My cats offer companionship in so many ways—cuddling, engaging conversation (I’m not 100 percent fluent in catspeak, but still get what their saying) and just hanging-out together. They watch TV with me, are intrigued with what I’m reading, provide me with their undivided attention when I’m working (why is that?), but sometimes the most fun I have with my cats is during “happy hour.”

No—I don’t take them to the Marine Room Tavern. We do our own homespun version:  I pour myself a glass of cabernet (or chardonnay depending on the season), break out the Cosmic Catnip and watch Topper and Lexington go wild. The party starts after the cats curiously sniff then taste the catnip that I’ve sprinkled onto a small rug. After they take in the aroma and flavor, Lex, lying on his belly, rubs the sides of his face into it; back and forth in between his widely sprawled front legs. Topper flops down and wriggles and rolls in it. Then the buzz really kicks in—the cats start bolting around the living room, heads darting back and forth with their eyes big and crazed, bolting from sofa to the cozy chair and back down to the cat weed, which is now all over the hardwood floor. I entice their antics with catnip toys, which they bat around like hockey pucks. Lex clenches the catnip mouse in his jaws and tosses it up into the air. It lands, he whacks at it with his big paw, and the hockey game ensues.

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