my first meeting with grizzly

I finally met Grizzly, my new temporary personal assistant. Sort of. He actually slept through the whole encounter. But I did get to see and smell him up close for the first time.  And I have to say that I was a little surprised – aren’t grizzlies brown???

As I’m sure you all know, I’m a little bit obsessive about hygiene.  And I’ve had some trouble with compulsive grooming.  I never, ever thought I would utter these words, but here goes:  Grizzly may have gone overboard on the grooming just a bit.  And maybe if he spent less time grooming himself, we could finally get some work done.

behind the scenes of pedro the high fiving cat

I know that you all want to know how I was able to accomplish such an ambitious undertaking as my recent blockbuster, “Pedro the High-Fiving Cat.”  And I’m positive you’re dying to know how I was able to train my new temporary human.  And today’s your lucky day – I’m about to spill the kibble…

First things first: ME. Don’t I look fabulous? My human has been spending more time on my grooming, and I think it really shows in my lustrous, floofy coat. And check out the whiskerage!

My inspiration:

Training the new temporary human:  That was a real challenge, and we’re still practicing to get the high-five just perfect every time…  I started small, with just a little palm touch followed by some positive reinforcement.  By the end of the first week, he could get it almost every time.  And by the end of the second week, he was able to high-five and feed me a bonito flake about 82% of the time.  But you can see that he started to get overly confident and lazy – sometimes he tries to get away with a high-five and head rub with no bonito flake.  We’re working on getting that right 100% of the time…

The sequel:  I’m working on teaching my new temporary human some more complex tricks.  We’re far from movie-quality at this point, and I don’t want to give anything away now.  But I think you’ll be seeing some even more exciting things from us soon.  Unfortunately, he seems totally resistant to the noggin licking, so I don’t think our next flick will include that.  But I know you understand the difficulties of working with humans…

pedro the high-fiving cat

a taste of what’s to come

 

I’ve been working on a REALLY exciting video to showcase what I’ve taught my new temporary human, but the editing is taking longer than I expected due to my lack of thumbs. But I swear it’ll be done for your viewing pleasure this weekend. In the meantime, here’s a little hint of what’s to come… Believe me, it’s worth waiting for!

behind the scenes of pedro’s first western

I know that all of my loving fans have tons of questions about my Western slideshow extravaganza. So, today I thought I’d take you behind the scenes…

First stop, the wardrobe department.  Isn’t my cowcat hat fantastic?  I was thrilled when the famous feline haberdasher (and milliner to the Miaolings!) ToScarboroughFair made me my very own custom 10-gallon hat in my favorite shade of red…  Unfortunately, since I’d never actually worn a hat, I didn’t realize that a cat is not born with hat wearing skills.  So it took a bit of education, rigorous training exercises, and a lot of treats.  But now it feels perfectly natural to have my cowcat hat on my adorable noggin.

The cow.  I knew that my bovine options would be limited, since I live in a small condo in a fairly remote area with limited shopping.  So, I was pleasantly surprised when my human brought home such a good looking cow.  But he wasn’t very friendly.  And he didn’t have much personality.  And he smelled funny.  You may have noticed a little tension between us in some of the photos…  Needless to say, I told the cow to take a flying leap over the moon.  And I’m in the market for a new cow.

And the most important question of all – the one I know you’re all dying to know about…  Sequels!  I do have a few creative ideas for a sequel or four.  I’m going to continue working on my cowcat hat wearing skills, and maybe I’ll try to find someone to make me some custom cat chaps.  When the time is right and I’ve obtained the right cow for the job, I’ll be ready to make My First Western Part Two.

pedro the cowboy cat’s first western

sourpusses in boots

A few days ago I was shocked to see a scathing review of the movie Puss In Boots written by Minlit of the blog Confessions of a Cat Woman.  I’ve always considered Minlit to be intelligent and tasteful (for a human), but how could a movie about such a cool cat be bad?  Could I have misjudged Minlit??  Or could the movie that I’ve eagerly awaited for months really be a flop???

I decided that Income Tax Deadline Eve was the perfect special occasion to settle down with some diet cat kibble to munch on while I finally watched Puss.  I was determined to watch with an open mind, and fully prepared to love every minute of the movie.  Sadly, I have to say that Minlit was right.  There were a few good moments, but for the most part Puss was completely lacking in the “felinity” that made him so lovable in the Shrek movies.  They clearly needed a few cat consultants on set…  If I had thumbs, they would be down… 

If you’d like to see a really entertaining puss in boots, try this instead.  It starts out a little slow, but the last 30 seconds is fantastic.

my first movie – thank goodness it’s short!

On one paw, I’m VERY, VERY excited that my technologically challenged human has taken the initiative to experiment with video and editing without my “suggesting” the idea to her…  On the other paw, I’m pretty sure we’ll be sued for copyright infringement…  On the third paw, there really isn’t a whole lot of action in this movie to enthrall my fans… I hope you see my amazing potential as an actor-cat and enjoy this mercifully brief movie despite its obvious flaws!

videopress frustration

Sigh…  I’m sad.  My human and I completed my very first movie today.  I was excited to share it with my adoring fans, but the VideoPress “buy now” button won’t work.  And clicking “contact support” takes you to a page with the message “Support is closed over the weekend whilst we work on improving our level of service.”  That’s kind of oxymoronic, isn’t it?

Grrrrrr….