😸My Cat Gets EVERYTHING he Wants (especially treats!)😸

Onward! In the face of 15-view videos rather than 15 million, I must carry on.

ASMR: Cat Crunchies (late at night!)

I spend some quality time with Bentley, late at night. This is an unvarying ritual in which he paws at me, yawns, paws at me some more, then finally gets his treats. I love the crunchy sounds in this video - very soothing!

Captain Multi-Paw and the long, long stretch!

Bentley is my favorite subject, and he really does seem to enjoy being the centre of attention. In this one he stretches out SOOOOOOO long that his back feet are suspended in mid-air. We also get a great view of his multicoloured paws and fuzzy pants.

Sleepy Boi: Sweet Bentley lolls n' sprawls!

This is a bit of a palate cleanser. This time of year can be rough. I'm so glad I have my sleepy boi!

Bentley is Famous!

 

Bentley is famous! He appears in the pet gallery (right after the lizard), a feature of this channel which deals with cults. I live for cult stories, but it's appropriate to feature a "palate cleanser" after these toxic stories. 

😸Why does my cat bite his fur?😺

Watching Bentley groom is fascinating, because he doesn't just lick - he bites his fur, especially the fluffy, flossy tummy fur which he keeps so immaculately clean. This video got over 600 likes, whereas the ones I work and slave over might get 30. But it's cats, folks. 

Bentley was SUCH a good boi!

 

Our beloved Bentley was SUCH a good boi at the vet's today! It was completely different from all his other experiences, where he'd be terrified and would meow pitifully through the whole examination. Our old clinic closed permanently, perhaps because the facilities were just too primitive by today's standards (one big loud dog-smelling waiting area with barks, howls, jumping around, etc. while Bentley, who has an exquisite sense of smell, would cower in the back of his carrier).

Well, that clinic was closed, so I began to look around for something else close by (he hates those car rides!). I found a local clinic, newly-built, that literally has TWO clinics: one for cats and one for dogs. The cat clinic even has a separate entrance! I noticed Bentley stopped his pitiful meowing when we came in, and even came out of the carrier without trauma. He sniffed around and got used to the place while the vet took his history from  us. She was lovely, obviously loved cats, felt him all over and told us what we had so hoped to hear - at nine years old, he's pretty much in perfect health. He has even lost a little weight from his very large frame. 

Best of all was the way the clinic understood cats and their particular needs, their hypersensitivity and how they can be intimidated by larger, louder, smellier animals. Bentley was attacked and ripped up quite badly by a dog before we adopted him, so naturally his fears are even greater. But it all went so smoothly, it only cost $100.00, and I have no qualms about taking him back there if, God forbid, anything happens with his health

He was SUCH a good boi! Even better, when we got home he actually crawled back into his carrier and loafed for a while. Now THAT is a first. 

💗Beautiful, Beautiful Bentley: my gorgeous, sleepy cat!💗

Bentley has been with us now for seven years, and we can't imagine our lives without him. He is a dignified cat, rarely meows or makes a fuss, but rules in an imperious way, striking magnificent poses (i. e. his British Museum pose, modelling the famous Egyptian bastet sculpture which inspired worship in ancient times). He divides his loyalties evenly between us, but it is always along certain lines which never vary. He sleeps very contentedly on Bill's lap in the Lazy Boy, but his routine with me is different. As I lie reading in bed (something comfortably boring to help me get to sleep), he will steal into the room, jump up, and stare at me with those uncanny eyes for the longest time, before gingerly reaching out a paw to touch me. Then another touch, then a little harder one, then he stretches his paw way up and spreads his toes - the signal for me to give him his treats. Then when he has had a nice face-wash, he settles himself between my ankles, turning around and around and plunking himself down. When I turn out the lights, I often have to turf him off or at least get him to move over a bit. We often think he understands everything we say, to the point we are tempted to spell things out as you would do with a toddler. But he is wise beyond his years, expending his energies only to leap up to the bird feeders installed on our windowpanes. He IS a cat, after all. And a cat's a cat, for a' that. 

This is the tribute to Bentley I posted not long after we brought him home. Hard to believe it's been so many years! 

When my beloved lovebird Paco died just a short time ago, it was agonizing. She only lived 100 days, and was an absolute delight. I should have spent many years with her. I knew I couldn't get another bird, because if that happened again -

We didn't even have cats on our minds. Oh all right, we did, because my daughter had just adopted Mia, a darling little tabby who stole everybody's heart. I noticed how the whole atmosphere in the house had changed, as if it had been flooded with sunshine.

