Murphy’s law says that if anything can go wrong it will go wrong. We have a cat, Purrcy, and his law says that if anything can be done, it will be done. If a plant can be tipped over, causing damage and debris across the living room, it will be done. If a dog can be bothered until it chases him, it shall be done. If a table can be jumped on, so it shall be.
Our friend Jerusha found Purrcy out by our barn meowing. He hopped right into her arms. We now blame Jerusha for all our cat challenges. Meanwhile, my son Chris says the cat is mine. I say he belongs to Chris. But in reality, Purrcy belongs to each person he chooses, one person at a time. He is his own cat.
We already had a barn cat, Squeaky. A few years ago Squeaky arrived the same way, he just showed up. We of course always neuter our animals, so Purrcy could not be an offspring of Squeaky. But they could be cousins. Grey tabby cousins. You have to look twice to figure out who is who. Squeaky is chubbier, has a wider face, and a shorter tail. Squeaky has always been cautious and reserved, and only lets a few trusted people pet him.
Purrcy was half grown when he arrived. Squeaky was middle aged by then, and at the fat and lazy stage of his life. Purccy would approach Squeaky with joy, shove his face at Squeaky’s nose, and ask to play. Squeaky would meow his namesake squeak, and then leave. Eventually, they moved on to wrestling for a few seconds, then Squeaky would tire of it and simply sit on Purrcy. Squeaky was fat and it was a successful move to finish the match. Finally, we saw the two cats sitting outside on a lawn chair close together. A feline friendship began.
Gradually they got to the point where they could be near each other inside the house, and sometimes would even groom each other, licking on the lovely itchy spots under the chin and behind the ears. It wouldn’t be long though before Purrcy would have enough of the love-fest and bat Squeaky in the face. Then we would push the writhing mass of wrestling cats outside.
Purrcy is the most confident cat I have ever been around. He loves and approaches everyone. He will play with the horse’s tails. He has tried to stalk the chickens, even though they stand taller than him. He is fearless around our dogs. He teases our dog Cookie and Gramma’s dog Penny. He taunts them by running from them in the living room, then disappearing behind the couch, to suddenly rush out the other side and bat the dogs on the head. Then he scampers back under the furniture again. The dogs love it, but get over excited and we send them outside. This generally solves all of the animal problems at our house: send them outside. It used to work with the kids, too. And my husband.
In the house Purrcy is always looking up trying to figure out how to get to the top of furniture and shelves. He has not been on top of the fridge yet, but he scopes it out daily. He has found a hidey-spot in a basket on top of the armoire in our bedroom. He typically knocks things off my dresser as he finds his way up. My son says he regularly knocks over water glasses in his room. The other night I was in bed, but not asleep, when Purrcy walked over my body like it was a bridge, and then stepped up on my bedside table. I grabbed my full water glass and held it tightly on the bed while Purrcy crashed around and explored everything on the table. Soon, he hopped back down to me, put his head in the water glass I was holding, and started drinking. He drank a lot from my glass. It’s not like we don’t have animal water available in a bowl downstairs. The next morning he came in again, and hopped up to get another drink from my glass. This time I reached over and held the glass steady for him as he drank. Luckily I was awake enough to be his support staff, and prevent the glass from being tipped over. And as I lay there, I wondered how many other times he drank from my glass, and I would later take an unknowing sip? Bleck, cat germs! The next night I changed out my water glass to a water bottle with a lift-top on it.
I believe that Purrcy is a reincarnation of our old black poodle Buster. Buster was also a confident animal that loved all people immediately. Purrcy has claimed the spot on the top couch cushion that Buster used to lay on. This is the best place to lay and survey both outside and inside the house. Like Buster, Purrcy begs for food and eats everything except vegetables. I am also quite sure that Buster is disgusted that he came back as a cat. In the hierarchy of life according to Buster, cats rank out far below poodles. Purrcy begs to differ.
Michelle Eames 