To a cat, "NO!" means "Not while I'm looking".

I took Rhody to the vet on Monday. He had to have a couple of booster shots. He's only about three months old now. He weighed six pounds.

He was supposed to have a rabies shot, but since he was getting two boosters, I asked the vet if we could wait a little longer for the rabies, since he’s younger than we originally thought he was when we got him in June.

Rhody and Jonesie
June 2011

We really enjoy watching Rhody play with Jonesie. Jonesie is the “big” brother. Rhody follows him everywhere and they get into trouble together. Of course, Jonesie is such a good boy, he’s not teaching Rhody any bad habits. I’m afraid it’s going to be the other way around when Rhody gets big enough to jump up on counters, etc.

Jonesie is big enough to jump, but so far he hasn’t tried. We think he’s capable of jumping high, but he just doesn’t. Could he really be that good? By the time the twins were his age, or even before they were as old, they were jumping up on the counters, getting on the fireplace mantle, on top of the TV, etc. We were constantly spraying water at them. They kept us busy.

Kaci kind of learned that she wasn’t supposed to be up in those places, but Jason is stubborn. Now when he gets up on the entertainment center and lays, we don’t really notice that he’s there. He’s like a fixture. We feel so much better now that we’ve given up!

Although I never catch Jason up there, I know he still gets up into the garden window over the kitchen sink. I have some plants in there and he has chewed on some of the leaves. I usually put the plants up on shelves that he can’t get to, but I haven’t moved them back up there yet. When we were on vacation, I brought all of the plants down and put them in the window so they could easily be watered by our pet sitter.

Out on the "cat patio"
On top, Jezibel, Lexi and Grady at bottom
January 2005

We have a cat door which lets the cats out onto their little enclosed patio. When the twins came to live with us, they were about five months old. They learned how to go in and out in no time.

When we went to get Rhody from my friend, she had a cat door which let her cats out into the backyard. She said that Rhody knew how to get out, but he couldn’t figure out how to get back in.

The first day we had Rhody, he went out through the cat door and came back in a few minutes later.

The funny thing is, Jonesie, at almost a year old, still doesn’t know how to use the cat door. We’ve tried to teach him and he still doesn’t get it. If he’s out there, I leave the glass patio door open just big enough for him to come through.

Yesterday he was on the patio. I closed the door and decided I was going to work on teaching him how to use the cat door. I was in the house and I called him. He saw me, but didn’t try to come through the door. I pushed Rhody through the door and thought if Jonesie saw him come back through, he’d catch on. Rhody came back into the house. Jonesie just sat there.

I took some treats and stuck my hand through the flap so Jonesie come see them. He wanted them, because he loves treats. He was interested, but when I brought my hand with the treats back through the flap, he layed back down.

I tried using Rhody a few more times until Rhody got tired of it and went off to play with his little mouse toy. I lifted the flap, offered Jonesie a treat and he got his nose just through the flap. I was letting the flap down and he pulled his head back out.

I was getting a little frustrated that he just wouldn’t learn. He showed no interest in trying to see if he could get through the flap. I tried putting a line of treats down just inside the cat door and held the flap up for him to see them. He once again started to stick his head through. I held the flap up and kept moving the treats further into the house. Finally he got his neck and shoulder in. I carefully let the flap rest on his shoulder. He continued to move through the door until he was in.

I told him “Good boy!”, but I know he really doesn’t know how to use the cat door yet. He would never come through by himself.

I’ve tried leaving him out on the patio in hopes he would want to come in bad enough to figure out the door. He never did. He just settles down and waits until the door is opened for him.

It won’t be the end of the world if Jonesie never uses the cat door, but there will probably be times this winter when he might get stuck out on the patio accidentally. Maybe that’s what it will take for him to learn.

More later..........