Fact or fiction?

Hi all, it’s me, Foster, here to address the age-old question: “Do cats get bored?” Mom started thinking about it when she took this picture of me the other night. She was working on a mosaic at the kitchen table, and she happened to look up and here I was. She thought I looked bored.

Mom says she herself almost never gets bored. She says there are so many things to work on that she can’t get bored. But sometimes she thinks I am. So I thought I would take this opportunity to set the record straight.First of all, there are always projects going on over here that you can look at or get into. This is from when one of our older girls was here working on a scrapbook. Remember our “little girls” that come over in the summer and do arts and crafts? Well sometimes the older girls come over to work on school stuff. I always do my best to help out. Really, how can you be bored when you are helping someone find stuff in their backpack?

As a matter of fact, I’ve been helping Mom with her projects ever since I was a baby.

Another thing that can keep you from getting bored is the printer. When I was little I used to like standing on it to see out the window. Also you will notice how when I was small I didn’t quite understand how the printer worked. But now I regularly check to see what Mom’s printing, and I could probably even copy myself if I put my mind to it.

You can always help out around the house if you start getting bored. Mom needs a lot of help with the laundry. As you can see, I have been a laundry expert for quite some time.Sometimes, when you’re busy not being bored, you can get a little hungry. If Mom’s not paying attention to the fact that your food dish is empty, you can always figure out how to serve yourself.Another thing you can do to keep from getting bored is see how much you’ve grown. I always like to measure myself against the same door for accuracy.Sometimes you just have to see how cute you can look…I learned about playing in the bathtub when I was little, but we’ve gotten a new shower curtain since then, so every once in awhile I have to check it out again.There is usually a variety of bags and boxes you can get in. However, I don’t recommend this unless your human is nearby, because you could possibly get stuck. (As Mom’s Swedish Grandpa Johnson used to say, “There’s always an element of risk!”)Another thing you can do to avoid boredom is get up onto places where you’re not supposed to be. I’ve discovered that biscotti wrappers make an ever so crackly noise if you rub your face on them. Just saying.I won’t lie and say there aren’t times when you have to sit down and think about things to do. One must have an active imagination to keep from being bored.

When thinking, for best results, it’s very important to cross your paws.If there were any live plants left in the house, you could always sit by the spider plant and imagine you are in the jungle with your big cat relatives.But since there aren’t, you have to be content with sitting by the fake plant and pretending it’s real.If it’s the middle of the night, you can try tipping over your water dish on the bathroom counter. It’s usually good for at least a few minutes of Mom’s attention.Or you can pretend like you’re giving Panda a CAT scan…It’s also fun to play “zoo”, if you’re fortunate enough to have chairs like this around.

And speaking of chairs, there’s always the computer chair if you feel like taking a little nap.Just watch out, because right when you are all comfortable and snuggly, people can come up and “boop” your nose for no reason.And one mustn’t forget the back yard. There’s always a lot to see out there, like hummingbirds, squirrels, and my outside friends, the neighbor cats.

So as you can see, we cats rarely get bored.

 If you’re busy working on a project, no need to worry about us. We can pretty well entertain ourselves.