pheromones are located. I wash this slightly damp musk off my face after he is satisfied that I am sufficiently marked. When outside, both cats urinate just a little as they walk the boundary lines. They are leaving their scent. Dogs do this as well. In fact, some animals take delight in leaving their calling card on top of another animal's scent.

I must confess that Amos is a bully. He has actually hurt his brother on several occasions. When I see this behavior, I always give Amos a swat with my bare hand on his backside while telling him no. He gives me the look that says,"What, I didn't do nothing." Then he looks at Andy and says, "Just you wait until she leaves the room." Whenever I catch Amos being nice to Andy, I give him a treat and praise him highly. It is cute to watch two grown brothers groom each other and play hide and seek. They do have moments in which they appreciate each other. They are actually very close and sleep curled up next to one another. They are presently taking a nap on my daybed. They are so large that one covers the top half and the other covers the bottom half. There is no room for me if I wanted to nap with them.

One night, my husband opened the dvd player with the remote to reload a disc. Amos was sitting close by. This action startled him. My husband thought it was cute and thus opened and closed the dvd player for half an hour. I don't know who was having the most fun. Andy joined in to help Amos look up, over, around, and behind the player to see what was causing the action. This has become a somewhat regular game for all three boys. It keeps them busy and out of my hair. It beats the game where they go to the door, you open the door, they look out for thirty seconds while you hold the door open, then they say, "Never mind". They usually play this game four or five times in a row before deciding to actually go out.

Brandi and family are coming for the weekend. Abbie loves to visit Nana. Amos and Andy hate it when Abbie visits the Nana. Abbie just wants to play the same as she does with her own cat relatives. Amos and Andy don't play that. They hide out and watch from a distance, eating their meals on the back deck. When the gang has left, I get marked from head to toe by two very spoiled kitties.

Don't let my husband know I told you this, but he mistook one of Abbie's dog treats for a people snack. He was trying to eat a cheese flavored dog chew and commented that it had no taste and was very hard. Brandi informed her dad that he was trying to eat Abbie's dog treat. He mumbled something and left the room. We could not hold back the laughter another second. I know he heard us, but hey, he would have laughed at us. It was funny, I don't care who you are.