An Odd Tail

April 3, 2007

Cats are odd creatures. I am not the cat person in our house. My husband is. I prefer pets that don't treat you like hired help. Genesis 1:28 says:

And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and
replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the
sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.

Cats in general have the mistaken conclusion that God was talking to them and not us. Nonetheless, we have a member of the cat family in our household. And as if cats aren't strange enough in general, she has a personality that, kindly put, is rather eccentric.

Pepper joined us at the ripe old age of approximately 6 months and had a hissing, spitting fit the first time she saw our dog. Fortunately, our dog loves EVERYBODY and soon won her over. As for the eccentric personality, well, for a cat that came from a room full of cats at the SPCA, she dearly hates all other cats. She plays chase with our dog on occasion and eats more dog food than cat food, even though she has her choice. Anyhow, her cat personality does come out quite regularly. For instance, at our last house she had the birds quite incensed with her. They had a neighborhood watch, which included many different species of bird by the way, that would sound the alarm whenever she came outside and then take turns dive-bombing her. It was so bad for a time that I would walk out to her when I saw all of them so she could manage to get to our door. Apparently the birds recognized my dominion because they left me alone.

My husband was gone last night though and I guess she had not gotten enough attention of late because she was feeling particularly affectionate. I don't mind giving her attention as long as it occurs to her to ask for it before I go to bed. It did not occur to her last night.

I was lying in bed just beginning to feel drowsy. She had already placed herself in a prime position to steal my pillow once I fell asleep. All of a sudden, she flipped over on her back, paws in the air, and began to stare intently at my face. I do not know what she expected to accomplish but it apparently didn't produce the desired result. You see, I have children and can endure such odd behaviors for any number of hours without a problem. So I went back to the business of going to sleep. I think that only encouraged her somehow. The next thing I knew she scooted over to my head and wrapped both front paws around the top of my head. She then tucked her upside down face into the crook between my head and shoulder. This was apparently where she wanted to be because she started purring loudly. Now, we are talking low Richter scale here. I started to turn my head but she had expected movement, I guess, because I found she had lightly secured my head with a little claw. As I said, I have children and can tolerate any number of things. I was mostly asleep already and assumed this was the result of missing my hubby, so I thought I'd just go on to sleep and she would move after a bit. Some time later I awoke to find I was still in this medieval torture device. What's more, it must have been pretty comfy because the purring had degenerated into violent snoring. She must have gotten what she needed though because she had let me loose by the time the alarm went off.

I don't think anyone has ever told me that my head looks like a body pillow. Perhaps they didn't want to hurt my feelings. Hopefully, though, she's gotten the attention she felt bereft of. I fear that even if she hasn't she may find herself sleeping under the stars tonight. After all, as ruler of my dominion, I strive to be both understanding and firm. Most importantly, however, I like to be able to remain awake.