I am not sure, but I suspect my
daughter's kitten may have a death wish.
No, the little squirt is not running
with knives, or smoking cigarettes, but she will just not leave the
big cat alone.
Before Lisa the Kitten showed up, we
had Gilbert the Cat. Gil is now 12 years old and is in no mood to
play with an energetic little ball of fluff that bounces around house
like a furry tornado.
Gilbert is much more of a
sit-back-and-relax kind of guy. He is the mellowest cat in the
planet, which is probably why Lisa, or Squeak as I call her, has made
it this far without serious harm or injury.
When the kitten was brought home, Gil
was not too pleased. This surprised me because Gil is so laid back
nothing riles him up – well, almost nothing.
There is one thing that sends Gilbert
on the war path and that is another cat. He has been the feline ruler
of our neighbourhood for years and still takes on all comers.
Gil is my son's cat and he is a rather
large cat. One day he was sitting on the front steps, minding his own
business when a new cat in the 'hood decided to take on the top dog,
er, I mean the top cat.
When the intruder first came into our
yard, Gil noticed him, but he played it cool, as he always does.
He made a low moaning sound as a bit of
a warning, but the intruder car kept coming until he was within a
foot of the Gilbert, King of the Kitties.
It was at that point Gil had enough.
My son was witness to the event and
proudly proclaimed, “Gil hit the other cat so hard, it pooped.”
And indeed he did. Gil smacked the
invader upside the head with such force the cat dropped a boomer
before fleeing as fast as he could. He never ventured into our yard
again.
But fortunately for Squeak, Gil is also
a gentle cat and when the little one decided the big one was a great
play partner, the young one was gently educated.
Squeak ran up to Gil and pounced with
all the ferocity a 10-week-old kitten could muster. Gil growled,
moaned and hissed, but the youngster kept coming.
So, Gil smacked her upside the head.
But it was not with nearly as much force as he used on the intruder
and he did it without any claws.
It was kind of a warning shot across
the bow. However, youthful exuberance has not yet made way to aged
wisdom and Squeak still desperately tries to play with Gil, who will
smack her with an open paw, but has never hurt her.
She will ambush him from the back of
the couch – smack. Jump at him from around a corner – smack.
Sneak up behind him – smack.
I believe Squeak has figured out Ol'
Gil is a gentle giant – a grumpy gentle giant, but a gentle giant
nonetheless.
And fortunately, she is also learning
Gil is the boss, the Alpha cat and is starting to treat him as such.
And that is bad news for the the dog.
Murphy the Wonder Dog is now Squeak's
favourite target and she will stalk and hunt Murphy every chance she
gets.
At first, Murphy would jump up, down or
sideways to avoid the attack, but eventually he realized the attacks
of the little cat were nothing worry about.
Now when she attacks Murphy just looks
at her and keeps doing whatever it was he was doing.
Squeak the Mini Cat does not care and
bounds away only to attack again a few minutes later – when she is
done attacking my shoes, or the curtains, or lint, or...
Copyright 2015, Darren Handschuh
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