Stay at Home Order Tips from the Cats

Kitten Tuesday Quarantine Edition

It’s been a while since I posted for kitten Tuesday and I was thinking that y’all might be up for a big dose of cuteness. Also, Anabel and Sally wanted to share some stay at home order tips, so here you go!

I realize that having to stay home all the time is a big change for most of us, but for Anabel and Sally, it is standard operating procedure. They would be much more bothered by actually having to get in the car and go anywhere. Even when Anabel sits by the back door watching Mr. Man puttering around in the driveway, she is not inclined to step out when I open the door for a trek to the laundry room.

Full disclosure: my sister sent me these tips in a meme, but Sally and Anabel, who are professional at stay-at-home-quarantine protocols, did endorse the recommendations.

Nap early, nap often

As I write this Anabel and Sally are very busily partaking in their afternoon nap.  They never seem to let having their nap interrupted prevent them from resuming napping as soon as it is appropriate. I think this attitude can apply to all sorts of stay-at-home activities. You just have to go with the flow and know that you will get back to whatever it was that you were trying to get done as soon as it is feasible.

Seek out sunbeams

I would argue that this is probably the single most useful tip that you can adopt from cats in quarantine. A little sunlight does a world of good for me, although I usually grant myself the extravagance of taking my sunlight outside of the house (go for a walk, it’ll be ok, I promise).

Eat on a regular schedule

Sure, it’s easier to just have food out and snack all day long, but at some point, you are going to have to put your real pants on again, just sayin’.

Bonus tip here: why not use the fancy dishes?

Keep yourself clean

You don’t need to adopt a cat’s multiple times a day cleaning routine, but do take a shower, even if you don’t “need” one.  Afterwards, put on a clean pair of sweatpants (even though the ones you were wearing yesterday are your favorite and they are practically clean after all).

It’s ok to run around the house screaming when it all gets to be too much

Or in Sally and Anabel’s case, to have a little knock down, blow out brawl just to clear the air.  I mean these cats will go at it.  Someone is chasing the other one from room to room. One of them is pouncing on the other one. There is some hissing and growling.  And then they are done. And you will probably find them cuddling an hour later.  Sometimes you just have to get it out of your system.  But once you have, you need to drop it, no holding a grudge.

Sally is a Work of Art

Guys, I got the nicest surprise in the mail the other day. I mean, I always thought that Sally was a work of art, but now he really is!  Long story:

Going to the store to buy cat food was a pain in the butt.  That one pet food store doesn’t carry the right brand, the other one might only have a few cans and I’d have to go back every week or so.  Whatever.  I was annoyed. 

So, I started ordering from Chewy.com.  It’s great.  I set up an auto ship, but it sends me a notification every month so that I can change anything about my delivery.  Anything.  Like the type, or the quantity of cat food.  Or I can add a 40-pound bag of cat litter.  Or I can change the date.

Last month, I got my auto ship notification.  But I needed cat food like the next day, not the next week.  So, I changed the date to “ship now” and it did. It shipped THAT DAY.  And it was delivered before dinner time the next day.  How great is that?

Mr. Man had piled up the four cases of cat food on the dining table.  Sally knows what his dinner looks like and he wanted to let us know that he was ready for some as soon as we wanted to give it to him.

Long story short: I sent Chewy.com this photo of Sally with his thanks for the prompt delivery.  They wrote back a hilarious message full of pet puns (I thought I was bad).

Then last Friday, I found a fancy, metallic blue, padded envelope in my mail from Chewy.com.  I know that I hadn’t ordered anything recently and had no idea what it could be.

Inside was a very sweet, hand-written note and this beautiful painting of my handsome Sally based on the photo that I had sent them!  Isn’t that just the most thoughtful gesture?  As if getting multiple cases of canned cat food and 40-pound bags of cat litter delivered to my door without having to pay for shipping isn’t fantastic enough.

Sally’s favorite part of our surprise delivery was the tissue paper which he thoroughly shredded before retiring for his afternoon nap.

Now I just have to figure out how to get a painting of Anabel before she gets too jealous.

Anabel is not amused