Daniel is a character. I wanted to recount some of the things he does for your reading pleasure.
He loves to be petted. When I am petting him, he purrs vigorously. He rolls all around insanely and rubs against me like crazy. He will crawl in my lap sometimes, too. His favorite position for petting/rubbing is with his head and paw on my leg (see picture). He will frequently flop over on his back while in this position. Today he did that so vehemently that he fell off the futon twice. I laughed really hard.
If petting ceases, he will butt my hand with his head (like a dog!) He will also stand up and butt my face with his face, or say "Mrrrow! Mrrrrow!" Sometimes he playfully bites, but the vet said that was not good and to ignore him if he did that because eventually he'll bite harder. That seems to work.
His favorite sleeping places are on flat surfaces on his side. If he is near me he always puts his head and/or paws on my leg (see other picture). I think that's interesting. He doesn't really like enclosed spaces. He finds the most open spot possible and will sprawl out there. So much for all the spaces I prepared for him. He also doesn't really like to go up high. He will jump up on some things, but those are things I previously put him on.
When I go to bed he usually climbs next to me. It is the most stereotypically cute thing ever - he puts both paws around me and scoots himself so his head is by my head. What would make a cat do that? It's so interesting. Very human-like.
He absolutely loves being combed and brushed. I swear he's like that model polar bear at the zoo. "Look at meeee! I am so pretty!" Haha. What a ham. He just prances around and looks around like "I'm pretty and I know it."
Usually if I'm not around for a while or if he forgets about me or something, and I appear, he absolutely freaks out. "Meow! Meow! Meow!" Then he runs around after me for a few minutes or I pet him, depending on what I feel like. In that sense he's like a dog, too. "Pay attention to me!!!" It is actually really nice. Someone is REALLY happy to see me.
He likes to make a lot of Mrrrow noises for various reasons. Usually it seems to me like they are "What's going on?!?!?! I want to know the situation!!!" And the secondary reason is probably "Pay attention to me!" A tertiary reason is "Whoa, I almost fell asleep!" As he's falling asleep he wakes up probably 5 times and goes "Mrow!" and looks around for a second before finally going to sleep.
He likes this ping-pong ball that has a thing inside it that makes it rattle. Yesterday I saw him hiding from it and then pouncing on it. That was hysterical.
It's funny because he gets crazy about some things, like seeing me and canned food, but other things he could care less about. Like catnip. "Meh," he says. Is Daniel really a dog? I mean, it's catnip.
Oh, here's something that bothers me. He is a "heavy licker" as my friend Nancy says. Probably 75% of the time he's awake is spent licking himself. Also, I don't know what the deal is, but he produces a huge amount of waste. I wondered for a minute if it was the canned food. The vet said to give him that because he'd be more likely to eat it a) if he has a cold, since he could smell it better - she said he might develop one soon (apparently she could tell), and b) because he's in a new place. But I didn't give him canned food for a couple of days and there was still the same amount of waste product. Whatever, man.
The vet said he still had ear mites so I gave him the medicine. Here was the medicine process: pour a tiny vial of liquid on his back. What the hell? Well, whatever. If it works, it works.
So there's that. I hope you enjoyed it.
