An Interesting Cat

 

        Today is International Cat Day, created in 2002 by the International Fund for Animal Welfare. Most cat "owners" know that every day is cat day when you live with one. Although the day is meant to bring awareness to the welfare and protection of cats, I'm using it as an opportunity to write about Barnaby. 

        For those of you new to this column, Barnaby is a three year old cat that lives with us. He is big and fluffy with a white and orange coat. He looks a lot like a Norwegian Forest cat, but is not a purebred cat. He came to us via a coworker of mine who was running a small scale rescue of cats living on an abandoned farm near her home. Many of the rescued cats became working cats on farms after neutering/spaying and vaccination. She was looking for a home for Barnaby as she felt he would do better as a housecat. She described him to me as "starving for affection".

        When we met him I held him and he instantly curled into my shoulder and began to purr. Of course, this meant that we had to take him. I felt that his gentle personality would match well with Willow. After a checkup to make sure he had no health conditions he could pass to Willow, we took him to our home. It was a few difficult days as Willow wasn't happy with another cat in her house, but eventually they figured out how to live with each other.

        While all of my cats have had various interesting quirks, Barnaby may be the most interesting cat I've lived with. This is because he has some distinctly non catlike behaviours. 

    The first one I noticed is that he likes to chew on things. I thought this was because he was teething, but it continued and Willow picked up on this habit. They gnawed on the edges of one of their cat trees to the extent that I need to keep a towel over it so they can't further damage it. The thrifted baby blanket I used as a cover is filled with tiny teeth holes from being chewed. He doesn't chew as much now, but I do have cat chew toys and cat friendly chew sticks for him.

        He enjoys playing fetch. I have had cats who would occasionally play fetch but not like Barnaby. He returns that ball and then backs away with an expectant look on his face. Sometimes he will return the ball to me directly, but most of the time he returns that ball to a spot where I can reach it and throw it again. Occasionally he tries to catch the ball in midair. He has a favourite size ball that he likes to fetch. I've tried using larger balls and he won't play with them.

        He begs for pets. If you don't pet him when he wants attention, he rears up on his hind legs. There have also been times when he runs up to me and puts his head under my hand for a pat. I've never seen this before in a cat. Many times when we come back home after running errands, he is waiting. He sits on one of our bar stool chairs so we can give him at head pat or ear scratch as soon as we get home. One of the benefits of petting him is that he tends to purr. It's a nice sounding purr too.

        He wants to eat whatever we are eating. If anyone goes into the kitchen for any reason, Barnaby will follow. He rears up on his hind legs with his front paws against the kitchen cabinets trying to look at the counter to see what we are eating. It doesn't matter what, he wants some. Sometimes he jumps on my lap so he can eat some of my breakfast. One time I accidentally left my barstool chair pushed up against the kitchen counter. I went back into the kitchen to find him on the countertop licking the crumbs from the plate that held the piece of toast I ate for breakfast. 

        The one good thing about this is that we don't eat in the living room. If we do, we will have to fight off Barnaby who is determined to sample whatever we are eating. I can have a cup of tea with me if I want to sit on the couch with a good book. He's not interested in tea. Smoothies are another matter.

        Barnaby is a very lovable cat. Unfortunately he's also shy of visitors. We hope that he will outgrow this as he'd really enjoy the attention visitors to our home could give him. Until then we will just have to meet his snuggling needs ourselves.....