So over the past week, Max has gone from Timid Kitty to Danger Kitty to now, his latest incarnation, which is LOVERBOY. He is now to the point where he needs near CONSTAT love and attention.
He will sit behind my chair and meow until I pick him up, hold him like a baby in my arms, cradling him, and I have to sit at my chair holding him while typing with one hand to get any work done.
Oh, and he and Steve are closer to forming the cat borg. In the morning they run side by side and split at the last minute to the left and to the right to their respective bowls to be fed.
NotMax
Cradle me? Cat man do.
:)
.
cain
haha – he looks like my two house panthers – Luv and Kush. (see your 2022 pet calendars :-) Same expression – although none of them are that needy. They are definitely both assholes. :D Especially kush :D
ETA – awww yeah, #2 baby! This day is getting better and better – despite the fucking time change. Fuck this time change nonsense!
Kristine
Could be that Max has moved on from the “Okay I’m Here I Guess” phase to the “Are You Really My New Human–Prove It” phase.
Just settling in.
Anonymous At Work
Better than go Highlander with each other every night on top your face. Better than Competitive Puppy-Slashing as well. I mean, yes, you have to fear them teaming up to kill you much more than you would for 2 Steves but still.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@NotMax: That is pure NotMax
SiubhanDuinne
This sounds … perilous. For you.
ETA: Also too, CONSTAT looks like a military acronym we would normally see only in an Adam Silverman post.
Joe
You gotta love them when they come to you for love and you gotta play with them when they come looking for play. They do the same for us, it’s why we love them so much.
ellie
That’s adorable.
artem1s
Maybe he’d accept being held in a baby sling? that way you could free up your arms for work.
CaseyL
Maxwell has such a noble face.
Hard to imagine that face wanting to be held like a baby. Treasure it while you can :)
Alison Rose
I read that first as “cat bong” and I was like…dang, wtf is going on in West By God Virginia
different-church-lady
That actually is the face of a panther.
Jackie
Max is making sure you’re for real and forever. Once he really believes he’s HOME, he’ll probably mellow out with the neediness.
Or not.
trollhattan
@Alison Rose: First thing, how do you confuse an apple with a cat?
eclare
So sweet! What did the prior owner say about his personality?
Alison Rose
@trollhattan: Listen, back in high school, I encountered some strains of weed that could have you making a mistake like that…
MelissaM
I think he’ll mellow out when he realizes he’s Home, but if you really need to pay the bills and get work done, sling him.
I love the idea of in a week or two, Max and Steve plotting how to rid the house of the Fat Man and get Thurston to do their bidding.
kindness
My take? Max is still figuring things out and he wants reassurance. Give it to him. Now am I a qualified kitty psychologist? Well, I have no degrees but I have been owned by cats for several decades now if that matters
Maybe now would be a good time to psych them all and add a new puppy to the mix.
Dangerman
Danger Kitty? Dangerman approves!
pat
Maybe he is anxious. Have you tried Feliway?
StringOnAStick
Aw, so sweet. He’s probably still a bit worked up over being moved to a new place, but he recognises you as safe now and needs your reassurance as he settled in. Either that, or you’ve acquired a permanent fashion accessory.
eclare
@pat: Feliway works really well for my cats.
scav
All 9 lives in quick rotation and multiple cats for the feeding of one. Good luck with that.
Alison Rose
@pat: He did mention in the first Max post that he had Feliway. Maybe Max is just a little lovebug.
lowtechcyclist
Glad they’re getting along! My wife and I each had one cat when we got married, and they never did more than tolerate each other.
trollhattan
@Alison Rose: :-) We went to different HSs.
Weed at mine was more useful put back on the broom from where it probably came. One of my first meaningful bits of college education was learning there’s a difference.
Alison Rose
@trollhattan: Northern CA was never lacking in good weed :P
KayInMD (formerly Kay (not the front-pager))
He looks like a real sweetheart! Our big (20 lb) cat is like this, whenever he’s anxious he needs a lot, a LOT of physical attention and holding. But once whatever has him upset has passed (visitors, illness in the family), he’s back to being a slightly more needy than most cat. I hope Max follows the same template.
Our two boys also run side by side to breakfast, with the little guy occasionally getting excited and leaping over the big guy, just to show his exuberance. Of course the little fella still thinks he’s a kitten at 12 years old… Point is, I think the fact that they’re teaming up for the breakfast run means that they’re just that – a team. I know cats aren’t supposed to be pack animals, but I don’t buy it. In my experience they are much happier with another cat in the house.
