Feline Persistence and Other Endearing Qualities

Elephants’ memories are supposedly remarkable. Well, they have nothing on one of my two cats, Rudey. My wife named him because he is a bit devilish, an imp, even rude at times - but in an endearing way.

Well, this morning, I made the mistake of showing him some “bird videos for cats” on Youtube. After he tried to insinuate himself physically among the molecules comprising my laptop screen, I closed it up and tried to shoo him away. He kept coming back, scratching at the closed laptop, biting and clawing around the edges; trying to get underneath it. When I later opened it up again, he tried to walk across the keyboard to bite at the edges of the open screen and claw at whatever was on screen (not birds). The events he remembered as well as the all-encompassing enthusiasm - the acting out a degree of child-like intelligence expressed in an effort to reclaim his memory of the birds, are truly delightful!

I fear he will never forget and my laptop may never again be safe from Rudey’s attentions. Cats possessed in old age are a warm, wonderful, fulfilling part of our lives - even Theodore (for “the adored”), who is only 4 months older than Rudey, is lovable in his aloofness. Theo calmly sits and watches bird videos and Rudey’s antics. I think he prides himself as the adult cat, above the fray.

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Pains me that I’m malevolently allergic to cats. Miss them.

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Feline persistence – my last cat had to be sent to Kitty Heaven at the age of 17 (failing kidneys). Cats remind me of that immortal line from the movie “The Gods Must Be Crazy” spoken by the multiply-married old man living alone in the bush: ‘Women! Can’t live with them. Can’t live without them’. Naturally, thoughts turned to acquiring another cat.

Then arithmetic & statistics came into play. My age + 17 years = No Longer Here.

Would it be right to acquire another cat which would outlive its servant? So the issue was left in the hands of Fate. Some of the previous cats had adopted us; others had arrived by equally unplanned routes. To date, it seems that Fate has turned me down as a prospective cat servant.

Enjoy the company of your cats, CW. Their presence is a gift.

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We had two Maine Coons (brother and sister) and had to put our male down last fall. It was some form of cancer. His name was Fred. He liked sitting in our window sills and watch our bird feeders. CW to save your laptop get some bird feeders strategically placed near windows. I miss that damned cat. I am a dog guy ( we have 2) but I love our cats because they have personality.

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We have attached a bird feeder to one of the side windows of our family room (where we spend most of the days) bay window. We even put a mirrored window film on the inside, so the birds don’t see the cats. The kitties’ behaviors vary. Once in a while, one of them will scratch at the window or bang against it. Mostly, they simply watch - sometimes making a rapid oscillating jaw movement (aka ‘teeth chattering’) with a weird clicking sound.

Other times, they simply watch the window from various places around the room. When they go ever and sit on the small table we placed up against the window for them, I wonder to what extent this is pleasurable for them, as opposed to frustrating. Unfortunately, my intense love for them has not afforded me the ability to read their minds, if they actually possess minds.

Whether or not they have minds, they surely have personalities. A friend was a musician in recovery from alcoholism. He wrote a song entitled “I Have a Tendency for Codependency”. Though it was not written for or about cats, the best line is surely a propos regarding cat personality: “I love you, hate you, need you; leave me alone”! Much poetic wisdom packed into that lyric.

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