Wednesday, August 02, 2006
Look-alike White Pussies
Washing up the last pots and pans that had been soaking, starting to prepare dinner, I glanced out the kitchen window and caught the eye of ... a white cat. At first, I thought it was "mine", but went to check and "mine" was still curled sleeping on an armchair. I chatted it (the "imposter"), and it stayed put (maybe it has eaten here before?), I talked to it and tried to check it out; it is all white (as far as I could see) with pink skin, just like the resident. The resident awoke, came to the kitchen and hopped up on the window ledge, saw the "imposter", and lay down: not keen on chasing the "other" away, nor surprised enough for me to think he was surprised.
I took a "photo" with my phone
. We see the back of "resident's" head in the foreground (bottom left) and a bit of "imposter's" face about four metres away around the corner of the house. After a moment, I gave him (resident) a light rub and he arose and came back into the kitchen.
A few minutes later, I saw the "imposter" scamper off the skeletal remains of a balcony, roll on the ground on the "lawn" (in damper times), playing in the yard with one of the plastic Bocci balls I keep to play with cats. Then he arose, clawed a plank, rubbed a shrub, and finally climbed up the fence and onto the neighbors' wall.
I am perplexed. I don't know how much to worry about this situation. My cat (the resident) is not a fighter (although he does come home with scratches and with holes in the fur under his chin) because he has as little testosterone as a steer (much, much less than Floyd Landis should have had because he has several fewer testicles than Landis), but I don't know about the "imposter". Hence I do not know the nature of the conflict (macho versus eunuch, or hungry eunuch versus younger affluent eunuch, or just older eunuch versus younger eunuch, or even if "imposter" is significantly older).
Resident went out, to hunt but also I suppose to defend his home (promenade) and range. After a while, the other cat and he exchanged noises; I went out and the other fled, resident came out of a tree to rub against me and to be reassured. But quickly returned to the "frey".
I've closed the basement window, but the cat door (also in the laundry room) remains functional.
A few minutes ago (10-ish), I heard a cat "land" in the kitchen: it looked white at first glance, reflected in the shiny black cupboard doors. When I called to it (with the noises one makes to a cat) it hopped up and out; before it disappeared, I saw it had colored spots on its back, which I really don't think the earlier "fake" resident cat had. I suspect it to be a cat that has come here before (I don't know how often), one I remember seeing late in the evening in April just before Mandou vanished.
What to do. "Resident" is out of the house; I must leave him at least one entry (the cat door in the laundry room) and leave my bedroom door open--both so that he can come to me if he comes in pursued, and so that I can hear if other intruders make an unusual ruckus in the house.
I hope I still have a healthy white pussy tomorrow; I'll reflect on how to deal with a second one should it seek domicile. Fortunately for me, "resident" has a handicapped tail following an accident a few months ago, so I can tell that a white cat with pink nose and yellow eyes is not him if it lifts or otherwise moves its tail.
P.S. Monday's mouse corpse.
Tags: cats, imposter, testosterone, pussy, intruders, territory
I took a "photo" with my phone
. We see the back of "resident's" head in the foreground (bottom left) and a bit of "imposter's" face about four metres away around the corner of the house. After a moment, I gave him (resident) a light rub and he arose and came back into the kitchen.A few minutes later, I saw the "imposter" scamper off the skeletal remains of a balcony, roll on the ground on the "lawn" (in damper times), playing in the yard with one of the plastic Bocci balls I keep to play with cats. Then he arose, clawed a plank, rubbed a shrub, and finally climbed up the fence and onto the neighbors' wall.
I am perplexed. I don't know how much to worry about this situation. My cat (the resident) is not a fighter (although he does come home with scratches and with holes in the fur under his chin) because he has as little testosterone as a steer (much, much less than Floyd Landis should have had because he has several fewer testicles than Landis), but I don't know about the "imposter". Hence I do not know the nature of the conflict (macho versus eunuch, or hungry eunuch versus younger affluent eunuch, or just older eunuch versus younger eunuch, or even if "imposter" is significantly older).
Resident went out, to hunt but also I suppose to defend his home (promenade) and range. After a while, the other cat and he exchanged noises; I went out and the other fled, resident came out of a tree to rub against me and to be reassured. But quickly returned to the "frey".
I've closed the basement window, but the cat door (also in the laundry room) remains functional.
A few minutes ago (10-ish), I heard a cat "land" in the kitchen: it looked white at first glance, reflected in the shiny black cupboard doors. When I called to it (with the noises one makes to a cat) it hopped up and out; before it disappeared, I saw it had colored spots on its back, which I really don't think the earlier "fake" resident cat had. I suspect it to be a cat that has come here before (I don't know how often), one I remember seeing late in the evening in April just before Mandou vanished.
What to do. "Resident" is out of the house; I must leave him at least one entry (the cat door in the laundry room) and leave my bedroom door open--both so that he can come to me if he comes in pursued, and so that I can hear if other intruders make an unusual ruckus in the house.
I hope I still have a healthy white pussy tomorrow; I'll reflect on how to deal with a second one should it seek domicile. Fortunately for me, "resident" has a handicapped tail following an accident a few months ago, so I can tell that a white cat with pink nose and yellow eyes is not him if it lifts or otherwise moves its tail.
P.S. Monday's mouse corpse.
Tags: cats, imposter, testosterone, pussy, intruders, territory
# posted by Maurice Lanselle @ 10:57 PM 