JaneE
He is still trying to figure things out. Now that he has decided he kinda likes this place and the company, he wants to make the human like him enough to not send him away. If he could read the blog he would know better, but he is a cat.
My cat pesters me for attention until I give her some undivided loving – pet, hug, kiss – the more exuberant the better – and then she decides I am too affectionate for her and goes to bathe the human off for a few hours.
It is possible to get quite a bit of work on a computer done with one hand on or one arm around the cat, too. Not easy, but possible.
Gravenstone
My hyper-aggressive attention seeker is fortunately the smallest of my brood (8#), but he really demands attention. I get home, he’s literally underfoot. No matter which way I would turn, he manages to move to where my foot would land. I sit down, he’s jumping into my lap. He would prefer to be literally right against the left side of my face, rubbing constantly. Fortunately he’s learned that if I push against his chest on the climb that he needs to ‘settle’ for sitting in my lap. I wish you good fortune with the house panther. May you come to an attention sharing accommodation where Steve and Thurston still get some of your time too.
Citizen_X
Great, they’re training on their hunting tactical maneuvers. Soon, they’ll be ready to take down the large human.
stinger
Happy days!
J.
What problem? I don’t see a problem here. Learn to type with one hand and enjoy the cuddles.
Heidi Mom
What a beautiful cat!
MomSense
I’m so envious. I miss having a black cat and a Maine coon cat. They became best friends.
LiminalOwl
@artem1s: Most baby slings don’t quite work for cats, because of the different angle at which limbs attach to torso. (Yeah, ask me how I know.) I haven’t yet tried the Peruvian-style ones and might have to.
oh yes, and our two do the run-side-by-side-and-split at feeding time too. My spouse trips over them way too often.
Kristine
@different-church-lady: It really is.
danielx
That didn’t take long….
zhena gogolia
That’s a great problem to have! You scared me with that headline.
I think Steve welcomes the company.
Yutsano
So…you’re on your way to becoming Max’s new cat slave. If there’s a problem here I fail to see what it is.
Andrya
I have a possible solution that worked for me. My cat wants to be held whenever I sit down, and I sit down to type…. and I do a lot of typing.
Solution: I’ve trained her to crawl up to my shoulder. Her head and front paws are draped over my left shoulder, her back paws and hindquarters are supported on my left forearm near the elbow. I can type that way- not as fast as typing “sans cat” but fast enough. (If left handed, probably should use right shoulder.)
This works best if the cat is on the large side, but judging by the photos Max is large.
Ruckus
@Alison Rose:
You also must be a bit younger than me as weed at HS in SoCal was not a thing. Oh I’m sure there was some around it just wasn’t obvious. By the time I got out of the navy though, it was just a tad easier to find, smell, enjoy…..
Matt McIrvin
He looks so much like my house panther, Luna.
Odie Hugh Manatee
That’s an adorable face making an adorable face. That guy loves you big time, John.
KayInMD (formerly Kay (not the front-pager))
@LiminalOwl: There are pet slings where just the pet’s head sticks out. My son has a couple from his chihuahua, who passed last summer. I think his are too small for Max, but I’m sure there are larger sizes. His were extra small for his 5 lb dog.
mvr
Good news!
SW
Just enjoy it. It won’t last forever.
Mel
Our adopted house panther Brunhilde did the same – in your face, hold me NOW!, cuddle me like a baby, dammit!- she was a big personality and just loved all humans with a crazy, obsessive passion. It wasn’t unusual to wake up blind, because she was sprawled across my forehead and eyes like a furry ebony sleep mask, purring while sleeping.
She was my third ebony kitty (2 rescue boys years before her) and all three of them were serious lovebugs.
JimV
While not doubting that Max is attracted to those of sterling character, I suspect the desire for warmth on cold days is a factor.
Tag when the site opened: “Balloon Juice has never been a refuge for the linguistically delicate.” True, but there is plenty of stuff here for us also, despite our officially not being made welcome by many of the tags.
zhena gogolia
@Mel: My first cat was a black cat, and he was so loving.
Matt McIrvin
Luna loves to be petted and paid attention to right up to the moment she bites you. She’s not the nicest or best-behaved cat we’ve ever had, but in some sense I think she is the most cat cat.
(Our other cat, a little round gray-and-white creature named Jess, is so sweet and gentle that my kid describes her as a stuffed animal come to life. Scratches the furniture a bit though.)
SW
Likely he has figured out he fell into a pretty sweet gig. Expressing gratitude and praying it isn’t temporary.