Through the Eyes of My Cat

My cat ended up in my life about three years ago now. I'm actually stopping to think as I write this, because I can't believe it has been that long. Someone I know in passing said she needed to get rid of her cat because of allergies in her household. At the time I happened to be looking for a cat and it just seemed fortuitous. After having her for a brief while, however, I started to wonder what her real reasons were for getting rid of her.

She isn't what you would call the friendliest cat in the world. Well, let me modify that. She's absolutely adorable when she's around my husband and I with only minor flair ups of, shall we call it, exerting her independence. I am not sure what her early life was like, but she can be a bit skittish. (Anyone who knows my cat is probably thinking, "that's an understatement.") She meets with strangers to her home with varying degrees of success. To most people she shows her borderline personality mode ... she comes up, rubs against you, looks like she wants to be loved, and then, as soon as you go to pet her, she begins to hiss and "claw". I put claw in quotations as she doesn't have any front claws so can not really harm you. For the majority of people who come into our house, this scares the living daylights out of them and they either refuse to be around our cat or they are skittish themselves the entire time they are there. For large parties we have taken to putting her away in our room for the night. People who come over often have gotten fairly comfortable with her and she doesn't seem to mind them. She'll come up, sniff and then go about her business.

When it's just my husband and I at home, she is a whole different cat. In fact, she's really the neediest cat I've ever seen. If I'm working on the computer, she'll take a nap on the printer so I'm not far away. If we're watching a movie, she'll curl up on our laps and go to sleep. Sometimes, in the middle of the night, she'll jump on our stomachs so she can get some petting. Ben and her play all the time. It's really rather funny watching the two of them. What causes this change when strangers come about, I can only refer to as guard cat mode.

Ben and our needy cat hanging out on the bed together.

You're probably wondering what all this rambling has to do with the price of ice cream in Bulgaria. Well, I'm glad you asked. Ever since I've been pregnant, I haven't been quite sure what to make of her. First of all, I sincerely believe my cat knew I was pregnant before I did. She has been much more nippy than usual around me. Not mean, exactly, but letting me know that we aren't quite kosher. It's almost like she could sense the changing status quo and she's blaming it on me. She also wasn't thrilled about the fact that I can no longer sleep on my back at night. This has eliminated one potential person to sleep upon. Of course, this problem has cleared up a little bit since she figured out that I'm now as wide laying on my side as I am on my back. It's wonderful for your ego when your cat is using your stomach as a perching ledge. The part that makes me laugh is when she's laying up there when the baby starts kicking. The look of surprise and indignation on her face is absolutely priceless. I've tried to explain to her what's going on, but I'm not sure she's tuning it in.

She is absolutely thrilled about the nursery. To her, it's a whole new game room. I walked in one day to find her taking a nap in our newly assembled crib. I immediately lifted her out and told her that the crib was not for her. After she repeated this performance two more times, I washed the sheets and took to closing the door. As we set up the changing table and the pack-n-play, she came in sniffing to see what all the excitement was about. You could almost see the wheels turning in her little head ... yeah, cat beds. Now, when we do open the door, she is standing there ready to see what she's missing. Button will be sleeping with the door closed.

The problem in the interim is that my husband and I are a little nervous about how she's going to take to this intruder to her domain. We've thought about putting her in her carrier and bringing her and Button home at the same time so they could get to know each other a bit. We also thought about bringing a blanket home from the hospital so she could get used to the new smell. In the end, we're hoping that Button will smell enough like Ben and I that she will accept Baby without a murmur. Perhaps this is being optimistic of us, but it would certainly be nice.

In the end I write all this not because I need a reality check on Baby versus animal priorities or how unpredictable pets can be. More so to emphasize the little things in life that I was not planning on having to figure out when we found out we were expecting. And to share what a unique personality our cat is ... I just think she could use a little therapy.