Mary, queen of cats » behaviour

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Nikki — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 13:55:22 +0000

So we took Mary to the vet to have her lump checked out. But somehow, the day after the previous post and three days after the appearance of said lump, it mysteriously disappeared. The lack of the lump was discovered just before we went to the vet. We took her anyway, just in case. The vet declared her as fit as a fiddle and fortunately Mary wasn’t too upset. The worst part was a thermometer up the bum which yielded a look that was a mixture between extreme embarrassment and anger. But once the offensive object was removed, she was just fine.

One remark I would like to make though – the day before we took her to the vet she scratched the area of the lump furiously which makes me believe that perhaps it was a ganglion. But who knows. This is Mary.

Since we came from the vet though, she has been acting strangely. Mary is not a very playful cat and only my husband ever seems able to get her in the mood. But lately, you look at her or move in her direction and she hops like Tigger from Winnie the Pooh and bobs her head back and forth like one of those cheap head bobbing dolls people tend to put on the dashboards of their cars. And then she would just attack the carpet. Last night it looked like she was trying to bite my husband’s pants.

Who knows where this behaviour comes from. As I said, this is Mary and there is a very good reason her name is what it is.

Feline labelling

zsh — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 20:57:29 +0000

As any pet owner knows, a collar and tag are essential pieces of equipment. If your favourite, furred friend is a wanderer at heart, chances are they could get confused on their way home. As any cat owner knows, the tendency of felines to squish themselves into the darnedest of places knows no bounds. Often the smaller the entrance, the better.

This leads to a bit of a concern regarding the cat’s collar – not only must an owner make sure the collar itself is stretchable, so it can easily slip off if their wearer is in danger of choking or worse, but it should also be ultimately able to tear or snap to get them out of a jam. That being said, the collar not being as fixed as it could be does lead to the more rambunctious feline losing more than their fair share.

And this presents a difficulty in and of itself – what about the tag? One can only have so many collars around the house, especially with a cat that goes through them like most people go through underwear. And of course there’s no way we would allow Mary out without a tag on her collar. If she were lost and someone picked her up, they’d have no recourse but to deliver her to the SPCA, which (like many well-intended animal organisations) is animal welfare- and not animal rights-oriented, and largely a bureaucratic farce, so definitely not a place I’d like my girl to ever see the inside of. This is assuming, of course, that those who find her have good intentions and aren’t just out to steal her for themselves. And who wouldn’t want to? You’ve seen her pictures, right?

To cut a long story short, the pain of having to have a set of pre-engraved tags, or having to rush about looking for an engraver and/or pet tags while her majestic-ness sits at home growing more inclined to pommel any people-flesh she sees exposed with her incredibly long claws while we sleep, is not conducive to a healthy cat-and-person relationship.

Imagine our glee (srsly, glee) at finding a little collar called the Rogz – it’s a little plastic tag doohickey that allows one to scribble/print down the relevant details and snap the tag together themselves. Also handy if you need to change said details. You can check out their site for more info (and no, we’re not getting commission from them, just appreciating the product), but the pic below gives an idea of what it looks like:

Plastic Rogz tags

The following images show Mary wearing her own Rogz tags – obviously they suit her rather… er… active lifestyle:

Cat and tag caught unawares

And from another angle

Waking with a camera up the schnozz

Cat, unamused.

One Queen, One Throne

Nikki — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 14:04:37 +0000

Ever since we had Mary, she loved couches. She loves a good cuddle come bed time, but she loves stretching out and relaxing on a good old fashioned couch.
We recently decided to redecorate and since we changed our colour scheme, we got a new couch. True to form, the Queen was on her throne in no time.
This time she acted slightly differently though. Although Mary’s male human companion is more than welcome on the couch, it seems to bother her when I sit on it. The moment I sit down, no matter where she is, she will leave what she is doing and come and sit on the couch staring at me in a very accusatory way. Once I am off the couch, she immediately relaxes. Often she would get off the couch too and return to what she was doing.
I guess in our house hold it is “One Queen, One Throne”.

