Don’t Play With Strangers
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!
