Westward, Ho!

I am beginning to get a more nuanced sense of my cats' personalities, now that we've been housemates for 3 months. You can see pics of Roxy and Sugar in earlier posts--early August and mid-September.

Roxy, a.k.a. Roxy-Doxy, is an odd blend of boldness and insecure neediness.

Roxy chose me at the shelter. I was looking at two other cats, but she kept sticking her paw through the cage and making it clear I needed to take her out and get to know her in the play room.

She is very curious and self-confident in many ways--always exploring any new sound or open cupboard door, never shirking in fear. When I took her to the Blessing o' the Critters at St Paul's Cathedral and had her on a harness and leash, she went exploring the pews in front and behind, let herself be petted by strangers, showed no fear of the Lab who came over to check her out nor the Llasa who yipped nearby. She settled reasonably comfortably in my arms as I carried her around (more for the comfort of the dog owners than for her protection--she can hold her own), crawled right into the Dean's lap and immediately snuggled under his arm for her blessing (she obviously has good taste in men and clergy!). (The Dean's ex tempore prayer over her commended her for her trusting and brave and affectionate nature--10 seconds and he had her sized up.) While I know that putting a cat on a leash is not as normal as putting a dog on a leash, I was still surprised at the number of comments I got from other cat owners about how exceptionally well Roxy was doing, and how brave and friendly she was. I noticed that she was the only cat who did not spend the whole time in her carrier. If she'd been frightened, or gotten aggressive, I would have put her back in it in a flash, but it wasn't necessary.

She is also very intelligent. Watching her around the apartment, I definitely sense that there are lots of IQ points in her brain, at least by cat standards. I wish I had the space and money to do cat agility trials w/ her--I think she'd excel. I had her maneuvering around some Dell computer boxes and a trashcan and a Robinson's May shopping bag the other night and we were having a lot of fun.

At home a different side of her comes out, though. She definitely wants to be an Only Cat and to be the center of attention in the household. She wants all my attention and affection, all the time. Where I am, she usually is. If I'm in the kitchen or dining room, she wants food. If I'm in the living room, she wants me to get her Cat Dancer and play w/ her. If I'm stretched out on the sofa reading, she quickly curls up on or against me, with the tenacity of velcro. (I wish I had a picture of this morning's pose--on her back, leaning head-first over the sofa-back such that her head (and lots of her weight) was supported by my shoulder--if I'd moved my shoulder there would have been a very undignified head-first Cat Avalanche. It made my neck hurt just to look at her pose!) If I'm in my bedroom/study, where she's not allowed, she'll often camp out right outside the door.

She doesn't want Sugar to get any attention at all. Constant pouncing on her makes sure that Sugar stays cowed under a bookcase for much of the day. Sugar is the total opposite of Roxy--no self-assurance at all. One attempted pounce and she scurries for shelter. She doesn't fight back nor try to turn it into play, which I think is what Roxy wants at least some of the time. If she comes out from under the bookcase and I'm petting her, Roxy is there in a heartbeat, and will pounce on her unless I intervene. Roxy eats out of Sugar's bowl--I have to supervise meals so that Sugar gets some unmolested feeding time when I first put the food bowls down, else she'd never get to eat.

My take on it is that for some reason Roxy is very insecure about getting enough love and care from her Person, which results in her bullying and monopolizing behavior. Just like a human bully, there must be some profound insecurity there underneath the outward swagger. She cannot brook any competition, and she just can not understand that my attention to Sugar doesn't mean any less for her. I don't know what in her past has led to this conviction, or how to counter it. When the Sugar-pouncing gets totally out of hand (such as a series of flying full-body tackles launched from all the way across the living room) I will put Roxy in a carrier for several hours of time-out, but the lesson doesn't seem to stick. I've decided that Roxy's versions of the house rules are: " Just give me all your attention, and sufficient obeisance, and provide me with constant entertainment, and we'll get along just fine." Sometimes she mellows out and lets Sugar alone, but I haven't figured out yet what the pattern is--what causes the truce flag to go up.

Roxy is a dilute tortoisehell. She is rather cobby in build. Her proportions are similar to a British Shorthair. I've always preferred tabbies' markings to calicoes and torties, visually, (in fact, I never would have chosen a regular tortie or calico--it was the dilute that made the difference for Roxy) but I've come to see Roxy's coloring as truly beautiful too. If I were to name her, her name would have something to do w/ marble, b/c her coloring is similar to marbled tile.

Sugar, a.k.a. Sweet Sugar-Lump , or Shug, is a totally different critter. While Roxy is clearly very intelligent, Sugar doesn't strike me as being too bright at all--but how much is native slowness vs. timidity and insecurity, I don't know. She didn't really come up to me at the shelter--it was just her boldly striped tail sticking out from under the place she was hiding that intrigued. But she was amenable to being lured out, and petted, and semed very friendly once you approached her.

