Si on donne un poisson à un chat …

~ iamthesunking

If you are British, over a certain age and a follower of this blog, you will, no doubt, have spent New Year’s Eve exactly as we did: at home, TUC, watching the London fireworks on television and muttering things like, “What a waste of money” or “I bet Sydney’s were better”.

Louis Catorze ended last year, and began this one, doing what he does best:

1. Hunting*.

2. Playing with the motion-activated catnip fish that the Dog Family gave him for Christmas. He absolutely loves it.

When in motion, the fish’s tail makes a kind of yappy-slappy sound. This doesn’t bother us in the slightest when we know that Catorze is playing with his fish. After all, if he weren’t, he would be demanding play from us. And, when you’re still seeping flu from the eyeballs, a cat wanting relentless play is like watching a performing artist who requests audience participation.

However, if we happen to be walking past the fish and glance it very slightly with half a toe, that’s enough to set it off. And don’t even get me started on how scary it is when you’re home alone and the yappy-slappy sound starts up from another room. I daren’t even go and check whether it’s Catorze or a poltergeist, although there are times when I wonder if the latter would be less stressful than the former.

If we try to take the fish from him, he hangs on with his claws and not even an atomic bomb would shift him. Let’s hope that le poisson will make a dent in his excess energy, and give us all at least a few minutes of peace in 2023.

“MON poisson.”

*Oh yes, we had another mouse on New Year’s Day morning, and this time Catorze was sitting proudly by his victim, tail swishing menacingly, looking thoroughly pleased with himself. And, would you believe, on that day, of all days, the park bin was overflowing. So I had to tip Mousey into the park’s undergrowth and hope not only that Foxy Loxy would get it, but also that none of the neighbours’ Ring doorbell cameras caught me. The last thing I want is That Neighbour and the rest of the Neighbourhood Activist Committee admonishing me for dumping random shite in the park.

35 thoughts on “Si on donne un poisson à un chat …”

  1. Catorze liking his fish is a good thing. Lots of other cats (on other blogs I read) ignore them or are scared of them. The fish we see over here are more realistic looking – Catorze’s looks like a Paul Klee.
    Don’t worry he will tire of it soon enough and get on your nerves in a new way ! At least the fish will help til you are fully recovered,

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  2. Those flipping doorbells are hortublr, if I’m at my daughter’s and they’re not in I get shouted at and it makes me feel guilty even when I’m not up to mischief!!

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  3. The gift Louis got was worthy of a king, wasn’t it?
    One day, after reading a story of yours, we bought Timon a mere catnip fish and since then he has utterly ignored it.
    When we show it to him, he looks at the storage bag eagerly because he prefers the bag to the fish.
    About the new mouse, what colour was it this time?

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    1. Hahahaha, Timon prefers the bag to the fish! How typical! And Catorze’s mouse was a normal browny-grey, not black this time. I wish I knew how on earth he is finding them at his age.

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  4. Mes meilleurs vœux pour une excellente année, j’espère que nous resterons tous en bonne santé et heureux. Let’s hope Google did the job correct… 😉 Jimi sends his regards to Louis.
    To be honest, I’m glad these days are over and we’re heading for spring, well, kinda…

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    1. Bonne Année! We are definitely heading for spring, however slow it may seem. Catorze seems to think spring is already here, and is constantly out bothering other animals. Is Jimi allowed out unsupervised?

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      1. He’s outside right now. It stopped raining a few minutes ago and there are lots of sparrows in the garden, so… I guess you can picture the scene! 😉 I prefer to keep him inside while it’s raining…

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    1. I can’t throw that far/hard! Mousey probably would have landed on someone’s parked car, and then the Ring doorbell would have filmed a mouse appearing to fall from the sky and me picking it off the car. 😳

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  6. Oh quelle chance d’avoir un chat qui joue !
    Chez moi je n’ai pas de Majesté mais un chat qui a eu un traumatisme crânien. Le chaton joueur et actif que j’avais réservé ne l’était plus lorsque je l’ai pris. Cela fait 11 ans qu’il est traumatisé par tout ce qui bouge.
    A lire la vie de Catorze, j’adopterai un gros chat noir.
    Longue vie à Catorze (et à vous aussi pour le servir).

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    1. Ahh, c’est très gentil de votre part d’adopter un chat que plein de gens auraient refusé! Il a eu de la chance! Comment s’appelle-t-il?

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  9. What does TUC stand for ?
    I had no idea the verb “to glance” could be transitive (and I didn’t know its meaning). I like learning new words… I’m a recent reader and I’m wondering : why the French titles ? Do you speak French ?

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    1. Lovely to hear from you! TUC stands for Trapped Under Cat, and it describes one’s state of being when a cat is on your lap and you have to ask for things to be brought to you because you can’t move. Yes, I speak French but the titles are because my cat is French! 🇫🇷

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