{"id":15771,"date":"2015-11-21T00:10:08","date_gmt":"2015-11-21T05:10:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/?p=15771"},"modified":"2016-01-06T12:20:12","modified_gmt":"2016-01-06T17:20:12","slug":"my-cats-and-our-shared-water-cooler-moments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/my-cats-and-our-shared-water-cooler-moments\/","title":{"rendered":"My Cats and Our Shared Water-Cooler Moments"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"the<\/a>

The window in the guest bedroom seems to beckon to me to grab the camera each time I walk past it – the cats love to congregate to either soak up the sun, bird watch, or just have a delightful catnap. This is Jazmine, Mia, and Rolz.<\/p><\/div>\n

I shared some photos of my cats last week for Selfie Sunday in which I elaborated about the downfalls of both my photographic abilities and the capabilities of my camera. Despite the shortcomings, I continue to be drawn to taking pictures of them – quite frankly I\u2019m obsessed with it – but this week I have come to not only accept my limitations, but embrace them, because they are a loving scrapbook come to life of the treasured moments I have shared with them.<\/p>\n

Much of the melancholy is because while I remain unemployed, the truth of the matter is that one day I will find work again. This leaves me struggling with a bittersweet sweep of emotion, because honestly, I know it will be unbearably difficult for me to go back to a world where I will have to leave my furry companions behind. The camera has become my extension of that emotion – each picture I take is not just a photo, but a snapshot of a window in time that will forever be\u00a0a personal memory to me. That the image might be blurry or imperfect is not the point – the point is that\u00a0each picture I took was a result of something that completely compelled me.<\/p>\n

\"20151119_141745\"<\/a>

I saw Rolz basking in the sunlight and the whole image just melted my heart – he is such a regal cat to begin with, so capturing him next to that beautiful column seemed so appropriate.<\/p><\/div>\n

I don\u2019t mean to seem overly\u00a0dramatic, but something significant has changed in my relationship with them. I have always loved them, but being with them uninterrupted, every single day for over a month has deepened our bond in ways I never dreamed possible. My relationship used to center on quality time I could find with them on weekends and evenings, but now I am afforded the luxury of sharing a home\u00a0with them without any time constraints and it has changed how we interact with one another.<\/p>\n

\"sundays<\/a>

This is Jazmine – is she not the cutest co-worker ever?<\/p><\/div>\n

Jazmine has changed the most \u2013 once somewhat aloof – she now reports for duty first thing in the morning (duty being the shelf over my computer in my office that I have padded with a towel for her) and she will\u00a0work, i.e., nap, the entire day with the exception of a brief window break or what I call a “water-cooler\u201d moment \u2013 a\u00a0snippet of time when the cats \u00a0are\u00a0drawn to the guest bedroom window for bird watching, cat chatter, tail wagging, sunshine, and other whatnot (I am sharing some of my favorite “water-cooler” pictures to follow).<\/p>\n

\"IMG_1978\"<\/a>

This is one of my favorite “water-cooler” pictures. I had briefly opened the window for the first time this year and Kizmet, Rolz, Jazmine, and Mia all congregated to take in the\u00a0intoxicating\u00a0sights and smells!<\/p><\/div>\n

\"20151115_133256\"<\/a>

Such a simple picture but it just captured my heart – Rolz and Mia sharing a sibling catnap.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"mia<\/a>

I wish I could have gotten the focus on this image sharper, but regardless, I LOVE this picture of Mia! What the camera doesn\u2019t show is that she was diligently trying to catch a lizard that was on the other side of the window! Look at her on her little tippy-toes!! Isn\u2019t she precious?!<\/p><\/div>\n

\"20151119_141504\"<\/a>

Zoey turned briefly to gaze at me as if to say, “Yes, I know I am stunning – please take my picture and be done with it.”<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Untitled-1\"<\/a>

I caught Jazmine looking out the window, almost like she was day-dreaming. When I called her name, you could see that look in her face when she turned to me, “Yes, what is it that you want?”<\/p><\/div>\n