At one point in my anger and grief over Paco, I said to Bill, "I can't get another bird, I just can't. We might as well go get a cat." This was a reference to the "no more cats" rule we had made after the death of Murphy, the 17-year-old catriarch of the family, in 2007.

Bill especially felt that we'd be too old by the time the cat reached that age, if it ever did. But he said something surprising that changed everything. "We could get a cat." I hadn't meant it literally, but suddenly our thinking began to change. And as we all know, that changes everything.

We decided we would "start the process of looking for a cat". Not rush into anything, of course. We weren't even supposed to be getting another pet at this stage. It was too soon, far too soon, wasn't it? But I began to look into it, research adoption web sites.  My first experience was with a Vancouver kitten rescue agency called VOKRA. I looked at one cat, a very lovely cat indeed, and as soon as I reached out to pet her, she tore a chunk out of me. We both went home from that "viewing" with bloody scratches.

I think sometimes certain organizations are just too idealistic about whether a cat is truly adoptable or not. That one wasn't.

So we decided to try the SPCA, where most people go. I had been looking on the web site for a while, and saw this snagglepuss-like baby cougar, and just HAD to go see him. Right now. He was in Maple Ridge, so it didn't take too long.

It was just one of those things. He was housed in an enclosure about the size of a large walk-in closet, much more amenable than a cage, but still kind of cramped for a cat. When he saw me he jumped down, ran towards me and wound himself around my leg. I immediately picked him up and held him. He relaxed into my arms. He had a soft, plushy coat, and was purring gently.

"This is the cat," I said to Bill. "Are you sure?" "There are no other cats. This is the one."

It has only been a few days, yet it seems longer, and not because time is dragging. It's another thing entirely. This little guy, about a year old, has an incredible history. Someone found him outside, mangled and bleeding. He had been mauled by a dog and had bite-marks on his shoulders. And yet, he is a sweet and gentle cat who loves to be held. So far his worst habit is drinking out of the toilet.

He has substantial gaps in his coat where the dog bit and probably shook him. They might or they might not fill in with fur, but if they don't, they'll only remind me of his valor in facing down a nasty old dog, and (even more remarkably) not becoming nasty himself.

My daughter-in-law Crystal has a way of summing things up. "After he flew down from heaven, that's where his wings broke off," she said.  Amen to that.

🐱SLEEPY BOI: Bentley takes a nap🐱

😺The Cat on my Desk (Beautiful Bentley!)😺

Beatiful Bentley doesn't have to do anything at all.

Mummy "HEARTS" Bentley!

And a couple of new author photos (which my husband took) for my blog, YouTube channel and Amazon Author page, LONG overdue, taken post-pandemic-hairstyle (which I actually like far better than the old short style). Now I'm good for another five years.

I 💗💙💚💛💜BENTLEY!!!

Visit Margaret's Amazon Author Page!

😾BENTLEY'S IN THE PICTURE!💗

This is a bit of a classic: Bentley trying to be right inside a TV program. It was a Nature of Things documentary about CATS, and though he has never given the TV a second glance, he jumped right up and began to paw the screen as if to try to get inside. By the end, he is posing very elegantly along with his fellow "video cats".

😾BEDTIME for BENTLEY: Sleepy, yawny kitty is begging for treats!💗

Bentley and I have a bedtime ritual which never varies. He has to beg for (no, ASK for his treats) by raising his paw. Undignified for a cat like Bentley, but if he wants his treats badly enough, he does it. 

😾CHRISTMAS AMBUSH! 😲 Kitty LUNGES at me from under the tree!😾

A Christmas classic, taken several years ago. Bentley still slips under the tree and hides, or even tries to climb it. Last night he got his toe caught in the base of the tree and had to be rescued. That's what we get for having a TREE in the house for weeks on end! 

"Has anybody seen our cat?"

Cats on TV: Bentley wants in!

My cat Bentley has done some strangely wonderful things, and he tends to be smarter and more sensitive and tuned-in than any of the other family cats. But this was truly extraordinary. For the first time, he became interactive with a TV program, and it was all about cats. He had never done this before - leaped up to paw at the images on the screen and literally try to climb inside it and be part of it. He DID pose majestically in a couple of scenes, giving the shots an oddly 3D look. BTW, he has never done this again, not even with shows featuring cats. He blinks once, then walks away. TV is such a waste of time. 

New girl in town: trolls 'n dolls in Trollandia

 

"Bent-ley!!" Cat crashes my breakfast in bed

A cat for breakfast??!

Bentley is my joy!

 

Bentley in the jungle!