I have to leave Mycah alone in the house for about 12 hours a day on work days. Though she may only have a brain the size of a walnut, I figure she might have just enough synapses to experience boredom.

It isn't hard to tell that Mycah gets bored while I'm away; when I pull up into the driveway in the wee hours of the morning after work, I can see her silhouetted in the front window, sitting on the back of the living room couch, keeping an eye out for my return. I suspect it's mainly because she wants to be fed the minute I walk in, but there's a strong likelihood it's also because she has nothing better to do. It's not like she has many ways to amuse herself.

I do give her a lot of attention when I am home — her favorite game seems to be "hunt the hand moving under the blanket/towel/newspaper" — but while my red cell count is recovering during my work week, she is forced to spend the majority of her time alone.

Ideally, I'd get her a playmate; I'd certainly like to have another cat in the house, and I figure it would be great for Mycah to have a companion, but unfortunately, she doesn't have a history of playing well with others.

At least she doesn't run with scissors.

Still, a way had to be found to keep her little grey cells from shutting down, something to get her attention, something to interest her, some way to keep her as mentally sharp as a middle-aged cat can be. Ultimately, I took the yuppie parent way out: I bought her a DVD that I leave running when I go to work.

Cat Sitter is a DVD that features scenes of rodents, birds, and fish doing what they do. Mice scamper in a terrarium. Birds flutter around a feeder. Fish swim in an aquarium. Squirrels run around in a park. For Mycah, it's like video crack.

No, strike that. It's like video crack, steeped in heroin, with a meth chaser.

I suspect that in her mind's eye she is a sabre-tooth, stalking a wildebeest.

It's Friday, so of course it's time for the Friday Ark. And on Sunday, the Carnival of the Cats at IMAO. [Update, 5/21: the Carnival has arrived.]

I'll be hosting the CotC here on Monday, June 5th (a day later than usual because of my work schedule.)

Posted by Russ at 06:23 PM, May 19, 2006 in Animals & DVD