Slowly, he rose, then became still, as he waited for the pizza box's next move. Before the box could muster a defense, Lucky sprang upon it. Rolling, tossing, slashing and flailing, Lucky led an all-out assault on the innocent box.

It was horrifying to witness. I can only imagine the psychological trauma that pizza box will relive for the rest of its life. "There's no telling the violence and havoc a CKS-stricken kitten can wreak. It goes beyond evil to intense zaniness, and it's not pretty for anyone involved," said Dr. Mebalz from his office at the Center for Kitten Ridiculousness in Harebol, Iowa.

"There's no calculating the loss of pizza boxes, plastic bags and bottle caps every year. It's staggering. After such trauma, these objects are almost never productive again, and they wind up being discarded from society like ... well ... like inanimate objects," he said.

Symptom No. 2: Annoying Adult Cats (Part A)
Most multicat households find a sense of balance as the years go by until CKS strikes and upsets the harmony. In my CKS-ravaged household, Wheezy and Elvis, our two adult cats, became targets of Lucky's wrath.

Wheezy, our 7-year-old rotund cat, happily enjoyed his sedentary lifestyle until Lucky arrived. Now, he has trouble walking across the living room without Lucky paratrooping off the dining room table onto his back. Lucky appears to be under the irrational belief that Wheezy is either an electric bull, like the one in the movie Urban Cowboy, or a 1000cc Harley-Davidson motorcycle.

Perceptions aside, Lucky hurls himself atop Wheezy nearly 100 times a day because he was born to ride or he is seeking free transportation to his food dish. I haven't figured this one out yet.

This type of behavior obviously creates some problems. Wheezy is a self-actualized cat who is quite secure in his identity. He does not believe he is, nor does he wish to be, Lucky's electric bull or a motorcycle. He enjoys his life as a cat. This disparity in perception has been cause of great conflict in our happy home.

Page 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5