Your Majesty on her throne

A Popular Queen

Nikki — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 09:48:31 +0000

As posted many times before, we always know Mary is in need of a visit to the vet when we notice changes in her behavior. Lately she has become needy and clingy and when I felt the base of her tail, she had the skin irritation again. Off to the vet we went. She wasn’t particularly amused (she never is!), but she is *such* an incredibly good cat. She didn’t meow once, didn’t struggle, sat quietly in her carrier cage and that was that. I remember there used to be a time where we would take her to the vet without any restraints and she would sit next to us on the chairs in the waiting room. We eventually decided on a carry cage for her own safety in case other animals decided she looked like she was a worthy opponent for a fight.

Mary will be going back to the vet this week, but this time to have her teeth cleaned (which is long overdue). We will report back on how that went.

On a different note though – the one night I was sitting in front of the telly, laptop on my lap, when I heard this unearthly scream. I almost fell of the couch, the laptop almost went flying and my heart rate went through the roof. Turns out Mary was standing at the door, warning everyone within the lair (the flat) of stranger danger by the door! I was so proud of her! It happened a second time and this time I quietly snuck out to check who this “stranger” was. Turns out it was Murphy, her friend from a while back. I have seen her and Murphy around and there has never been any animosity, but clearly Murphy wanting to join us in the lair was a huge no-no which she made clear to just about everybody within the complex!

There is another twist to the story. Another kitty seems to be calling out for Mary (she is mighty popular within her own community it seems). Jasper, a fluffy black and white cat, has been in the vicinity calling out for Mary in gentle cries. Mary would pop her head outside and just sit and stare at Jasper, which I think is kind of rude of her. All he wants is her company and all she does is sit and stare at him.

It seems Jasper has kind of given up because I have not heard him call her in the last two days. But maybe he is more forgiving than she is and will hopefully try and become Mary’s friend again.

Collarless

Nikki — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 13:45:13 +0000

I am absolutely besotted with Mary. It is winter time and her fur is bountiful, thick and soft. And when we are not participating in our cold war, she is loving and just magnificent to cuddle. The cold war happens when for no reason whatsoever I have fallen out of favour and my partner is just the bees knees while I am nothing more than gum under a shoe.

We were going through a good patch, with plenty of love and purrs and cuddles, but I don’t know how popular I will be after her being locked up inside last night. It doesn’t matter that the decision to lock her up was made by my partner *and* I. Someone has to be blamed and it will most likely be me.
We had a very good reason to lock her up inside. Mary lost two collars (with tags) in three days. I don’t know how, or where, but I do know that she ain’t going nowhere without visible identification.

I went and bought two new collars with two new tags so we will have to wait and see whether these last. Watch this space!

The Killer Who Drives Us Insane

Nikki — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 17:04:30 +0000

One thing about Cape Town that seems to get to even the born and bred Capetonians, is the wind. Otherwise known as the Black South Easter or the Cape Doctor. This wind is a constant in summer and can get to strong that people have to hold on to poles just to keep up right.

Unfortunately, we live in the basin of the city where this Black South Easter turns. When it blows, trust me, you know it. This also means kitty gets locked inside. This also means we have a very, very unhappy cat on our hands who has no problem in letting us know exactly how unhappy she is about not having access to outside. She keeps us up all night and howls non-stop. She drives us insane. It is not fun trying to sleep with a loudly complaining cat in the background doing her utmost to keep you awake. And of course, she no longer cares about being squirted. Mr. Squirty has lost its effectiveness.

When she is outside, she is in her element. And what she loves more than being outside, is if we are outside with her.

