Mary, queen of cats » history

ROMPS #003

zsh — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 16:22:26 +0000

Mary has changed during the time she has been with us. As she has aged, her fur has steadily become thinner, as it would. This photo shows that she still has enough to shed, come summers.

Also clearly visible in this photo is the nick in her right ear. We assume this was caused in a fight, but do not know – she had it when she adopted us.

ROMPS #001

zsh — Sun, 24 Jun 2007 17:15:14 +0000

As the father of the Queen, I have decided to post every so often a photo from the Queen’s past showing an aspect of her character, her history, or just of her – in a hopefully long-running series of posts I will call the Reign Of Mary Photo Set.

This marks the first post in this set, and shows Mary adapting to the rather turbulent nature of our year spent in Jeffrey’s Bay – we lived in four different places during that time, creating an environment that would obviously upset any animal, especially a cat, as they tend to enjoy and prefer peace and stability.

The Return of the Stranger

Nikki — Sun, 27 May 2007 09:08:32 +0000

Since the Kitten (the new face in the neighbourhood) introduced itself to Mary and to us, I have noticed a change in her. She is no longer mommy’s girl, she is now daddy’s girl. Somehow I have fallen out of favour, and my husband is the flavour of the month. During the past week I played with her like I normally do and she actually growled at me – a sound that had both my husband and I quite surprised because we have never heard the sound before!
In the beginning when she came in to our lives, she wanted almost nothing to do with me. There was a clear bond between my fiancee and Mary and I was a third wheel. I worked VERY hard to build up a solid relationship with her, and in the process she became my baby girl.
I don’t know what I did to hack her off, but hopefully it won’t last long and things will return to normal.

Friday night saw the return of The Stranger (the Kitten). Our neighbours downstairs made a racket and I went down to check what they were up to. When I opened the door, lo and behold, Kitten was outside our front door. Mary, who was inside, came out to investigate with me, saw Kitten and did not react in the slightest. I went inside to get the camera and take photos of the interaction and sat outside with the two of them for a while. Kitten initially kept its distance, but it became braver and eventually sat with me at my open front door. Next thing, Kitten ran straight past me inside the flat (Mary had lost interest and returned inside). I immediately ran after it and took it outside again, but Kitten would have none of it. It was a hassle to get and keep it out. Mary took all of this pretty much in her stride.

Kitten at the railings, and Mary taking it all in her stride (taken from Mary’s window)

Things calmed down, Kitten left and I went to bed. In the early hours of the morning, I woke up when I heard my husband say “the kitten is inside”. Kitten came in through Mary’s window and was sniffing around the flat. I immediately took it outside, but the moment I turned my back, it would come straight back in. Mary just sat and watched the whole spectacle – I would take it out, it would come straight back in. Eventually when I saw it come back through the window, I clapped my hands loudly to give it a fright, but unfortunately, Mary was the one who got the fright. So I had to calm Mary down while trying to keep the kitten out. Finally Kitten got the message and left. And back to bed I went.

I had just fallen asleep (Mary was sleeping on top of me), when I was woken up by a cold wet nose sniffing my face. Kitten was back inside and was wanting to come and snuggle. I would not have minded, had it not been for Mary. Our relationship is tenuous and I don’t want to do something that might alienate us further, such as giving Kitten permission to snuggle with us on the bed. Mary was again just watching, seemingly not worried at all. I picked kitten up, and gently moved Mary off me. This did not work at all. She gave a menacing hiss (something she has not done before either) and jumped off the bed and ran out.
Kitten and I started our whole song and dance all over again: in and out and in and out. In desperation to get the message across, I took a syringe full of water and squirted it every time it tried to get back in. It left and I have not seen it since (today is Sunday).

Saturday night was less eventful – we all settled down on the bed for some Stargate. Even Mary tried to get her spot on the bed when we got up to make something to eat.

Settling in for Saturday night in front of the telley

Right now, she is lazing in the Sunday morning sun, quite relaxed and happy. I hope to keep it that way!

Captivated

Nikki — Thu, 24 May 2007 19:11:54 +0000

Back in 2003 when we got Mary, I was so enamored by this breathtaking creature that just entered our lives. I thought she was the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. I knew exactly what a proud, new mother felt like and it was downright emotionally overwhelming. Mary might be a non-human animal, but that does not mean I have to love her less. I am sure that a non-human animal can bring as much joy as a human baby/child can (we don’t have any children) – it is just a different kind of joy. It is the same principle as loving your spouse/partner and loving your mother/father. You love them all equally, but the love you have for each is different. And so it is with the love I have for Mary.

I simply could not take my eyes off her (and after 4 years I still can’t) and wanted to show her off to the whole world. I cannot begin to tell you how many photos we have of Mary. COUNTLESS. Once, in one sitting, I took 66 photographs. The only reason I stopped was because the food in the oven was burning (I was so wrapped up in what I was doing, I forgot about early supper in the oven). Some of the photos came out beautifully and at that stage I wanted to have a site in her honour: The first supermodel cat in the world!

