Mr. Noodle

Mr. Noodle
Mr. Noodle

Sunday, August 21, 2011

Sam the crochety old cat

O my kitty.

She is only 9 years old. She is the only pet I have owned in my adult life and didn't really have a sense of what normal cats are like.

Sam landed on my doorstep when I was living in Korea, in 2002. She was a kitten, probably 4-5 months old at that point. She was an apartment cat for several years and was never socialized with other cats. As a result, when she finally ventured outside and encountered other animals, she was a mean, vicious, tough cat. When we moved into the suite in East Sooke, where our landlords had three big dogs, at first the two younger dogs chased Sam up a tree. A few times. Dan had to rescue her every time. Eventually she figured out that she was tougher than the dogs and after a few penetrating swats, showed the dogs who was in charge. Sam also established her self as Top Cat while we were there, and one day we found our suite full of white fluff and a scared white Lily cowering in fear underneath our bed.

In Ucluelet, Sam learned to be more friendly with people and was even okay with the occasional kid. There were quite a few feral cats around and the only one Sam couldn't scare away was Ginger Tom, who clearly owned the neighbourhood. One day when there were feral kittens in the yard, Sam even attacked them, which mortified Dan.

Since we've been here, Sam has had a few altercations with the house animals. There is Roxy the dog, who is a Yorkie/Shihtzu puppy, and Piper the kitty. Sam has mostly stayed downstairs, but if the other animals are outside, Sam will venture upstairs. She is interested in going outside, especially since the magpies look so fun & delicious. One day, when I was letting Roxy out, Sam just about followed the dog until she saw Tianna and her six kittens sitting directly outside the door. You could almost see the look of "holy CRAP that's a lot of cats!" on her face, and then she ran away.

So Sam is not very sociable. All the farm cats get along. There are four adults, one juvenile from Yoga's previous litter, Tianna's current litter (born in June), and then Yoga just had eight more kittens last week. I would love to let Sam outside to play and hunt and just roll around, but really she would just get her ass kicked by the kitties.

Last night when Sam was sitting up in the window downstairs, one of the June kittens (who we call Coconut) came to the same window, outside. Sam was yeowling and mad, and Coconut who is half Sam's size, yeowled back and stood her ground. All the other animals here are so lovey which the kids and Lori are all accustomed to. But Sam, no, she really is just a grumpy bitch sometimes, just doesn't take the affection like all other normal cats. O well. I love my kitty anyway, and in those snippets during the day when she is lovey, I take it as it comes.

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