Rules for Cats
I. DOORS
Do not allow closed doors in any room. To get a door opened,
stand on hind legs and scratch the frame. You may also reach
under the door and pull clothing towards you; silks get the
quickest reaction. Once door is opened, it is not necessary
to use it. After you have ordered an "outside" door opened,
stand halfway in and out and think about several things. This
is particularly important during very cold weather, when it's
raining or snowing, or during the height of the mosquito season.
Swinging doors must be avoided at all costs.
II. CHAIRS AND RUGS
If you have to urp, get to an overstuffed chair quickly. If
you cannot manage this in time, get to an Oriental rug. If there
are no Oriental rugs, shag is a good substitute. When urping
on shag, be sure you project; it is a must that it stretch for
as long as a human's bare foot.
III. BATHROOMS
Always accompany guests to the bathroom. (See Rule I) It is
not necessary to do anything - just sit and stare.
IV. HELPING
If one of your humans is engaged in some semi-closed activity
and the other is idle, stay with the busy one. This is called
"helping"; humans are known to refer to it as hampering". The
following are the rules for "helping": a) When supervising cooking,
sit just behind the left heel of the cook. You cannot be seen
and thereby stand a better chance of being stepped on and then
picked up and comforted. b) For book readers, get in close under
the chin, between eyes and book, unless you can lie across the
book itself. c) For knitting projects or paperwork, lie on the
work in the most appropriate manner so as to obscure as much
of the work or at least the most important part. Pretend to
doze, but every so often reach out and slap the pencil or knitting
needles. The worker may try to distract you; ignore it. Remember,
the aim is to hamper work. Embroidery and needlepoint projects
make great hammocks in spite of what the humans may tell you.
d) For people paying bills (monthly activity) or working on
income taxes or Christmas cards (annual activity), keep in mind
the aim - to help! First, sit on the paper being worked on.
When dislodged, watch sadly from the side of the table. When
activity proceeds nicely, roll around on the papers, scattering
them to the best of your ability. After being removed for the
second time, push pens, pencils, and erasers off the table,
one at a time. e) When a human is holding the newspaper in front
of him/her, be sure to jump on the back of the paper. They love
to jump.
V. WALKING
As often as possible, dart quickly and as close as possible
in front of the human. Especially effective places to strike
are: 1) On stairs, when they have something in their arms; 2)
In the dark; and 3) When they first get up in the morning. This
exercise helps with improving their coordination skills.
VI. BEDTIME
Always sleep on the human at night. If there are two (or more)
of you, book end the human putting off the greatest heat. They
will try and squirm but your sheer numbers and inert bodies
will effectively keep them pinned.
VII. COMPUTERS
1: Only show interest in computers that are turned ON, the operator
will need your help.
2: Monitors are bad for human eyes. It might ruin your owner's
sight and cause them to buy less cat food. Always get in between
the monitor and the person operating the computer. For best
results, stands as close to the monitor as possible. If you
are removed, go and sulk in a corner for a minute, then repeat.
Look as innocent as possible.
3: Keyboards are great to lie down on. Make yourself as comfortable
as possible. Marching over the keyboard several times is fun
too. Practice aiming at alt-F4, N, and ctrl-alt-del.
4: Always chase the mouse. Your owner can't blame you for this,
since it's your feline instinct to chase mice.
5: Floppy disk make great scratching posts. Nothing beats floppies
when it's time to sharpen your nails.