I am sharing a few of Mary’s best photos with you. Enjoy!

Please note: all images on this site are free for use ONLY if you are using them to a) promote animal welfare and b)NO PROFIT is made off these images.

Sleeping Beauty

Nikki — Mon, 14 May 2007 16:49:06 +0000

Mary’s favourite things in the world would be (in no particular order): outside, biscuits, grooming and sleeping. In typical Mary style, she does everything dramatically and spectacularly!

Here is a collection of photos of Her Royal Highness enjoying her sleep (at times, taking over the bed, leaving either one of us with no space). Not much excitement, but for those of you who own cats – you will know what it means for a cat to be so relaxed in human company. For those of you who don’t quite understand the fascination: cats are vulnerable when they sleep, so when they are completely and utterly relaxed (as Mary clearly is in these photos), it shows how much they trust you. I would say we are pretty damn good house mates/parents to Mary!

Don’t Play With Strangers

Nikki — Thu, 10 May 2007 16:51:54 +0000

Yesterday, as we came home, we noticed a new face in the complex. A friendly black and white kitten came running towards us, seeking attention. It followed us to our door and our immediate concern was how Mary was going to react. She has exhibited some really strange behaviour towards other animals in the past. The very first time we saw her interact with another cat was quite frightening: she came running back inside our place, soiling herself and cowering in a corner.

The next place we moved to, she was again terrorised by a stray cat who would come inside, beat her up and eat her food. I once separated the two and as I lifted Mary away from the brawl, this cat hung onto her head. I stopped counting the number of times we had to take her to the vet to be stitched up. At the same complex lived a kitten about the age of the one we encountered yesterday – in fact, it looks VERY similar, and Mary bullied this poor little thing. She would call it, it would come running and she would clobber it quite viciously and run after it when it tried to flee.

We moved and she adapted pretty well as there were hardly any cats in her territory. Then our neighbour got a cat and we held our breath. Tommy and Mary clicked right from the start and the two became inseparable. Tommy would come in to our flat, and Mary would go in to his flat. They were truly bosom buddies.

A while later we saw her do to another younger cat what she did with the first kitten she encountered – she became the aggressor. So there really is no telling how she would react. Chances were it would be a negative reaction as she only ever took to one cat: Tommy (and that was without ANY hitches whatsoever!).

But Mary keeps on surprising us. She could not be bothered less by this youngster. Despite the youngster’s BEST efforts to get her to play, Mary feigned complete disinterest. The kitten would sneak up to her, take a quick sniff and then bat Mary with his paw, and then run like hell. Mary would look at the kitten like she is bored and continue to groom herself. The kitten would come running back, and when Mary looks up, kitten will roll in to a quick submission position on its back before darting off again.

It was just too cute for words, and we breathed a sigh of relief!

It could just be that she was acting this way because we were watching, or it could be that we taught her well: don’t play with strangers!

Taking a quick sniff before darting off, trying to get Mary’s attention!

Enter the fluffy fing

Nikki — Wed, 25 Apr 2007 17:35:15 +0000

Mary is my little gift from The Universe.
After we came back from New Zealand, I missed having companion animals. But our situation was unstable and we did not know what was happening from one day to the next, so taking on animals was certainly not a good idea. Once we found work in Johannesburg and started building a new life, we adopted a big blue-steel gray Great Dane after removing her from an unhealthy environment.
Gia and I bonded almost immediately and she never managed to bond with anyone else. I nursed her back to health and she turned into a beautiful, healthy, big dog that I loved dearly.

Sadly, we had to give her away when we learned we had to move away. If I could have kept Gia, I would have. I adored that dog. I suffered a broken heart when she left us.

Two evenings before we were due to move from Gauteng to the Cape (and the day after we gave Gia away), we heard a soft meow coming from the bushes outside the back door at the kitchen. My first thought was of a cat trapped in the thicket and needing help. This was strange as I had never seen or heard any cats in the vicinity. We lived on a busy street and thus it was not a cat-friendly environment.
I immediately went to investigate, and as I came closer to the bushes, out jumped a blue-steel fluffy cat, in perfect condition. The cat immediately walked straight past me and straight into the house. This may not seem like an extraordinary thing for a cat to do, but this particular cat turned out to be a shy and oversensitive cat that was very wary of humans.

We did not want to take on another animal so soon after Gia and especially seeing as we did not know where we were going to live or how long we would be stable for. The last thing we wanted was to get fond of another companion animal and have to say goodbye because we could not keep it.

I was willing to take a gamble. This cat was EXACTLY the same colour as Gia and she came out of nowhere. We discussed the matter and it was decided that if we could not find the “owners” of this cat before we moved, we would adopt her.

Needless to say, we never did find her previous “owners” and Mary became a very important part of our lives and our little nucleus family. Life has not been the same since.