The Day Two Cats Escaped

Yesterday morning, I was in a sleepy haze, when I heard Wil come in the door from work around 5:00am.

"Babe," He said "Uh...there's a cat outside our door. He's really cute."

"No..." I grumbled "We can't keep him."

"But, I don't know what to do with him...I'm gonna feed him. I think he's hungry."

"Okay...but don't bring him in here..." I said drifting back off to sleep.

A few hours later, there was a knock at my door, it woke me up. It was our neighbor from downstairs.

"Hi!" She said cheerily "Is this your cat?" Before I even looked down to see what cat she was talking about, I said:

"No, no, no...he's a stray..." then I glanced down and saw him.

"Oh! He's not our cat, he's my parent's cat...uh...Dusty." I was clearly not awake, my hair was sticking up, and I was wearing a gross tee-shirt and pajama pants.

"Thanks--thanks so much. I'll bring him back...have a great day." She smiled politely, went on her way out the door, most likely thinking that I was a giant slob.

I walked the formerly homeless cat known as Dusty back downstairs to his rightful owners.

**Later that day**

We were downstairs at my parent's place playing in the backyard. I was also attempting to multi-task by doing laundry. When Ari came back inside the house, he left the garden door open and Faryl the cat escaped!

Try as I might, I could not lure Faryl the cat back in the house. I called to him, I opened a can of tuna, but he was not having it. Ari even tried to help me to get Faryl back in the house. But he ended up scaring him away. At the sound of Ari's voice, Faryl ran under the deck in my parent's garden.

I called my mom and told her what was going on. She said not to worry and that she would rescue Faryl from the depths of the Fader Garden when she returned home.

I received a voicemail in the wee hours of the evening, yesterday, from Liz Fader informing me that she had captured Faryl and returned him home.

May 3, 2011 will go down in infamy as the day two cats escaped! Also, it was my friend Xylia's birthday.

Cats, Laser Pointers and Babies

Feline Crayon Fun

In the tradition of Feline Garage, OS/NS Mom presents: Feline Crayon Fun!

My Cat is a Better Parent Than I Am

This evening, Ari was doing his regular routine of thwarting bedtime. Wilhelm and I tried to sing to him, rub his back, but he just screamed and kvetched and he was not willing to go to sleep.

Wil left the room to let Ari and I have some mommy and son time. Unfortunately, my child continued to scream.

All of a sudden, Uncle Egreck (my cat) jumped up onto the bed to see what was going on.

In desperation, I pointed to Egreck and said:
"Look Ari! Look who it is! Kitty!"
Ari stopped crying, crawled over to Uncle Egreck, curled up next to him and fell asleep.


As soon as Ari was asleep, Uncle Egreck relocated to another section of the bed as if to say:
"My work is done here."
Clearly, my cat is a better parent than I am.

Marjorie The Cat Inspires Me

I'd like to introduce you all to someone. His name is Marjorie.


Yes, I did say his name is Marjorie. Marjorie is a male cat and he is fabulous. But he is not my cat. He resides in a pet food and supply shop called Beastly Bite in Brooklyn, NY. The funny thing about Marjorie is that he hangs out at Beastly Bite, but his original home is actually next door at the Community Bookstore.


Marjorie sneaks out from the bookstore each day to visit Beastly Bite. According to the Bookstore folks, Marjorie is very mean to people when he is at the bookstore. According to Emma (who works at Beastly Bite) Marjorie is very nice and affectionate when he is at the the pet supply shop.

Clearly, this cat suffers from mood swings and is heavily influenced by his environment. Then it occurred to me: Marjorie the cat is just-like-me!

I admire his tenacity. I love the fact that he can just up and leave his original residence to go store hopping. Seeing Marjorie and what a character he was reminded me of my own two cats, Simon and Egreck.


I realized that all the time I've been spending with my son has resulted in me being a neglectful cat owner. I am often yelling at my cats to:

"Get out of the bed!" When I find them sleeping in Ari's bed.
"Get out of the bathroom!" When Egreck threatens to poop in the tub.
"Get back in the house!" When Simon runs out the apartment door and down the stairs to the lobby.

