Our life with a cranky old man cat named Bert is not always easy. A little over a year ago when he was losing all his fur, no one believed how old he was. Something happened the months following that time because he suddenly became really old. He is also a lot more cranky than he ever was before.
You’ll notice there is never a photo of Madison and Bert. She has no time or interest in cats and he seems to get it. Bert never bothers Madison. Boy is she lucky! Olivia rarely does anything with him either. Getting her to pose for a photo with the cat was not easy. Bert knows Olivia isn’t into cats and he leaves her alone too.
Bert loves Bailie a lot because she is gentle and lets him boss her around, steal her bed and things, and never bothers him. I choose to play and fight with Bert a lot. He doesn’t seem to mind as he keeps coming back to me for more. Guys need to be guys, right?
All his life, Bert wanted to be an outdoor cat. Finally in the spring of 2022 Mom said just go out, do what you want, I don’t care. He had a blast last year. This year, he doesn’t go out very much, and when he does, he tends to just nap on the deck. Another sign he is getting old.
If it isn’t really hot out, he comes back in the house and sleeps in one of the dog beds after a quick bath.
He follows the sun around the house from dawn to dusk. The top bed on the cat tree in the back room has always been a favorite spot for napping. Evidently, it still is.
The old man doesn’t venture off the deck very often. Sometimes he will go part way down the stairs and just stop and take in what he sees.
If Mom goes out in the yard and he notices she is there, he comes down and tries to follow her around. While he is following, the cranky old man cat often meows constantly. At the very least, Bert is sixteen, but he is more likely eighteen or nineteen years old. He was an adult when Mom adopted him and that was almost fifteen years ago now. Finally he is acting his age, but the meowing around sure is irritating. According to Mom he will live forever, so we need to just deal with it.
This weekend we are remembering kitty sis Sophie. She passed away last year on July 23rd. Mom misses her. She was Mom’s favorite cat but she always felt bad for her as she was shy and didn’t like dogs. I have to admit, she was gorgeous. We hope she is living free and enjoying her tenth life since she used the nine she was born with here at our house.