There has been much written about the care and feeding of cats, their habits and mannerisms. Still I believe experience is the best teacher when it comes to these lovable animals.
Cats are known by some, as sneaky and independent, aloof animals and there are even horror stories about them, especially the black variety thought to associate with witches and do their evil bidding.
My personal experience with cats has never been quite as dramatic, as long as you can get past the hairballs and finicky appetites.
We got our first cat in 1981 when we still lived in a one-bedroom apartment in Los Angeles. She was from the Humane Society and about six months old. We had our choice of a many young animals but there was one in particular that caught our eye.
We had never adopted an animal before so we were not sure what to look for. There were so many needy little animals and we only had room for one. As we walked among the cages, some meowed and some just slept but one stood out. As we would walk back and forth, she would stick her paw through the cage and try to grab at out sleeves. When we paid special attention to her, she would pull her paw back inside the cage and just sit and stare at us.
We asked to hold her and she immediately started to purr. Her information card indicated that another female calico in an adjacent cage was her sister and they had been found wandering the streets together. When another patron adopted the sister, we almost felt obligated to take her and not leave her there alone unwanted.
That day, a long and rewarding relationship began between us and out new kitty. We named her Snooky. Don't ask me why people come up with such ridiculous names for their animals, you just do.
On the way home, we stopped and bought cat food, a little brush and a litter box with all the fixings. I had been told that cats were animals of habit and that if you once placed them in the litter box, they would know where to go when the need arose. This turned out to be true to our delight. Never once did she “go” outside her kitty box.
Since we lived in an apartment with other tenants who had cats, we decide that she would be an indoor cat and not allowed out to either be lost or run over by a car. This also turned out to be a good choice and she adapted very quickly to being a housecat.
The Humane Society had given us a voucher for a reduced rate on spaying her and we promptly made an appointment with a vet for the procedure. She returned from the veterinarian a day later with four tiny sutures in her tummy. These were easily removed at home two weeks later.
We tried different kinds of quality cat food and let her choose between dry and canned. She decided that she liked canned the best but would snack through the day on some crunchies as well. We picked up a little book and soon learned that certain houseplants are poison to animals and that chocolate was also bad for them. Their diet should not include milk as many think but there should always be water for them. Cats get most of the moisture in their diets from the food they eat however if you feed your cat a dry cat food, water is a must. Snooky also enjoyed cantaloupe on occasion.
Snooky soon became a part of the family and would cuddle and watch TV with us in the evenings. The other 60% of the time, she slept as most cats do. At bedtime, she was always between us and we soon learned that kneading with the paws was a result usually of being weaned from her mother too soon. She would press alternately with her front paws against the bedspread and purr loudly. As kittens, they do this against their mother to promote the flow of breast milk. As she would fall asleep, she would make a little squeak and cease her purring.
Cats are creatures of habit and that extends to when they eat, where they sleep and how they relate to humans. Snooky had a special pillow on the living room sofa that she claimed as her own. This was where she could be found most of the time during the day.
Snooky
She learned the sound of our cars and was always ready to receive us at the end of our day. She would squeeze between the vertical blinds and the window watching us climb the stairs. She had a few toys and our downstairs neighbor used to tell us that she could hear Snooky playing during the day on the kitchen floor above her.
xoxo
JVB