Recently, she came back from outside for a nibble. Her food was finished and when we did not jump up and give her biscuits, she went outside again. Ten minutes later I went to look for her and found her crunching on something (as in literally, you could her “crunch, crunch”). I first thought someone gave her a piece of meat or something and I panicked. Upon closer inspection, I saw she was eating a mouse, and the crunching sound was the head in her mouth. I felt insulted – we are obviously not important enough to share in the spoils of the hunt. No gifts brought to the lair (for which, I have to admit, I am eternally grateful!).

This morning, I noticed that she has a wound in her neck. It is a deep gaping hole. Fortunately the vet gave me extra antibiotics which I will give to her to keep infection at bay. If that does not help, it is back to the vet again.

The Hunter with the Hunted

The Wound

Mary Has Mommy Issues

Nikki — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 06:38:49 +0000

My darling cat and I are having some issues. I recently came to the conclusion that Mary does not like me – she merely tolerates me because I am the local “take-away counter”. I discussed this conclusion with my partner and he did not disagree.

Mary and I always had a bit of a strange relationship. She is so much daddy’s little girl. She looks at my partner with complete and utter adoration in her eyes and it is clear that she worships him. The moment I touch her or look at her, she starts flicking her tail. Sometimes she would simply get up and move to a different spot, sometimes she would move to a different spot and settle with her back to me, sometimes she simply walks away, sometimes she would lick herself where I touched her.
In the beginning when she joined our little family, I was the third wheel in the relationship. At one point it actually made me feel resentful towards my partner because the cat liked him better than she liked me.

It was a long, hard journey to build a bond with her, but eventually it happened. That was until recently when it dawned on me that she really actually does not like me, she just tolerates me for the sake of it.

Mary and I are now in the process of rebuilding our relationship and it is a struggle. Every now and again I have a breakthrough moment with her. Let’s hope it works!

Fast asleep under Daddy’s blanket, on Daddy’s side of the bed

Mommy’s little scrapper

Nikki — Sun, 05 Aug 2007 11:54:56 +0000

Mary is so damn unpredictable. You simply never know how she will react when she sees, or is confronted with, another animal. It can be anything from literally soiling herself, to blatantly ignoring the other animal, to absolute fierce aggression! There really is no telling.

Last Saturday we were on our way out to pick up my sister and her boyfriend for a late lunch, when we heard some terrible cat “screams” outside our apartment. Since it sounded nearby Mary’s window, I ran outside in my high-heeled boots to come to Mary’s rescue. My first thought was “oh heavens, she is under attack!!”.

What greeted me outside was not something I expected. Mary was clearly the aggressor in a very serious fight between her and another cat I have not seen before. It was pretty wild and clumps of her fur were all over the parking area. I shouted at her and the other cat took off, with Mary in hot pursuit. I eventually managed to catch up to the two rolling balls of flying fur and separated them. I picked Mary up and took her inside. Madam was all wide-eyed and wired. We immediately inspected her for damage and found two of the other cat’s claws embedded in her skin. But fortunately, there was no real damage that would require a trip to the vet. We locked her inside and went our merry way.

We got home about 5 hours later and Mary was visibly docile and not herself. We have witnessed this behaviour before and knew immediately that she was hurt somewhere. She was shaking her head continuously and there was dried liquid in her ear. Yet, we could not find anything other than a slight swelling on the side of her face.

Sunday morning we noticed the swelling had increased considerably. That meant one thing. A trip to the vet again. I am pretty sure that Mary is the vet’s most regular patient.

Our regular vet was not there and Mary saw a new female vet. The vet concluded that the swelling is an abscess. We briefly hashed it out – this was not an abscess. First off, there were no puncture wounds, secondly, an abscess does not form this quickly and thirdly, she had no fever (a common symptom of an abscess). The vet decided to draw some fluid from the swelling to determine what it was: pus would be indicative of an abscess, where as blood would not. Unfortunately, Mary had to have her beautiful soft ruffle shaven.

