Sunday, October 5, 2008

The Takeover

I've written about my new kitty, Lucy, previously. She's the little waif that came up from the river one evening last July. She was only about six months old, thin to the point of seeing her ribs and her backbone, and on the shy side. She very hesitantly allowed Lovely Daughter to pick her up and pet her, and tentatively ate the food that we offered. The next day she was back, and that's about how long it took me to decide that I needed this kitty as much as she needed me.

She adapted to life as a house cat in very short order and followed Senior Citizen Simon around everywhere as though she was learning the house rules from him. He's such a good teacher, too, that it didn't take Lucy long before she was well aware of what was tolerated and what wasn't.

Now Simon, who recently celebrated his 17th birthday, has never been an aggressive feline. He's always just kind of gone with the flow of whatever happens happens. He's never needed to be Boss Cat, all he's ever required is lots of food to eat (he's starting to look like a football with legs), a warm, snuggly place to sleep, and a clean box to poop in. In other words, he's always been an easy keeper.

Now, Lucy, being part Siamese and female to top it off, has other ideas. As she's growing older she's becoming much more assertive and bossy and wants things HER way all the time. She's always respected the fact that Simon was here first and that HIS sleeping spot was at the foot of the bed. At first she wouldn't come up on the bed at all if Simon was there sleeping. Then she graduated to, "Well, okay, he can sleep at the foot of the bed, I'll just sleep up on Mom's pillow beside her head." NOW, poor Simon can be sawing logs to the point where he's snoring and Lucy will take a flying leap up onto the bed and move Simon out, right out of his deep, log-sawing snore.

First she'll whap him across the backside. If she doesn't get the appropriate response she'll whap him again, only this time a bit closer to the head. Then she'll growl until the poor cat opens his eyes with a deer in the headlights look wondering what hit him and what kind of a hair she has up her butt! She never beats him up but just keeps pestering him until he realizes he's not going to get any peace so he might as well move on.



Here's one of the moments when Lucy has decided to share the bed. They have a routine. Every morning they get fed, they go out for a short period of time, ad then come back in the house. Simon wants more food and then he heads for the bedroom and noogies down into the blankets. Lucy will also snuggle down in the bed, and won't fuss when I get ready to make the bed. Simon, on the other hand, being an old curmudgeon, growls at me when I try to move him out so I can make the bed. No wonder there are days I don't get the bed made until well after lunch time because I just don't have the heart to move him out.

PS: See new pictures way down below ~ ~ ~

7 comments:

Melanie said...

Ahhh...poor Simon! At least you cut him some slack. They both have such gorgeous coats.

Anonymous said...

What a beautiful pair of cats you have!

Mel

Anonymous said...

Whooeee!
Lucy is not just part Siamese,
she's the Queen of All She Sees.
It's a good thing Simon taught her the ropes before she got to feeling so "full of herself." It's plain to see that they are well-loved kitties.

Hugs from Asia,
~ Sil

Anonymous said...

My Abby looks like a football with legs too. From the day we brought the once tiny little peanut home she lived to eat. She would never tolerate another cat...she barely tolerates my guests..imagine..people in HER house.

Anonymous said...

When Shelby brought home a kitten in March, I worried about our older cat. The kitten (Salem) loves the older cat (Precious.) The feeling is not mutual. One night Shelby was taking a bath. Salem was laying on the rim of the tub and Precious was laying on the toilet seat. After several minutes of listening to them growl and hiss at each other, Shelby told them to knock it off. Precious stood up and stretched, then leaned over and whacked Salem on the head and pushed her into the water. I guess she took Shelby at her word!

Anonymous said...

Don't you love how our kitties really own us?

Anonymous said...

Sorry for the late reply, I have been cleaning my butt off. :) Lucy has come into her womanhood poor Simon doesn't stand a chance. :)