Tabs

There was a time when Tabs would have darted down the stairs, leaping over three or four of them at a time, the instant he heard me call, “Tabby! It’s time for your Halloween photo shoot (and the treats and lurvies that come with it)!!”

But he’s a mature tabby now. He walks down the stairs more often than he runs, but I think Halloween is still probably his favorite holiday…

Oh, wait! I forgot about Thanksgiving, so it would be Thanksgiving first (you know, ’cause of the turkey), and Halloween second.

He loves, Christmas, too, but he doesn’t like winter because it’s cold outside, so we don’t go for as many walks.

This year for Halloween he’s wearing his very stylish King of Hearts cat costume, which, amazingly enough, still fits! I thought it might be a little snug for him, but it’s not.

If Tabs could really go trick-or-treating, it’s easy to know what he’d like to get in terms of treats and snacks — turkey (including gravy), tuna, bacon and Oven Roasted Chicken Feline Greenies. Together, they’re the keys to his heart.

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It’s almost Halloween! — which means that all of the (adult) humans in this household are thinking about costumes, horror movies or candy. Or a combination thereof.

Tabs, however, probably isn’t thinking about his costume (I think it’s safe to say), but I’m sure he likes our impromptu cat costume kitty modeling shoots, because they afford him many of his favorite things, including lurvies, attention and treats.

I cleaned the upstairs bathroom today while Tabs lounged around in his new tuxedo.

As far as fancy feline attire goes, this outfit checks all the right boxes for Tabs. It’s loose-fitting because it uses snaps, and we can undo the top one. It’s black and white, so it goes with his tabby fur. And it has a snazzy bow. 🙂

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Any cat toy capable of coaxing a kitty supermodel senior tabby down from his penthouse suite high atop his favorite cat condo is worth adding to your cat’s collection.

The Go Cat Teaser Cat Catcher Wand Cat Toy ($8.45) doesn’t look like much. It looks a little basic, but it’s a truly revolutionary cat catching product.

It has a shiny wire instead of a string, so it’s almost indestructible, and somehow, for some reason I have yet to understand, Tabs can’t resist it.

He has a drawer filled with other cat toys, and some of them look like this with string and dangly toys or feathers, but there was only one other string toy that Tabs liked as much as this, and it wasn’t even a legit toy. It was a piece of glittery string that came wrapped around a gift box, and Tabs absolutely loved that thing…until he shredded it and tore it apart.

This one is a little expensive for one cat toy, but Tabs loves it, and I’d rather get him something he likes than a toy that will just sit in a box.

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Tabs has been testing some new in-home exercise equipment from the Natural Pet Company.

It’s called The Natural Pet Company Cat Toys Collection, and it’s only $13.95 at Amazon, which is A LOT cheaper than Tabs’ monthly 24-Hour Feline Fitness membership.

It’s really great and easy to use! The equipment comes preassembled, and everything is made from natural materials like wood, sisal and feathers.

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Tabs has a very strong opinion about fall.

On the one hand/paw, there’s more wind. It’s breezier than summer was, which means more stuff moving and more leaves blowing around, which gets him fired up, because you know how cats are when they see movement.

But on the other hand/paw, there’s no green grass left to nibble. The grass is all brown, so, basically, the corporate salad bar is closed.

There was a lot of activity outside when we went for our walk today, so that kind of put Tabs on edge.

Between the leaves rustling, and a dog barking, and someone hammering something, and a neighbor trying to train her Jack Russell Terrier to “stay!” Tabs wasn’t very comfortable.

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Patience is not now, nor has it ever been, one of Tabs’ virtues. Now that he’s a senior tabby, when he wants to go outside he practically kitty hugs my legs and “tug boats” me all the way to the door.

It usually starts with him staring at me like this for a while…

Then he’ll stand in front of the sliding glass door to the deck or the front door (sometimes carrying his cat harness in his mouth!) and meow.

And meow.

And meow.

Until I eventually take him outside.

I don’t know if it’s just my imagination, but lately it seems like he’s been more reflective and thoughtful…

I wonder what he’d write about if he really worked on his memoirs. I bet he’d write a lot about our old apartment in Mill Valley. That’s when he was an outdoor tabby and spent adventurous nights outside.

I remember so many things from that time, like the night of the big storm… It was pouring rain and the wind was gusting. The news said it was hurricane-caliber.

This was when we knew Tabs from the neighborhood, but he wasn’t officially our cat yet. He would come over sometimes and hang out, and I’d give him chin scritches and tuna, but then he’d meow to go back outside.

On the night of that bad storm, the power went out, and El Hub and I were in our apartment worrying.

The storm just kept getting worse. We tried to go to bed, but the windows were shaking from the wind, and it was too scary and noisy. At one point, El Hub said, “I’m gonna go look for Tabs!” And he jumped up and went outside in the storm.

“Tabs!” I heard him calling over and over. “Tabs! Tabs!” as he walked around the apartment building with a flashlight in the rain.

And then he heard a scared meow.

Tabs had crawled into a tree stump on the side of the building, but he was still soaked, cold and meowing. El Hub said that Tabs’ eyes lit up when he saw him, and he hopped out of the trunk and ran with him all the way to our front door.

That’s just one of many stories from that time. I bet Tabs would spend a lot of pages talking about those days in his memoirs…

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Tabs seriously does not care at all about citrus.

Before I explain, he does, however, care a great deal about whatever goes on outside, and he surveils the neighborhood like the world’s greatest security guard from his window perch.

But we planted a new dwarf orange tree outside this week, and I expected Tabs to be hella interested in it when we went outside today for our walk, but he couldn’t have cared less.

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For the longest time, Tabs only had one girl who was madly in love with him.

(Me, obviously.)

But now he has two, and I’m pretty sure he’s thrilled about it.

I don’t know… It’s kind of hard to tell sometimes.

The other day we — Connor, Tabs and I — were just hanging out in the living room, and he walked up to her and let her pet him. Of course, this was done with supervision and lots of “When we pet Tabs, we have to do it gently” kind of talk.

Then, after some pets and some gentle rubs from Connor, Tabs walked up to her and headbutted her face.

It was so cute! My heart felt like it was going to melt in my chest like a piece of chocolate.

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