The Strange Passions of Tiny Tabbies

I have a 7-lb gray tabby with a slight, long, pointy-faced kind of build.
She is very polite and cautious, but seeks us out for "boneless cat" kind of
affection and conquers her rubber snake several times a day with great
fanfare. This is a "thinking cat." The kind who gives you a little inquiring
"meeeyyu?" when approaching, just so she doesn't take you by surprise. The
kind who knew me for three months before she threw her lanky leg back and
asked for a tummy rub. The kind who never puts her claws out when a human is
touching her. She really does have impeccable manners. But she has an outlet
for those pent-up housecat frustrations. She has a way of blowing off steam.

I had my first inkling of it when I was cleaning a guest room and found a
foam board I had used for a presentation (the kind that folds in three, and
you mount things on the inside and set it up on a table, pre-powerpoint
style) that had hundreds of little chunks chewed out of it. It was clear to
me that she had been slinking away and tearing into the thing for a while,
but I never saw her in action until the other morning.

I was in that place where our cats love us the best--in the bathroom, on the
toilet. She was of course in there with me. I reached for a loose roll of
toilet paper, it had maybe half an inch of paper on it, and knocked it onto
the floor. I watched as a strange, obsessive look came upon my usually mild
and pleasant little girlycat. She hunched over the tp roll, wedging it
against her back feet. She sat up a little. She never looked at me once. It
was as though she had forgotten I was there. Then she proceeded, with a slow

meee...

she is :) and so are her kittens, [onep o whom is helping me type and one is
chewing on my ankle) i am honoured that she had her kittens with me; they
are a pleasure to know, just like their mum!!

and steady rhythm, to tear great huge mouthfuls of tp from the roll,
spitting them out afterward. Her actions had a reverent, ritualistic pace
and feel. Stunned, I watched the pile of shredded paper grow. If any stuck
to her mouth, she shook her head until it fell away and then "ripppppp"
dispatched another great mouthful. She did not look up until she hit
cardboard, then she looked me right in the eye, like she was coming out of a
trance.

Still stunned, I gave her a half-hearted "no?" and she darted off.

Happily, I had a tp backup in place.

meee...

ROTFL!!! She sounds just adorable!

cybercat...

Thanks. Clearly I think she is! I got her when she was 2, she was at a
shelter, had two little babies that looked just like her right after they
got her out from under a trailer where she and her brother were semi-feral.
She had been at the shelter for four months when I adopted her, and the
woman, who loved tabbies, had taken pains to socialize her. She clearly did
a great job, but part of this has to be inborn.

Her face is so expressive, she actually rolls her eyes. :) I am not the only
one to notice, either. The vet tech took one look at Gracie when I took her
out of the carrier and just laughed, saying, "what an expression she has on
her face!" At the vet, this mannerly little cat, although her face tells you
she is full of trepidation, makes not a single sound. She just tries to get
as small as possible, makes her back legs completely disappear, and if they
take too long she will begin to shake. My other cat begins howling when we
hit the door of my house and does not stop until we are back at the house.
They are all different. :)

meee...

She reminds me of Jasmine...are all ex-strays extremely well mannered?
Jasmine is so polite it's almost painful!! She never complains unless she is
really in pain,and she NEVER bickers over food, even though she is twice as
big and heavier than all the others. If they bug her while she's eating, she
gives me a pained look, and gets up and walks off in a very sorrowful,
disappointed way...of course I give in!!