Teaching an Old Cat New Tricks*

Luna (see at left) has mastered fetch. Tonight she's bored with life and whining dramatically, incessantly bringing me a ball to throw, but I'm bored with fetch. Why did I teach her this game? Seeing as how there's no turning back now, I've decided the solution is to teach her a new game. A while back we'd bought her some ping-pong balls, hoping she would enjoy batting at them in the tub, where, Lord knows why, the cats like to hang out, staring at us through the doorway as we eat dinner.

We trekked into the bathroom, Luna and I, where I dropped two balls in the tub and let them ping and pong about. She looked confused. She jumped in the tub with the balls and observed silently. Then she hissed at them. I tried batting them around some more--See? This is fun!--but alas, just more hissing. Once Luna started arching her back, I knew it was time to give up this passtime. I took a moment to wipe out the disgustingly hairy tub with a paper towel, then embarked upon a new project: cat soccer. You know, I roll the ball to her, and she rolls it back to me.


First, confusion. Then, she whacked the ball, albeit in the opposite direction. I praised her effort. Noah sat a safe distance nearby, observing. (See at right.**) I rolled the ball to him. He rolled it back to me, looking slightly alarmed. I praised him profusely. We were getting it! A game we could all play, as a bizarre human-cat family! I rolled the ball to Luna. She again at hit it, blindly, sending it in the wrong direction, but I congratulated her effort. Rolled it to Noah, who again hit it toward me, looking even more alarmed. I praised him. Rolled it to Luna, who simply stared at me. Then to Noah, who walked away. Then to Luna, who decided to attack something else.

There's always tomorrow. Now please excuse me while I mop the kitchen floor, which was unpleasant to sit on.


* she's not that old, really
** Noah is actually much bigger than Luna, despite appearances in these here photos.