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The Story of Two Kitties
By Sue Lyn, on September 13th, 2005
I share my house with one husband and two cats.
The cats don’t quite have us outnumbered, although some days it certainly feels like things are being run for their convenience more than for ours. The two cats are females from the same litter, brought home from the local animal shelter. We had gone intending to come home with just one, yet somehow we wound up with 100% more cat than we’d planned.
I’ve been told that you never choose a cat as much as a cat chooses you. In my case, I was walking down a row of cat cages when a small orange paw reached out through the bars and gently snagged me. Okay, I thought, let’s see who’s so eager to meet me. As I was introducing myself to a charmingly outgoing three-month-old, the woman who managed the cats told my husband, “her sister is just on the other side.” So Mark went over to check out a kitten that looked exactly like the one engaging me. This kitten, however, was huddled in the rear of the cage, curled up into a tiny horrified ball of orange fluff. His protective instincts immediately engaged, he took the small cat, stiffened with fear, and rested her against his shoulder. As he petted her gently and walked up and down the room, he felt the tension gradually melt from her body and a barely perceptible purr begin. Within a few minutes he turned to me with a delighted expression and said she had fallen asleep in his arms. And with that, our fates were sealed.
The characters of the two cats have remained true to their behavior on the very first day we met them. Miss Thing, the outgoing one, is the most active and inquisitive cat I’ve ever known. In the first year we had her, the vet was concerned about her unusually slow heart rate during exams and thought she might have heart problems. After several exams and an expensive consultation with a feline cardiac specialist, he concluded she just doesn’t get too worked up about things. She’s happy go-lucky, impulsive, and not very bright.
Girlfriend, her more timid litter-mate, is similar in appearance and temperament-wise the complete opposite. Despite being a large and physically powerful cat, her innate conservatism means she treats all new situations and people as dangerous until proven otherwise. Her motto is “Same good, change bad.” She won’t take cat treats because they’re not her usual food. She makes a practice of hiding under our bed until all houseguests have left, and she can keep this up for days if necessary.
The challenge is, Girlfriend is also willful and extremely bright, for a cat. When I need to take her to the vet, I have to hide the carrier box lest she spot it and hide in an inaccessible location. In fact, it’s best if I get the box out several days in advance because she instantly recognizes the sound of the attic door where it’s kept and takes off, just in case. She has a sixth sense that tells her when I’m looking for her in order to clip her nails or do anything else she doesn’t care for. Miss Thing, on the other hand, is likely to climb into the pet carrier box without prompting out of simple curiosity. Only after we’ve closed her up in it for transport will she catch on and meow a protesting "Hey, wait a minute!"
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