Giving my Cat a bath did take several adjustments until I had another "aha!" moment. One early morning Sam jumped onto my legs, and up to my chest with wide open claws, mouth wide, and teeth extended. Sam was in a fighting mood and was extremely aggressive that morning. Her bad mood was caused by one family member who moved away. I understand that she misses her but she thinks its my fault. "She has a moody attitude like an adolescent child", I picked her up, put her in bed and just kept tapping and pinching her nose to settle down. And that did it!!! This was my "aha!" The revelation that I learned in this moment is that by tapping and pinching her nose, it has a calming effect on her. She laid in bed after her drama. She lays stretched like a rubber band and just quietly purrs. And now when it's bathing time, she will ignore any commotions for a loving nose tapping and some pinching attention.
My Cat has an enigmatic personality. I thought I would train her to behave humanely, where I could take her with me for a walk, drive around or something with a line of sight. But Sam is not for it. She lets me know that she is a special species with a mind of her own, independent of which, she does what she wants unless her caretaker is in a fighting mood that she would only listen to a finger pointed "no." It did not take long for me to learn to interpret her wants and needs by her showing me clues: of eye contact, tail wagging, ears extended, neck extended and a few unintelligible sounds. I learned also that Sam is a kinetics specialist. She uses body language to communicate and interact with me. If only I read her sooner she would not have been frustrated a lot. Sam is a very quiet cat with a few words. She never meows.
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Maybe she knew that I am totally dedicated to care for her that she brought me a gift. One weekend, Sam was up on the the roof. I saw her laying with her head down on the composition tiles, face up, watching the earth move - as if she were on top of the world. I called her to get down but she ignored me. Sam came down after several hours and here she is in the doorway waiting to get in - with, what is that? in her mouth?? a mouse, alive, dangling in her mouth. My brain went into overdrive either to fight or flight. Sam is a smart cat, "she read my body language", a wild caretaker she taught. She ran and hid in a rose bush, but was watching me. If she could talk? She would think that I didn't like her gift. Sam seems to understand that I don't like her behavior. She did not do it again... for a long time.
I left the door open for her to get in. She walked into the house with moon walk kind of steps. She went right straight to her bowl of food but I ignored her. I was thinking: " how am I going to wash this cat?" I heard cats don't like water. I thought, if she lives with me she better get used to getting a bath. At that moment, I decided to give her a bath: I wore military gear for protection; I carried her up into the kitchen sink, ran warm water, soaked a face towel with cat shampoo. I scrubbed her with all my might, loving her at the same time. Sam was fighting, hissing, and shaking "it was not a pretty site". I dried her out with a bath towel and held her tight close to my body to keep her warm. She finally relaxed at the end we just ogle each other. Sam is now enjoying her bathing time routine. Samantha is her name. She is now officially adopted. Well, she adopted me... I was anxious at first because I don't know how to care for a cat, and, what responsibilities will come with it? I had talked to my client about the Cat.
"Sam Doctor now ". She advised me to bring the cat to her clinic. She even lent me a "Pet Shuttle" but, Sam would not go onto this thing. So I put her in my car. " Sam had no fuss about it when she found her cache underneath a car seat. We arrived at the clinic; I carried her in my arms. While waiting, Sam sat in my lap but got impatient waiting for her turn to see her Doctor. To make her irritation known, she jumped out and went in to the staff office. One of the staff found Sam and brought her back to me. Sam's Vet says she is 2 yrs old, 10 lbs, and in good health. And of course she got all her shots. I followed her Doctors order: "get a litter box, get her own living space, and she must eat Cat food." I am a hick kind... when it comes to Cat. But since I talked to the Vet and gotten instructions; on how to take care of the cat; I felt confident that I could take care of her. Sam and I have a morning routine. We just ogle each other. On the patio sipping my cup of coffee, Sam will be underneath a chair, staring at me. "This is the moment of assessing each other." My aha! moment came. It was the mom and Sam. They must have had a secret affair.
Knowing my mom, when she was home, she would have been spending her golden days in the backyard, feeding all the animals including rats, and of course cats. I remember a long time ago, my garage was infested with rats. My mom was spreading rice in every hole in the garage, "to feed them." My mom truly believed "if you feed these animals! they will not bite you." What do you think happened?? It did cost me to get professional help to get rid of the rats. My nerves still go haywire just thinking about it. I love my mom dearly; she is the greatest mom in the world: I love her most when she gets up at 3:00 a.m to pray her rosary which has been my mom's routine since we were young. But, mom's old beliefs systems can be a huge problem. My mom enjoys staying with my other siblings also. But when she is back to live with me "old habits die hard." I think this cat got friendly with my mom. I knew, mom would have been feeding this cat and loving her. This is mom! that is why Sam felt entitled to feel- this is her home. When mom left home for other explorations Sam must have been eyeing me!---Sam is a very smart cat. Her senses could have been right about me...To help her I walked out onto the patio signaling to this cat to follow me out the door. She just looked at me! She already made up her mind that my house is her home, and, that I will be her caretaker. She was walking around with a sense of hauteur entitlement, sniffing around in my living space. I watched her from the corner of my eyes; fascinated! I relaxed a bit. I sat on the patio remorseful: "why did I forget to close the door". This cat may well be thinking that I invited her over to stay. I served my dinner on the patio and served one for her too. I went back in to get my drink and here she is zooming in... eating my food and cake. She emptied it all. While watching her eat, I felt empathy for her. She was hungry, skinny and tired looking.
She knew that moment I was in her mercy... to be continued... There is so much to blog about these days... though I love to talk about my cat. Sam moved into my living space 4 yrs. ago in the month of February. I was at the couch while on the phone with Meredith. This cat jumped on me! she sat on my lap, stared at me with big eyes ( I froze at the moment! ) and, she put her head down on my chest. I screamed and said to my daughter, Ahhh.! I got a stranger what I am going to do? she responded; what? what? whats going on? I told her this cat is sitting in my lap? she said, oh my God!!! It was intense. I reached down to pet her while she started to purred, heads up with a tiny twinkle in her eyes. Of course I took Samanta to the Vet, in my bare arms, after cooking her beacon everyday! her nice Vet says to buy her cat food. Fast forward... Sam is a real diamond in the rough. We have gotten to know each other now. She is independent, moody, very spoiled; most of all loving. More about my journey with Sam. It's a soap-opera-kind.
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Helena's Blog
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September 2010
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