Talya – a classic pose
I haven’t posted about the state of cat politics for some time, but as today is the first anniversary of the death of our beloved Lizzie cat, it’s an appropriate occasion for a cat post.
Talya has been with us now for four months, and we’ve certainly gone through some drama with both resident felines.
The detente that existed the last time I wrote about the cats, has deteriorated into cold war. They’re not friends, in fact they’re quite hostile to each other and have had a few violent clashes that certainly haven’t promoted loving kindness.
Talya got all stressed and was pissing on the furniture, and showing signs of a urinary tract infection. So off to the vet we took her with a urine sample. A thorough checkout revealed nothing physically wrong with her, but they gave her a an anti-inflammatory shot, which seemed to do the trick. She’s behaving as a normal happy cat since, despite hating Willy.
Willy relaxing in the sun
As for Willy, he’s been in the wars, doing battle with Monty the cat next door and dodging Talya, spending most of his days elsewhere. Of course they can’t totally avoid each other, but when they do meet they exchange hostile stares across a demilitarized zone, where we act as a buffer, should one wish to pass the other on its way in or out.
The subject of cold war cats reminds me of the apocryphal tale of Esther the Cold War Kitty, who purportedly was a secret weapon of the West against the Eastern Block shortly after the second World War.
Esther was the West’s secret weapon. With her Minox subminiature camera, she kept an eye on the skulkings
and plottings of the Soviet leadership. Josef Stalin, his
successor Khrushchev, and the entire leadership of the
KGB spy organization loved Esther. They treated her as an
honored and pampered guest. They never suspected that the lovable, furry kitty-cat was a subminiature techno spy.
Check out the link above for the full story.
Anyway, as far as the resident cats political attitudes to each other are concerned, we’re hoping that with enough time they’ll learn tolerance, if not peace, love and understanding.
6 comments:
So sad when a loved pet dies. Aggie has come into her own though - Grommy & her were brother & sister but in later years she was very scratchy with him. Now since his passing, she has taken on a whole new persona - talking more & seeking our company more. It is helping me not to miss Grommet so much. We realise too how much she (as a much smaller cat) was living in the shadow of her much more extrovert and confident brother.
Well, Willy was enjoying his sole cathood before we adopted Talya and she was a sole cat where she lived, so thinks she's the boss here. Who knows if they'll ever get on, but at least they haven't had a violent brawl for a while.
I still miss the old Lizzie cat and feel sad when I see photos of her.
Talya is a lovely cat so we're reluctant to return her to her former owners, if it had to come to that.
1. this thing -
Stressed cats spray and scratch. A Feliway Diffuser reduces stress.
www.feliway.com/au
might work?
2.just reading about the 74 cats at The Hermitage in St.Petersberg . 'Catherine the Great favoured Russian Blues inside the palace, while putting common moggies to work in the basement. "My paintings" she once famously wrote to the Diderot in France in an attempt to entice the philosopher to visit her, "are enjoyed only by myself and the mice".' who knew that mice eat painted canvas?
3. I finally got some of the new, better Black Caviar stamps, woo hoo.
4. comiserations on your loss of Lizzie. One of my local bus drivers has a date and paw prints tattooed up her inner arm from the wrist up and told me it was her beloved pet RIP.
5. gosh that Willie is a darling. x x
The vet did offer us the Feliway happy cat pheronomes (diffuser), but we turned it down. A friend of mine used it on her brawling cats and said it didn't make much difference.
Never knew that about Catherine the Great, sounds wonderfully bizarre.
Glad you could obtain some of the BC Stamps - it's a great photo, which was taken by Bronwen Healy. Check out her blog The Image is Everything. http://bronwenhealyphotography.blogspot.com.au/
I liked reading this post. Particularly loved the references to the 'demilitarised zoned', and staring at each other in dislike! I've always stuck to one cat at a time. I must admit I am loving having a cat again, even though Maxie is a complete Bad Ass! He's got no truly wicked habits though, and that's a good thing.
Hi Bronwen, I've been a big fan of your photos since way back when Sunline was racing.
Your Maxie looks adorable, but I have first hand experience of the naughtiness of oriental cats and know how wicked they can be.
However, once you've had one you'll never go back to ordinary moggies. We've had sets of two cats for years, and sometimes it works out well, other times not.
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