{"id":20597,"date":"2022-02-27T00:10:20","date_gmt":"2022-02-27T05:10:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/?p=20597"},"modified":"2022-02-27T11:42:57","modified_gmt":"2022-02-27T16:42:57","slug":"the-ordinary-life-of-my-cats-made-extraordinary-when-the-egyptian-geese-arrived","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/the-ordinary-life-of-my-cats-made-extraordinary-when-the-egyptian-geese-arrived\/","title":{"rendered":"The Ordinary Life of My Cats Made Extraordinary When the Egyptian Geese Arrived"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The feeding assembly line!<\/p><\/div>\n

Life in our household of eight felines is relatively militant, especially when it comes to their morning routine and breakfast. It\u2019s a dizzying, exhausting affair, at least for me. I wake up at 5:45 a.m. and begin my trek to the kitchen. First stop – scooping the litter boxes. If I\u2019m lucky, it\u2019s a quick scoop and go. Often, however, one of them will decide my scooping is a signal for them to go again, so I must wait for that pomp (or poop) and circumstance to end so I can finish.<\/p>\n

Next – food prep. Five \u201cregular\u201d cats and three special needs \u2013 Jazmine, Zee, and Mia – all require a specific diet. Zee has thyroid issues and takes half a methimazole pill, twice a day. Although he will eat it in a pill pocket, mixed in his food, it\u2019s not a guarantee, so I have to gently pry his mouth open to put it down his throat to make sure he gets the critical dosage he needs. He also gets a liquid dietary supplement that I drop into his food, further complicating his regiment.<\/p>\n

Jazmine has calcium issues, so she also gets a specific diet, supplemented by chia seeds which are rich in Omega 3 fatty acids (pre-soaked in water to aid in digestion). She initially hated them, but after trial and error, I tuck them into a small pill pocket which she loves, and Mia has a sensitive stomach, so she has food catered to her needs.<\/p>\n

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Jazmine patiently waiting for her chia seeds.<\/p><\/div>\n

Because their special needs canned food is served over several portions, I must refrigerate the unused portion until I need it. I don\u2019t like using the microwave to warm it up (they hate it cold), so I\u2019ve devised a system in which I heat a shallow amount of water in a corning ware dish. I put the cold food in a Tupperware container, immerse it into the corning ware dish (keeping it secure by placing our tea kettle on top of it) and let the hot water slowly warm the food. Whew. Tired yet?<\/p>\n

To ensure each cat is getting their proper food, I prepare Zee\u2019s food first and bring him into our guest bathroom to eat (with the door shut) while I prepare the food for the others because if he eats with them, they\u2019ll try to steal his food. It\u2019s then a game of juggling as I place the dishes on the floor to make sure everyone gets what they\u2019re supposed to. Mia gets bullied, so she also goes into the guest bathroom, so when I bring her in, Zee comes out. At this point, he eats the remaining food in his dish in the kitchen with the others, which, for some bizarre reason, he now can without them bothering him.<\/p>\n

Then there\u2019s the cleaning and filling the water dishes. And removing all the detractor mats I must put on the floor before I go to bed at night at strategic places to make sure there is no territorial spraying on the couch or certain cabinets, which can sometimes happen when you have a multicat home. Mia will scratch to come out of the bathroom when she\u2019s done eating, and then there\u2019s the cleanup. Cat food cans, dishes, Tupperware, etc. and I also squeeze in making a pot of coffee.<\/p>\n

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Grooming Zee with a cat wipe.<\/p><\/div>\n

All of this requires Olympian efforts on my part. Any dilly-dallying or veering off track could be a domino effect of havoc, such as fighting, fur flying, and tails spraying in impatience. I\u2019ve got it down to a science, but it doesn\u2019t end there. Close to 17 now, Zee is having difficulties with grooming, so after he eats, I clean his fur with a cat wipe and gently brush his fur which is now prone to mats. When that\u2019s done, and only after that\u2019s all done, can I venture to the couch with my cup of coffee to unwind before a hectic day begins for me.<\/p>\n

I love this time of day. It\u2019s still dark and blissfully quiet, and it\u2019s when I play my iPhone games and take a first glance at my emails. The cats also relish this time of the day. Several will rapidly settle either on my lap or legs, or next to me, and the others will gravitate to wherever is their favorite spot of the day. This real estate ritual typically sets the tone for the rest of the day – an hours-long nap fest – even after I eventually get up to feed my outdoor critters \u2013 Blue Jays, Cardinals, Squirrels, and more \u2013 who seem to live by the same regimented and impatient playbook as my cats, as they chatter and squawk waiting for sunflower nuts and peanuts before I move on to my office for the day.<\/p>\n

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Geez lady, it’s nearly 7 a.m. – get with the program and feed us!<\/p><\/div>\n

That\u2019s it. It\u2019s predictable. It\u2019s ordinary. And it\u2019s 24\/7. Except for one day when it all changed – when out in our yard there arose such a clatter, that the cats sprang from wherever to investigate the chatter. And by chatter, I mean the exceedingly intense and overly dramatic high-pitched, trumpeted honking of a mated pair of Egyptian geese who had descended upon the roof of our tiki hut in our backyard.<\/p>\n

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Hey! Loud noises and chattering is my department! What’s all the ruckus!<\/p><\/div>\n

These geese – also known as the Nil goose – are named for their place of origin in the Nile Valley in Africa, with numerous introduced populations derived from escaped ornamental birds in Western Europe, Florida, and New Zealand. They are quite large, with conspicuous eye patches of dark chocolate-brown. The female resembles the male, though is smaller, often with darker markings on her beak.\u00a0 They are also monogamous, pairing for life, and as we live in South Florida, it seems our tiki hut was the perfect B & B for their very loud and aggressive mating ritual. They typically mate in the spring and then nest on the ground, sheltered by vegetation, sometimes higher on a ledge or in a tree, or in an abandoned nest of another species up in a tree, or inside a hole.<\/p>\n

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The happy couple checks into our deluxe tiki suite, rooftop edition.<\/p><\/div>\n

The cats were instantly mesmerized and glued themselves to the window to witness the spectacle (hours long, mind you) which not only included the elaborate mating dance, but the excitement of one of the geese taking a quick skim over the pool and then a walk around our deck without any modesty or decorum whatsoever.<\/p>\n

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Jazmine, Kizmet, and Peanut settle in for the show.<\/p><\/div>\n

Since my cats are cooped up in nearly the same environment every day, challenged only by the entertainment I provide them with toys and whatnot, or an errant lizard that gets into the house, this was an exhilarating day, to say the least. And as disruptive as the birds were, it was worth it to see how happy they made the cats. I think, overall, the geese would give our backyard a 5-star review rating on Yelp, and we look forward to seeing the happy couple again next year if we\u2019re lucky.<\/p>\n