Sugar has the sweetest face and expression, and is very gentle, and it's easy to see why the shelter dubbed her "Sugar." When she feels safe enough, she'll come up to me and rub against me and walk back and forth across my lap repeatedly, and eventually settle enough to curl up beside me and against me, though never directly on me. She has a neurotic fixation about face-marking things repeatedly and constantly. I think it's some self-calming behavior or something. She's very forceful in rubbing her muzzle up against anything and everything w/in reach--the corner of the wall, the sofa cushion, the lamp, the table leg, the edge of my icon of Rubylev's Trinity which sits in a stand on the end-table (I wonder whether the Trinity have every been face-marked before? ). If it has an edge, she'll rub against it. Over and over and over again. Clearly it's an effort to mark territory, but it obviously doesn't faze Roxy in the least, but still she does it.

She's more accepting of full-body petting and such than Roxy is--Roxy will only allow you to pet her below the neck when she's *very* relaxed, else you'll get a nip. (It used to be a full-out bite, but she's learned that's a no-no.) In contrast, Sugar likes short belly-rubs, and hand-strokes along her full length. She also never uses her teeth or claws on me. I can clip her nails and brush her moderately easily, b/c I just have to manage to keep her still, I don't have to fight her off--whereas Roxy puts up a full tooth-and-nail fight, and I always come away w/ some scratch and bite marks.

Sugar is very very timid. When Roxy approaches her, she runs and hides under the nearest bookcase. (How thoughtful of me to provide her with so many to choose from, and placed so conveniently all around the apartment..... ) I think lots of times Roxy just wants someone to romp and play with, but Sugar doesn't understand the concept of "play" at all. She just immediately cowers and hides. And that just brings out the bully in Roxy. I wish Sugar would either stand and fight, or play, with Roxy, rather than running away in fear. But she doesn't have the self-assurance to do either. Sometimes they'll exchange paw-bats, but it's alway just a brief delaying tactic while Sugar susses out which bookcase is nearest--she never really stands her ground. Given her timidity and her reptitive face-marking, I have been tempted to see if slipping a few grains of my Paxil into her food bowl would help. Her main base of operations is the area under my lawyers' bookcase. I call it "the Sugar-Cave." At first I thought she'd end up w/ muscle cramps from being under there 12+ hrs a day, having to be lying down flat all the time. But when I explored further, I saw that there is actually 1-2" more clearance than appears from outside, so she can actually raise her head up a bit and move around a bit. Sort of a cove ceiling effect, from her perspective.

Sugar is less active than Roxy, and of smaller, more elegant build. As to coloring, she's a brown and white mackeral tabby, and her head is small and delicate. It looks like she has some of the build of more Asian cats in her--lithe and light, w/ a small head. She needs to work on toning her belly , b/c she had a litter while at the shelter and is still rather saggy. If I were naming her, I'd choose some name that had to do w/ coffee or elaborate coffee drinks, b/c she has every shade of brown, with white trim...her face and head reminds me of a Starbucks Frappuccino Mocha Affogato (with whip). Heck, maybe "Affogato" would be a good name for her, b/c "gato" is Spanish for "cat." But who knows what it would be shortened to, and here in SoCal I'd have people wondering why I'd named my brown and white tabby "Avocado."

Roxy mews and meows. Sugar chirps. I'm still learning to speak "cat," so I don't always understand what they're trying to tell me. Roxy is very interested in food--hers, Sugar's, mine...she is a very persistent beggar in the kitchen and dining room. Sugar is pretty indifferent to food. She'll eat a very light breakfast and dinner, but doesn't get very excited about snacks, nor does she show the slightest interest in my food. Roxy is bold, Sugar timid. They are so different in temperament and appearance. But they are both beautiful, and loving, and much loved.

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Tonight I discovered some people-food that Roxy likes a lot: acorn squash!!!! I gave her a few raw bits as I was preparing it, since she is a very persuasive begger, and I was amazed when she ate about half the bits. Later when I was eating it after 45 mins. baking in the oven (with butter and brown sugar), she *really* liked it. Meowed for more than the little tidbits I was giving her.

I never would have guessed that acorn squash would have been a hit w/ the feline palate! Even given the butter and brown sugar additives...

Roxy and Sugar are still working out Territory Issues. Being prayed over and anointed last week at the St Francis' Day service doesn't seem to have calmed Roxy's desire to stalk and harass sweet and timid Sugar, alas.

Roxy has pretty much established dominance in the living room. The dining room and kitchen seem like somewhat neutral territory. Sugar is trying to stake a claim for the bathroom, which is also the Litter Box Room. There is a modesty half-wall between the vanity area and the toilet/shower area; it is about shoulder-height, and maybe 4" thick, and as long as the vanity is deep. Sugar has decided that the way to show that she's not to be messed with in the bathroom is by claiming the high ground.

So now, often when I go into the bathroom in the night or early morning, there is Sugar, perched up on top the wall, looking down at everything, including the toilet. The first time I stumbled in to the bathroom early in the morning, w/o turning on the lights, mostly still asleep, no glasses on, and perched on the throne, only to suddenly sense a tail swishing energetically above my head--that was quite a startling moment!

Tonight Shug supervised my evening ablutions quite closely from her wall-top perch. Roxy, meanwhile, watched from a few feet away, seeing how close she could get w/o getting pounced on. As I got ready to leave, I reached up and gave Sugar a friendly head-scritch. In return she reached out a paw and gently patted my newly-exfoliated-and- moisturized cheek. They are endearing critters.