CatDog

 


        You never know what you are going to get when you adopt a kitten (or cat). I imagine it's much like having a child. They come into the world with their own personality and as they grow you can see how they develop.

        We've had some cats that were interesting to live with, but I think Barnaby may be the most interesting of all. I think he might be a dog in a cat body.

        The woman who was fostering him described him as "starving for attention". That's an unusual description for a cat. While cats can become attached to their  humans, they generally don't act needy for attention. With a description like that I had to meet him.

        I met his fosterer at her home. She took Barnaby out of his carrier and handed him to me. He was a couple days past a neuter operation and his tipped ear was still healing. Her curled himself into my shoulder and began to purr. I was hooked. I'd never had a cat do that before. This cat definitely needed love and wanted to be in a home. I wanted to provide that home for him.

    After determining that he did not have feline leukemia which is a contagious disease in cats and a deworming treatment, we took him home. After he and Willow became acclimated to each other, I saw a behaviour I'd never seen in a cat. He liked to chew. His favourite thing to chew was the side of his cat tree. Willow picked up this chewing behaviour. She started chewing on the edge of her cat tree. I put towels over the trees but it was too late. There was already a lot of damage. The crib blanket I used to cover Barnaby's tree has little holes all over it from his teeth. Barnaby eventually grew out of his chewing, but Willow still enjoys chewing on pencils and nail files.

    Barnaby likes playing with balls something many cats do. He has also been known to enjoy a game of fetch. He has actually brought a ball to me and when I toss it away, he gets it and brings it back to me. I've never had this happen before. Occasionally I've had a cat bat a ball toward me. Never has a cat picked up a ball and carried it to me.

    Barnaby likes to be wherever we are. If we are in the kitchen then he needs to be there too. Whatever room we are in most of the time he is there as well. The only exception is naptime. When we come back home after running errands and such, Barnaby is usually sitting on a bar stool chair waiting for us. Once in awhile he runs to the door from wherever he was. If he is sitting on the chair, he expects a head pat.

    Another thing he does is ask to be petted. Every cat I've ever had has allowed me to pet him and some of them enjoy a good cuddling or grooming session, none of them has ever begged. Barnaby rears up on his hind legs and gets his head under my hand. When he was younger and smaller he used to try to jump on my back to get my attention when I was doing dishes or other tasks. I'm glad he has stopped that. He put a couple holes in some of my shirts.

    He wants to eat what we are eating much of the time. It's fairly common for him to come into the kitchen to try and get us to give him some of whatever we are eating. None of the cats I've lived with previously has ever done that.

   At first I thought his behaviour was due to the fact that there were dogs in his foster home. maybe he's seen the dogs and was imitating them. He's lived with us for almost two years now and some of his more doglike traits have persisted. This must be a part of his personality. He's a catdog.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Cat Lady

The New Year

The Day After