It occurred to me that perhaps the reason Simon is trying so hard to escape is that I've been neglecting him!

So, I listened to my cat mom guilt and bought Simon and Egreck some balls to chase.


Thank you Marjorie the cat, for inspiring me to be a better cat mama.

Inter-Species Slumber Party

I've accepted that my bed is no longer my bed. At some point during the evening my son wanders into it, the cat jumps up onto it and all of a sudden we are having an inter-species slumber party. Here's what I woke up to this morning:

Sometimes We Hurt The Ones We Love

After almost two years of friendship, Egreck (my cat) and Simon (my other cat) have become impatient with their dear friend (Ari, my son).


Ari shows his love for the "keys" (Ari's word for kitty) by lying on top of them and kissing them. I try to monitor his affections toward his feline uncles (they are his family after all) because he can overwhelm the "keys."

This is evidenced by the multiple scratches Ari has on his hands and feet. I don't see the scratches occur, but I do notice them after the fact.

This whole situation has got me thinking about de-clawing. Gasp! I am a shameless animal lover and would have never considered this option before. I, Sarah Fader, have saved countless cats and dogs from the streets of New York City, cat and dog sat in the metropolitan area for over five years, and worked in a veterinary office for two years of my life.

My understanding is that de-clawing your cats is similar to if you removed the nails from a human as well as a 1/4 inch of a human finger. Naturally, given this understanding, I am extremely reluctant to pursue this option.

But I have tried clipping my cats nails, told my son to be "gentle" and all that positive parenting language. None of this seems to solve the problem that my cats are repeatedly scratching my son.

Readers: Any thoughts?

The Adventures of Egreck and Ari

When I was pregnant many concerned people told me:

"You know, once you have a baby, you have to give up your cats!"
"Cats try to kill babies in their sleep."
"Cats are jealous of babies. Be careful!"

Well, to all those people that were so worried about my cats hurting my baby I offer you this; Exhibit A:


And Exhibit B:



That blob of black fur next to my son is Egreck, my incredibly docile and friendly cat. He loves my son and my son loves him. In fact, Egreck has always been curious about babies. When I was pregnant he did not know what to make of my enormous round belly.



To clear the myth up about babies and cats being enemies, I've decided to write a children's book about it entitled: The Adventures of Egreck and Ari. Egreck is the main cat in the story and Ari is my son.

It starts when I am pregnant:


And then it continues on to describe how both my cats reacted to my son's birth and prescence in the house. Here are Egreck and Simon (my other more reserved cat) waiting for me to come home. At this point all relevant human parties are at the hospital involved in the birth. This left the cats to sit and wait.





Often the cats were left out of the action when my son came home from the hospital. Egreck, in particular being the more curious of my two cats, was left behind closed doors; wondering what was happening.



Egreck was also quite fascinated by the influx of random visitors I received after my son was born. He loved all the action occurring in the apartment.


All artwork is made with construction paper and glue which both Egreck and Ari have at one time tried to play with or eat during the process.

Hopefully this illustrated children's book will clear up the myth about cats and babies hating one another. Because Egreck loves my son and the feeling is mutual.

Cat Crib Antics

I went to sleep late last night. I'm talking late, like midnight late. My son had been asleep since 7pm and for some reason I could not get myself to wind down.

Finally, after watching massive amounts of television, I knocked out. My boyfriend stumbled home from his overnight shift at the airport at 5am. I woke up abruptly to him standing in the bedroom doorway:

"Babe! You know the door is wide open?!" He said pointing to the doorway of the bedroom.

He was right.

I sat up immediately.

"Oh my G-d!" I shouted. My first thought was: the cats! Generally, we keep the bedroom doors closed so the cats can't come into the room at night.

"Go check on the baby!" I exclaimed.

My boyfriend rushed over to my son's crib to find a sleeping baby next to...a sleeping cat. They were curled up next to one another comfortably. I didn't know whether to laugh, cry or scream at that point; so I let my boyfriend deal with the situation. He promptly removed Egreck, my cat, from the crib, and we all went back to sleep.

Pictured above is the illustrious crib hopper.