Mia has also changed significantly \u2013 a very shy cat by nature, not only does she sleep in my chair all day long so that she can be next to me (I am now reduced to using a secondary chair as I don\u2019t have the heart to move her) she also sleeps on my legs the instant I come and settle on the couch for the night.<\/p>\n

The others have more of their own routine \u2013 Zee tends to sleep in the bathroom all day on the hamper \u2013 Zoey usually joins him – Kizmet sleeps in the cat tree in the hallway (his way of keeping guard of the entire household), Rolz will go anywhere there is a warm\u00a0ray of sunshine, and Peanut goes one of two ways \u2013 either she sleeps in the dark cave of my bedroom or in the Sunny Seat in the dining room window.<\/p>\n

\"OFFICE\"<\/a>

I came home from my walk one morning to this – Zoey in my chair. I did a quick spoof to share on Facebook and had a fun day swapping stories with people who could relate!<\/p><\/div>\n

\"spare<\/a>

After my “Zoey in the chair” spoof, I went to get a cup of coffee – this is what I came back to – Zoey in my chair, Mia in my other chair! Now that Mia has caught on to this, she spends every day in my office… on MY chair!<\/p><\/div>\n

All of these vignettes \u2013 regardless of where they are \u2013 represent the cornerstone of my shared life with them and, as I said, I am drawn to photographing them as if under some sort of hypnotic spell. I call this my Day Shift, but at 5:00 p.m., aka dinnertime, the Night Shift begins and the camera is put away.<\/p>\n

Life changes – the clock is suddenly ticking – and my bonding time with them becomes a collective entity (there is no such thing as quietly and singularly feeding seven hungry cats in my house). It is also where the biggest change in their lives has occurred. After thinking about it for ages, I have finally taken the first step toward gradually changing their diet. For years, they’ve been eating a canned\/dry combination and I knew in my heart of hearts it\u2019s just not the best health option for them. My goal is for them to be eating an exclusive raw\/ canned food combination diet (with the canned food being the kind with protein listed as the first ingredient on the label and with the meat\/poultry that is used, being fit for human consumption, and grain-free).<\/p>\n

It will be a long process, as it needs to be done slowly, especially with my little Mia who is\u00a0a challenge, being that she is addicted to dry food, but honestly, it\u2019s only been a little over a week and I can already see a positive difference. The way they are interested in their food now is visibly evident \u2013 meaning they are REALLY INTERESTED<\/strong> and their coats already feel silkier and healthier.<\/p>\n

I end the evening with more collective bonding \u2013 first I brush and comb each one of them \u2013 then after that it\u2019s playtime! We have a DaBird wand toy that I keep behind closed doors until it is time to play and when DaBird comes out of the closest the cats go insane! I make certain each cat gets several chances to pounce and catch and by the time I am done and we settle on the couch for the night, all of us are very happy, content, and worn out!<\/p>\n

Whatever the future will bring, only time will tell, but for now, I am just enjoying each and every second I am being given with my sweet babies.<\/p>\n

Have a wonderful weekend everyone and thank you for letting me share a bit of my life with you!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I shared some photos of my cats last week for Selfie Sunday in which I elaborated about the downfalls of both my photographic abilities and the capabilities of my camera. Despite the shortcomings, I continue to be drawn to taking pictures of them – quite frankly I\u2019m obsessed with it – but this week I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15776,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[430,195,347,1265,1073,249,559,1074],"class_list":["post-15771","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-inspiration-healing","tag-cat-naps","tag-cat-photography","tag-cat-pictures","tag-cats","tag-diet","tag-feline-human-bond","tag-playtime","tag-raw-food"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/IMG_1978.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15771","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15771"}],"version-history":[{"count":23,"href":"https:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15771\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16014,"href":"https:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15771\/revisions\/16014"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15776"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15771"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15771"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15771"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}