The fluid that was drawn from the swelling was just blood. The diagnosis was a ruptured gland. Mary was given a broad spectrum antibiotic, and if the swelling did not abate after a day or two, the gland would need to be removed. This is a tricky and delicate operation as there are many nerves on the side of the face.

The good news is, the swelling was down by Monday evening. Crisis averted. The bad news is, Mary has a bald patch on the side of her face again.

Mommy’s beautiful little scrapper.

Ready for attack (look at those wild eyes!)

Target acquired

ATTACK!

A docile Mary after the fight, when we got home 5 hours later

Waiting for the vet

The vet inspecting the swelling, before Mary being shaven
Back home, one very unimpressed and unhappy kitty (shaven spot on the right)

Bald patch

Compliments to the chef

Nikki — Sun, 22 Jul 2007 10:46:59 +0000

I know it has been quite a while since I have posted anything on Mary’s blog. I have good reason – I have been preoccupied and consumed by trying to stop the seal cull in Namibia.

But something happened last night that reminded me that I must make time to post on Mary’s blog at least once a week. Part of owning a cat means putting up with the fact that cats puke every now and again. Mostly they do this just after they have eaten grass or if there is a fur ball in their digestive system that is due to be expelled.
Unfortunately this is the part that I really don’t particularly enjoy – I have a weak stomach and I find cleaning up any form of bodily fluids (human or non-human) kind of gross. Okay fine, not kind of, just plain gross. I swear one day, if I ever have children, I don’t care how poor I am, I will hire someone to change nappies and mop up any bodily expulsions.

I woke up last night when I felt my left arm lying in something wet and cold. Upon closer investigation (which took about 2 seconds), I realised my sweet, sweet Mary puked on me while I was blissfully sleeping. I don’t know how on earth I slept through it as the racking and coughing and wheezing and choking sounds she makes as a prelude to puking is rather….. hard to miss or ignore. The worst is, it was mostly soggy biscuits with a teeny little fur ball all mixed together in gob.

After I cleaned it up, my partner said I should have taken a photo of it. I hardly think this is the kind of thing I want to be reminded of – looking at all the goo knowing she left that little gift on me while I was sleeping.

One look at her face though, makes everything forgiven!

Mommy’s pretty little puker

Back in to the Routine

Nikki — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 15:46:59 +0000

This past week I went back to work and for Mary it meant back to being locked up during the day. She adapted pretty quickly as she always does, but Monday morning we had to deal with a bit of sulking. She was sitting on the bed, very clearly with her back to us – you had to be a complete idiot not to get the message. I went and sat next to her and ever so lightly started stroking her. She simply got up in a huff and went and sat on the other side of the bed, with her back to me.

The upside is she is milking my guilt and getting treats galore! Except, now she expects treats. The moment either my partner or I walk towards the kitchen, madam is there, right in front of the treat drawer, looking at us with big googly eyes and the sweetest look on her face. It is incredibly difficult not to give in.

The weather has been bad for Mary – it has been really cold and raining buckets. This of course is good news for us as she is inside with us all the time and she likes to snuggle. She was snuggling up tightly against me the other night as I fell asleep and feeling the rise and fall of her soft warm little body and hearing her breathe next to me…..it was the best damn feeling in the whole world.

Mary fell in love with the rug/mat we put on the bed. Whenever we put our hands close to the rug, she goes all psycho on us. Mind you, very often she does not need any provocation at all. Out of the blue she would just start attacking either the rug or herself. The once she even spat loudly twice in a row which of course had us in stitches!

I love Mary so incredibly much. I can’t wait to get back from work during the week to see her. I wish I could let people know what a massive joy it is to share your life with a cat – not only do they love you unconditionally, but they truly enrich your life and bring beauty and joy to it.

Mary on her mat/rug on the bed, cleaning herself in the Sunday afternoon sun

This one speaks for itself!

Sleeping on top of her “house” instead of inside

Exploring the new furniture