Mr. Cooper

Cooper was our 13lb baby... Cooper had shown some quirky personality traits....which surprisingly lead to C actually loving this particular cat and changing his view of cats forever.

#1. Gems. He loved the little glass gems aka "Dragon's Tears". The kids used to fling them across the floor for him to play with when we first acquired him. He loved them ever since. He would be in a sound sleep, in the other room, and hear a gem being dropped to the floor. He'd come running as if it was a live mouse or something. This wasn't even quite amusing as the fact that he would do it everytime, whether he'd been asleep for a an hour, or had just made it back to his bed and closed his eyes...he'd always come running for the gem.

#2. His "Bed." He quickly took over my clear plastic storage bin . No matter where we placed it, he was in it. If we'd accidentally placed an object in it, He'd lie next to it...until the immediate moment we removed it...then he hopped in it in one swift movement. If he was being bad, or I was working on a puzzle, we'd only need to call for him and show him the bin...bad kitty problem solved.

#3 He thinks he's a mini panther, as he lays on the edge of furniture with one paw hanging off. His 2 favorite perching spots were on the corner of my kitchen counter so he could see the entire house...which was ofcourse the one place I didn't want him. No matter how much we shot water at him or pushed him off, he'd be right back up there, like he was king or something. His other perch was the deepfreeze. Here he was allowed to be and he was always right there checking out all the kitchen activity. I sure do miss having his company while I was doing dishes.

#4 He loved to be held and to face rub...but only if I was standing. He'd purr and roll around, do his head butt/ face rub thing and then get comfortable. He tended to get very comfortable at times; and I held his fat ass in my arms for 30 mins once just to see how long he'd stay. At 13 lbs, it wasn't exactly comfortable on my end for him to want to be held and snuggled. Sometimes I was stupid enough to try to pick him up while sitting, inwhich his only desire was to run away as fast as possible. I proved his dislike of sitting by immediately getting up and picking him up again and just holding him while standing up....he was as content as could be and would remain there until my arms gave out. Weirdo. I don't think there will ever be a cat as weird as Cooper.

#5 He'd recently acquired a cardboard box that was originally intended to hold newspapers. To him, this was the best play thing EVER. The only thing that could make it better would be the addition of a gem! So we threw a gem into the box. Cooper runs full force across the room, takes a flying leap into the box, doing a somersault as he hits, ofcourse flipping the box over on top of him. GREAT FUN!!! We continued this game for a good 45 minutes that first night...the whole time wishing we had a video camera, as it was definitely AFV worthy. The best part of it is, is no matter what he is doing; if we throw a gem into the box, he's right there. Everytime. Chris stayed amused by this for several hours one Friday night.

We regretted not burying Cooper in his box with a few gems :(

#6...Just so damn cute!!! Nothing quite like a fat black cat "Sitting Pretty" for his food bowl. The teaching of this trick was inspired by Hannah and her adorable little sitting/spazzing thing she did when I visited her daddy. Cooper actually sat Pretty. One paw slightly higher than the other and his head held up high. He eventually used this manipulation to get his way for anything. Unfortunately, it was his sitting pretty that made me let him outside the last day of his life. :( Stupid Cat :-/

While he was only with us for 9 months, he grabbed ahold of our hearts more than any other cat has come close to. He was a very loving, very COOL cat. A big beautiful black panther, who purred like a motor boat, head butted, sat pretty, had a gem obsession and converted a non-cat lover to a cat snuggling, kitty voice using big ole baby. We sure will miss you, Meeser Cooper.