I have a speshul cat

During the months when the radiators aren't on, I usually cover the one in the living room with a towel so Felix can sit on it and still look out the window.  In the fall/winter months, though, I remove the towel so the heat can come out of radiator.  However, Felix has apparently decided that the lack of towel is no reason to not sit on the radiator anyway.  But instead of sitting on the radiator and looking out the window, he sits on the radiator and rests his head on the couch cushion to either nap, watch television, or keep an eye on me.

But this isn't why he's a speshul snowflake.  I was talking to the woman who owns a local pet shop just two blocks from my house about Felix's odd litter box habits, in the hopes that she would say to me, "Oh, yeah, the reason cats do that is because..." but, no.  Here's what happened instead:

I explained to her that Felix tends to use his litter box, and then hop out of it and randomly scratch at the litter mat or the lip of the litter box or the walls, in the apparent hope that this will cover what he's just done.  (Now, apparently, THIS part isn't so unusual.  But the NEXT part is.)

I then explained to her that before he uses his litter box, he will spend a great deal of time digging a hole.  This hole has to be the right size, the right shape, and in the right place.  And then he will sometimes abandon the hole and jump out of the box.  Then he will come back to the box and some point in time and dig an entirely new hole.  Again, right size, right shape, right place.  He then puts his FRONT paws in the hole, and does his business - not in the hole -  but wherever his hind end is while his front paws are in the hole!

I asked Courtney, the pet shop owner, if she had explanation for this, and her only answer (as she laughed), "I think you have a speshul cat."