Posted on 07/05/2009 7:37:10 AM PDT by JoeProBono
LAWRENCEVILLE - Betty Macaluso doesn't need an alarm clock; she has cats.
The Lawrenceville woman is awakened each morning by Tom 2, a wide-eyed orange and white cat, who gently paws at her arm about 6 a.m. wanting his breakfast. If Tom 2 happens to sleep through his job or gets distracted, Tiger, a heavier gray and black tabby, steps in.
Since Macaluso can't hear the ringing of an alarm clock - she has been deaf all her life - her cats serve as her ears. She adopted Tom 2 and Tiger, both now about a year old, from PetSmart in Lawrenceville when they were 3 months.
"They know I can't hear," Macaluso, 68, said through a sign language interpreter. "They do hear for me."
Macaluso recalled one morning when Tom 2, whose predecessor, Tom 1, she said was also very smart, stood on her stomach gazing up at the ceiling above her bed. A week went by and she noticed Tom 2 often staring up at the same spot. When Macaluso shined a flashlight over the area that held the cat's attention, she saw a thin, round line of clay on her ceiling and immediately called pest control. Tom 2 had detected termites.
"(Pest control) came to check up and ... found out termite(s) (were) inside (the) wall and asked me how I (heard them)," Macaluso wrote via e-mail. "He was puzzled (how I knew if) I am deaf and can't hear. I smiled and pointed to my Tom 2."
The exterminator told Macaluso she was lucky to have a cat like Tom 2; she could have lost her home if he hadn't detected the termites.
Tom 2 seems especially sensitive to insects in his home.
"He notices the smallest things," Macaluso said, "a spider on the ceiling, an ant crawling on the floor."
Tom 2 and Tiger also notice the flashing lights that signal the doorbell or video phone is ringing and alert their owner.
Since Macaluso can't hear her cats' meows, whenever the two want to play, they know to gently paw at her leg to get her attention.
Macaluso, whose parents were also deaf, grew up in a home with cats. She remembers one evening when she was a young girl, sitting down with her mother on the swing on their porch, when their family cat began acting strangely.
"We were puzzled why," Macaluso wrote.
Until the cat began fighting with a rattlesnake that lay five feet away from Macaluso and her mother.
"He saved me (from being bitten) by a rattlesnake," she wrote. "I will never ... live without two cats because they always helped me by (hearing what I cannot)."
LOL! Clock cat sez, “I keep teh time in dis place!”
My cat is my alarm clock and notifies me when it is time for breakfast and time for dinner......She’s the smartest cat in the world.........../NOT!
Our late Muffin used to wake me up every morning at 4 a.m. in time to get Hubby out of the house for his long commute. Every morning. Every stinkin’ morning, holidays, vacation, weekends, sick days, every bleedin’ darn morning.
We loved him anyway.
LOL! G-d bless all kitties!
My cats also are great watchcats....from everything to bugs or outside people walking too close to the house. They hear things I can’t and when they perk up —I take notice and action. They also will surround a bug which gives me time to get the vacuum.
Dogs bark at EVERYTHING and ANYTHING. They are too annoying....I just watched that movie ‘Marley and Me’ and all through it, I kept telling myself how lucky I was not to have a destroying noisy clumsy dog —but instead- 3 quiet, patient, litter boxed trained, well behaved calm cats..
My cat, Gracie, did a little flaminco dance in front of my wife yesterday, blocking her way and preventing her from stepping on a scorpion that had gotten into the house. Between scorpion spotting and stalking palmetto bugs, my two little girls are quite adept at letting me know when something isn’t quite right in the house.
If you find cats boring, then you never really knew them. They are hardly boring...unless you mean they don’t drool, barf and eat it, pace and scratch you to go out 10 times a day, bark bark, bark, bark, fart all the time, roll in poo whenever given the chance, bark bark bark, wag their tail and knock things over, smell like poop 5 minutes after bathtime, drip saliva...then yeah i’ll agree with ya.
LOL....love the name ‘Gracie’.
There is a reason your cats 'leave you alone'. I don't think I need to point it out. Mine are around me as much as possible --all the time and it's not for food. I have a small blanket on my office desk because my one cat is there whenever I'm there. They are very funny, playful are just full of antics. They are a pure JOY ...unlike the smelly needy poop eating dogs.
I find owning a dog is like having a barking piece of poop tied to your ankle...and you can't shake it free.
I get back more than I give my dogs. I get playful fun (anytime), protection(all the time) and devotion(constantly). I can’t say the same for any cat I ever owned. Maybe the old tomcat I had as a child, he let me dress in in a nightgown and would lay on his back as long as i kept milk in the baby bottle. Then he went outside and killed song birds in the yard. I’ll bet you have never owned a dog and that’s too bad, or if you did, he had behavior problems. Some of my cats had behavior problems too, so I understand that.
Ha ha ha ha! When cats puke, dogs get a hot meal.
Our irresponsible former neighbors had a very sweet dog, Hannah, and they left her alone outside all day. She and I used to have a great time together until they moved away. I miss her.
I grew up with schnauzers, shepards, a dobbie, etc...I know dogs. I’ve had cats every day of my life (and rabbits, horse, gerbils, birds, chickens, etc... along the way).... My cats also give me devotion, protection(they alert me to many things) and are always ready to play. My one cat tore the head off of this little stuffed doll toy and she tosses it and carries the head around all the time (too funny).....I prefer cats 100 to 1 - to dogs....
LOL!
Poor Hannah.....good thing she had you when she did....people shouldnt' get dogs if they are just going to tie them up all the time...
I have had all the critters that you mentioned including goats, sheep and a pig I raised on a bottle. I don’t hate cats like you appear to hate dogs, I like cats but we are going to have to agree to disagree to which animal makes the most satisfying pet.
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