So about two years ago my husband randomly surprised me by suggesting that we get a cat. He hated cats, but knew that I loved them. So we looked up in the pioneer shopper and found some cats that were for sale and went to go look at them. The lady that had the cats had just one left that she was advertising, but when we got there, another one came walking by and she said, "oh, I guess this one is available too. Some neighborhood girls found him outside all covered in burrs and brought him over to me." Well, we liked both and were having a difficult time deciding. John was leaning towards the other one because he seemed more active, but I was leaning a little more towards the gray one because he seemed so loving and cuddly. So we decided to go out and buy the needed cat supplies and make a decision while we were gone. We came back and chose out "Alex," the gray one. The lady said the little girls had named him Alex. Neither of us really cared for the name and wanted to choose a different one. After having him in our house for a few days, we still couldn't decide on a name. I don't know why it was so difficult for me to think of one! We were sitting at the kitchen table and were getting so desperate that we started naming off random things. We were seriously considering Ginobili after the basketball player who is notorious for "flopping" because we noticed he would always flop himself over on his side with a little gusto. There was a container of cottage cheese sitting on the table and just to be funny, looking at the brand name, Cream of Weber, I said, "how about Weber?" John enthusiastically agreed and I looked at him with mortification and said, "I was just kidding!" But the name totally stuck. I was really embarrassed with his name at first but I totally love it now. He's our little Weber baby. And remember how I said John hated cats? Well, after having the Weeb in our lives, his opinion has been changed. He says he likes only Weber, but I've noticed he seems to appreciate all cats more.
Well, I decided to post about Weber because we are moving in about a week and we aren't going to be able to take him with us. I am very sad about that and will miss him lots and lots. Thankfully, I have a good friend who
LOVES my cat and begs to watch him whenever we go out of town. And last year when we were homeless for three months, she let Weber stay with her and didn't want to give him up. So she has offered to keep him for us until we get back into a house of our own. She calls him her "grandson" and Weber loves to visit Grandma Kathy.
She has two other cats and two dogs, including a huge great dane, Phoenix. Weber is especially close to one of the cats, Tank (who definitely fits his name), and to Phoenix. Weber and Tank chase each other up and down the halls all night and sleep together in the same cardboard box on the counter. Weber lets Phoenix lick his belly and in return he licks the bottom of Phoenix's feet. It's a great relief to know that he will be in such a good home while he's away from us.
Weber's name is just such a great name. We are greatly entertained by changing his name around in little ways. "Weeb" is a common nickname. Others we've come up with is "The Weberdini," because he's very skilled at getting out of seemingly impossible places, and "Weebeezi." And I really have no idea where that one came from, but John uses it all the time. It's also fun to insert his name into titles of songs or movies. Here are a few we've laughed about before:
Consider the Webers of the Field,
The Two Webers, The Sound of Weber... you get the idea.
An interesting "did you know" about Weber is that when we first got him, we trained him to use a toilet. It was a long and rather obnoxious process, especially when he had the squirts. He did
NOT like it, but he did it. We finally got him to the point that he would pee in the toilet and it was SO nice not having any litter around. Notice I said just pee, not poop. For some reason he just could not give up his instinct to dig, and once we switched the litter in the bowl to water he refused to go poop in it. He would pee in the toilet and would poop in the corner on the floor. It was a wooden floor and his poop was quite easy to clean up little chunks. So we just kept pressing forward with completing the toilet training process in hopes that he would start using it for both. The first time that he pooped on the floor we went into the bathroom and could smell the stink but couldn't see it anywhere. Turns out it was underneath the
plunger. Heaven only knows how he was able to use a
plunger to cover up his little pile! We had like one gratifying moment when my brother in law was over and the bathroom door was open and without seeing anyone go in there we all heard a little tinkle coming from the room and he looked at us and said, "Is that your
cat using the toilet!?" Happily we could tell him yes. However, it really didn't last for long. Like I said, when we switched the litter in the bowl for water he stopped using it for poop. And it wasn't very much longer after we had taken the bowl out completely and he was just using the toilet for pee that he suddenly decided he had had enough and he began peeing in other places. Which was completely unacceptable to us, so we gave up and went to buy him a litter box and some litter. He knows how to get his way. I've got a hilarious picture of him from a time when we were trying to train him to put his feet up on the seat. We had to run in there and place his feet on the seat while he was trying to go and he
hated us bothering him. We knew he had to really go because he kept going in there, but as soon as we would come in to help him with his feet he would hop down and run out. So this was like the third time, and when we came in, instead of running out, he looked at us with a rather defiant look and literally curled up and laid down in the bowl. It was like he was saying, "I'm not going until you get out of here! And I'll wait here for as long as I have to!"
