He’s A Feline.

There will be days where Truman spends most of his time upstairs relaxing in the master suite or the adjacent Observatory in his cat bed. (The observatory was built by the original designer of this house, we use it as an office and gaming area). Other days he’ll situate himself at my feet as I make my way through the workday. As long as there are occasionally treats and a couple of scritches behind the ears, he’s good. Otherwise he stretches out and only wakes up if I move my chair. We both assure he won’t be run over.

Truman enjoys watching the happenings of the birds and the like around the property. His two favorite places to watch these activities are the big window in our upstairs master suite and out the back door of the kitchen into the gazebo.

The big window is enjoyed from his strategically placed cat perch. Some doves have set up shop on the roof above the window. He keeps an eye on their landing patterns.

The kitchen view gives him ground level access to what’s running around out back. The dogs and Truman seem to have come to an understanding to not bother him when he’s in observation mode.

Truman looking over my work progress

With all the all-day meetings I had this week, Truman was displaying a bit of impatience when it came to pets and treats at the appropriate time. I tried to explain to him that sometimes the one that provides the treats has to talk to people elsewhere in the world. He didn’t care, he said they were probably dog people, and then he gave me a little bite on the leg to reinforce the point. That’s one of the things he likes to do, a little bite to get the point across. It’s only one bite at a time, there’s no other aggression and if I present my arm again he turns away. He just likes his kisses to count, I guess.

It has taken a while but I believe Truman and the dogs have come to an understanding about playtime. When Truman retreats to the lowest shelf at the end of the kitchen cupboards, he is to be left alone. I’ve noticed over the past week that when he’s “Cat on a Shelf” the dogs walk by and look at him but there’s no sniffing or whining to play or anything like that.

When Truman is in a feisty mood he may leave the shelf and go to another spot in the kitchen, where he’ll give a friendly swat to a passing dog and then they’ll start running around a little bit. He usually then immediately retreats to my office which is apparently another “safe spot” in the canine-feline understanding going on in this house. Once he’s by my desk, the dogs come to a halt.

It’s just the way of the world.

There were plenty of purrs from Truman when I got home.

Truman likes to hang out in the middle of the floor from time to time. He keeps it quite casual.

I call this Truman’s “Royal Pose”. This is his usual way of relaxing on the floor, usually in the afternoons. I come up to see how things are going in other parts of the house during the workday, and he’s usually waiting by the door of master suite in this pose.

He’s so regal.

Truman continues to monitor the activities from strategic points throughout the house. The puppies are still quite exuberant to play, but Truman keeps them in line with a swipe or two of the paw to the nose, claws are usually retracted. He hisses for effect.

Truman enjoys looking out the big windows we have throughout the house. Today he’s taking a gander out toward the gazebo, where hummingbirds tend to do their thing. I hope I’m not throwing him off his game.

Things have settled down in the world of cats and puppies and Truman seems much more calm in his usual haunts. He does enjoy eating out of the dogs’ water bowl. He tried a couple pieces of dog chow and decided it was not for him.

Here’s a photo of him checking out the sunset, followed by the relaxation period after enjoying the sunset.