September 23, 2004
Tales of the pussy.
It's time to give you all an update - because I know you've been on pins and needles - on the pussy in my yard. The last you heard he was holed up nice and cozy in the safety of my tool shed during Hurricane Frances. Quite a bit of progress has been made since.
As you may have read, for weeks I tried everything to catch him and get him out and away from the tree. Nothing worked. No traps, no chasing him around with the neighbor, no borrowed humane traps, nada. He just would not hear of it. So I decided that if I could not catch him, that I would at least make sure that he was fed and had plenty of water.
I started feeding him every day after work. I would go outside and do a little falsetto "here kitty kitty, here kitty kitty" in hopes of luring him out into the open so he could see where his food was. At first, he would not come out. I meowed, I mush-mushed. Nada. So I basically just started leaving the little can of food out in the same spot every evening. He would then do a little cat covert ops and secretly eat the food, then disappear.
But about two or three weeks ago, when I opened the sliding glass door out to the pool with the cat food in hand, there he was, just sitting at the edge of the slab, waiting. I stepped closer to him, did the meowing and mushing and here kitty kitty thing and he just sat there staring at me. As if he was thinking Dude, just put the damn food down and leave. Dumbass.
This went on day after day after day. I would leave and then sneak back while he was eating and he would just bolt when he saw me.
Then last week, things changed. Instead of waiting for me to feed him from a safe distance, when I opened the door, he got up and walked towards me. He actually got about two feet away and hissed at me. Dude, WTF? You're late, gimme my damn food already you putz. After a couple of days, if I didnt put the can of food down, he would follow me around all over the yard, always maintaining a safe distance.
The other day I decided I was tired of succumbing to his every whim and that this time, he would have to come to me to get his food. I pulled up a patio chair, sat, opened his can of food and placed it directly between my feet. Babalu was going ballistic inside the house as he watched all of this through the sliding glass door. It took a few minutes, but the damn cat came and started eating. At first he grabbed a mouthful of food and ran away. He would come back and do the same thing, over and over again.
Well, now when I get home every day he is sitting right next to the sliding glass door waiting for me. When I come out he rubs himself around my ankles.
On Monday he actually let me rub his head between his ears. Yes! I had finally managed to pet my pussy!
Last night, as I made dinner, he was out there wrestling with Babalu. If you've never seen an 80 lb dog being scared by a 2 lb cat, I can assure you, it is unbelieveably funny. By the end of the night, the cat was lying next to the dog who was faithfully licking his head.
Fire and brimstone! Dogs and cats living together....
One word of advice though, never, under any circumstances try to get a kitten to come to you by using little sissy names like "Pookiecat" or "BoobooKitten" or something. I got tired of calling for him with kitty-kitty and unwittingly somehow morphed it to "Kiddo McFiddo." Now it's all he answers to.
Kiddo McFiddo.
Posted by Val Prieto at September 23, 2004 11:06 AM
Comments
Val: I love it! What a great update on your elusive pussy. Cute name. Think you could take a photo of Kiddo McFiddo and Babalu and post it? I'd love to seem them. We have three cats (who just showed up at our house) and my husband said "no more".
Mercedes
Posted by: Mercedes at September 23, 2004 12:37 PM
Val The Lion Tamer...
Posted by: Patrick at September 23, 2004 01:32 PM
Used to have a cat that ruled the place. Then we got a dog. After going through the "What is that THING doing in MY yard?", cat got used to him. Used to laugh like hell as 40lb dog and 12lb cat would take turns chasing each other around the yard.
Posted by: Mark at September 23, 2004 05:18 PM
Hey Val:
In case you're interested, that little troll Gvant now hangs out here: http://forums.prospero.com/n/mb/message.asp?webtag=kr-cctnews&msg=64.35
and continues to sing the praises of Fidel...
(I think he went by Gvant2000 when he was cruzin' here..)
Posted by: Insta-gator at September 24, 2004 12:39 AM
I had a little Siamese feral kitty who came to my house with his feral mother. I fed them in my mulch pile so my dog, a yorkie, couldn't get to the food.
He stayed after Mom left and would hear my back door open and start yowling at me in conversation. He eventually let me start rubbing his head between the ears and being very friendly. When I went to Australia this summer I had a friend feed him so he wouldn't leave, but apparently either his hormones kicked in and he went rambling or he just got lonesome and left. I refuse to think the raccoon family who now listen for the kitty, kitty music had anything to do with his disappearance. I don't put food out very often but I still go out and call him, hoping he will show up. I miss my kitty!
Oh, and BTW, to tame a wild kitty slowy blink your eyes at him, and then do a wide non-aggessive yawn. I've used that before with much success. If all else fails, do a polite bow like the animals do. Yes, I'm very into talking to the animals!
Posted by: Ruth H at September 24, 2004 06:15 PM
Isn't it cool how a name will come to you for a pet? And the funny thing is, that it ends up fitting them to a T.
Posted by: JED at September 24, 2004 11:44 PM
After these many days of continued cleanup from Ivan, I read your post...based upon the title, I was somewhat disappointed.
Oh well, it was nice to hear about the cat, anyway.
PS: I HATE THE SMELL OF MOLD AND MILDEW...OH YEAH, AND DEAD FISH.
Posted by: WB at September 27, 2004 10:57 PM