He stayed there long enough for me to run and get a camera and snap a picture of him. Too bad we never got any pictures of him actually using the toilet! (sorry if this is all grossing anyone out... I figured, hey, my friends are potty training their kids, I might as well potty train my cat!)
Well, the Weber we know and love is such a great cat. Everyone who visits us really loves him. And we've even had some other known "cat haters" who really like him. One time, a girl we'd never even met, who said she didn't like cats, wanted to take a picture with him before she left our house as proof of the first cat that she's ever liked! (it was my sister in law's roommate.) Of course, children love him. And he is surprisingly very patient with them if they ever get a hold of him. He lets them chase him around and pick him up and pet him all without a fight. He does get a little more nervous though with kids under 2 years old. There was one little girl we babysat who could get Weber to turn to putty in her hands. He would let her do
anything to him and just take it.
Weber absolutely
loves drawers, cupboards, and closets. Whenever one is opened he comes running and jumps right in. He likes to stay in them for as long as we can, so rather than fighting to get him out, we'll just close the drawer or door and let him stay there till we remember he's in there. He reminds us if we've forgotten. And he likes to lick things like the bottom of shoes, stinky feet and even my violin case.
Weeb is also quite large. He didn't used to be. But for some reason, we noticed he started gaining weight steadily even though we never overfed him. So really, it must just be in his genes to be a large cat because he doesn't eat a ton, but he is FAT. (he's not as big as Tank, though.)
Weber is a people cat. He loves to be in a room where there is a person. He's always in here with me when I'm on the computer, whether it's on my lap, on the desk or laying on the floor. When we sit at the kitchen table to eat, he jumps up on an empty chair and sits there and looks at us with just his little face peeking over the table. And even when we kneel in prayer in the living room, he'll walk in circles around us till we're done. He's also taken to laying on us whenever we sit on the couch. He loves to lay on both John and I equally.
Sometimes, when both of us are sitting on a couch and he's happily laying on one, he'll jump down for no reason and switch to the other person's lap. And when on our laps he purrs till he falls asleep. He sleeps with us at night and sometimes literally right in the middle of us. He's our baby.
His favorite "toy" is his mittens. I have a pair of mittens that I never use and somehow he got a hold of. He plays hockey with them throughout the house and also flips them up
high in the hair with his mouth. I've seen those things go sailing over my head and across an entire room before! It's so funny to watch him playing with his mittens. I've been trying to catch him on video while he's playing with them, but haven't had too much luck. He also enjoys playing hockey with crumpled up pieces of paper, and he always sends them under the couches. He's too fat to fit underneath them to retrieve them, but he sure tries!
Once we rescued a little kitten and had her for about a week before we found a place for her. We named her Liberty and it was a lot of fun to watch Weber and her play together. He
hated her at first and was very mean, but soon warmed up and would play with her. My favorite is that he loved to lick her.
We keep Weber as an inside cat and don't allow him to go outside. It's the funniest thing to see him try to sneak out. All we have to say is "Weber..." in that "you know you shouldn't be doing that" kind of tone and he will cackle and slink. Sometimes he keeps going outside, cackling and slinking, but it's quite easy to get him back in. All we have to do is stand up and start coming after him and he'll turn around and dart back in the house as fast as he can. It's hilarious because most cats will dart at any chance they get and you have to go chasing after them. Not Weber though. He's a cat with a conscience! There have been a few occasions that he slipped out without our awareness and it wasn't until we realized that we haven't seen him for hours that we figured he got outside. The first time that happened we found him in the bushes next to our house, as if he was afraid to go any farther. The next time was overnight and we found him in the morning outside two doors down playing happily with some younger kittens. And the third time it was for a few days and it was
snowing outside! (yes! in St. George!) That night John dreamt that he saw Weber outside the back door from our bedroom and then when he woke up he heard meowing and looked out the back door and Weber was sitting right there waiting patiently to come in!
One of John's favorite things to do with Weber is to "launch" him onto our bed. Which is where he throws him up high in the air over the top of our bed so he lands softly. Once I laid on the bed and got some funny pictures of Weber up in the air "flying."
John also likes to see Weber get really mad. And the quickest way to do that is to put your hands just above his head. We don't even have to touch him and he'll get really mad just with those hands above his head. Sometimes we tease him more by quickly touching his head or his back and then returning our hands to above his head. He'll get so riled up that if we turn and run from him he will chase us full speed around the house. We've also had some really fun times with either us scaring Weber or him scaring us.
Well, I could go on and on about Weber... oh wait, I have already! So I'm forcing myself to stop and I'll just put in a few more pictures and a movie of him. I'm going to miss my little Weeb so much!
And if you still haven't had enough of the Weeb... I've got one more video set to music of him and Liberty together that is pretty fun. Enjoy!
