Mary, queen of cats

Thank you to all of you for your wonderful comments It is hugely encouraging!

Typical of Mary Mary Quite Contrary, she is dealing with winter in a strange way. She loved being outside when it is wet and cold, but when it is dry and cold, she comes inside. This does not make for a pleasant experience for us. As mentioned before, wet cold cat is not all that charming, especially when she tries to snuggle up next to you at night when you are sleeping. I am starting to wonder whether that is not the reason she likes being outside when it rains: so she can come in and take revenge by plonking her cold wet body next to our warm dry bodies!

She is currently the most amazing shades of grey. Her down has grown in full force and is a light silver white in colour. And it is incredibly soft!

Today is a lovely day outside (in cat terms) – the sun is out and the day is crisp and clear. Kitten (who is a boy kitty) is outside and so is Mary. Mary was rolling around on her back, performing for the kitten – it was too cute to see! I ran back inside to fetch the camera, but by the time I came out, Mary was quite relaxed, while Kitten was rolling around in a frenzy trying to outdo Mary’s rolling spectacle.

Mary with Kitten in the background (by the car’s front tyre), just after her rolling performance. If you look carefully, you can see the bald patch on Mary’s cheek (on the right as you look at the picture).

Kitten performing for Mary

I have taken a week’s leave this coming week and I have set aside a day or two to spend just with Mary, and I honestly and truly cannot wait. I miss her company so much when I go to work. I like the people I work with, make no mistake, but I prefer the company of my partner and Mary, who both love me flaws and all.

Kitten and Mary

Things have been quiet and kind of weird with Mary this past week. Kitten has had quite an influence on home dynamics. For most of this past week, Mary has ignored us. We would get home, she would eat and go outside. She barely tolerated our attention, and we suspected that she had found another home to sleep in (she came in from outside in the morning to eat, after having been out the whole night, and her ears would be warmish. Had she been outside, her ears would have been ice cold).

Then towards the end of the week, she became VERY VERY friendly towards us again. She even fell back in to her old routine of sleeping with us during the night before going out and coming back inside.

Yesterday morning, my partner noticed Kitten through our bedroom window, playing with another cat. This would explain Mary’s behaviour: seems she has fallen out of favour with Kitten and Kitten found a new buddy. Thus we became Mary’s fall back buddies.

Kitten and the new buddy

Right now she really could not be bothered with Kitten or with us. It is Sunday, the sun is shining and she is doing what she loves second best: sleeping in the Sunday afternoon winter sun!

Sunday afternoon: The Queen dozing on her Throne

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!