Monday 1 August 2011

How Cunning is your Cat?

I want to share a brief story about how cunning and clever cats can truly be. Earlier this year I lost my cat, Tammy. She died at the grand age of twenty-one. Tammy was a lovely cat that was found on a building site as a kitten. She had anxiety problems and hated to be alone. My old dog, Katie, was her best friend and then years later she really took to my little dog, Willow.

Tammy was an amazing hunter. The amount of birds I have had to treat and heal over the years is incredible. She never really killed anything, which was the one plus, but I guess the injured birds wouldn’t see that as much of a positive. She wasn’t the biggest cat, but she ran the street. She was tough, cats knew it and dogs knew it. You never saw a dog chase, Tammy. You saw Tammy chasing dogs.




So, you can understand the day I saw this twenty-one year old cat slink away, truly frightened, from a very large cat that was in our back garden broke my heart. I was really upset, as to see such a proud and strong animal back away out of fear must have been so hard for her. This cat was so confident it even had a go at both of my dogs.

I took the dogs inside and went to get this cat out of my back garden. There are four fences, so the only way out is through the gate. I went to approach the cat and it hissed wildly. So, I slowly just coaxed it towards the wooden gates, where it could slip out underneath. The cat, seeing the exit, was more than happy to escape.

It dived beneath the gate and then suddenly pulled back and hissed at me. I was not being scary or horrid. “Off you go, Mr Cat.” Hissss! This went on for a few minutes, the cat could hear my dogs barking, it wanted to get out the garden, but the only way out was under the gate, it kept putting its head under and hissing. If I approached to open the gate it hissed at me. I decided to go back into the house, out the front door, and open the gate from the other side, but what did I find?



I never laughed so hard at this point.

Tammy was sitting very peacefully in front of the gate, one paw raised into the air, all of her claws extended. She purred at me, as I approached. Suddenly, the cats head appeared beneath the gate and Tammy’s paw came down. It hit the cat directly on the top of the head. It hissed! I didn’t blame it. I think I would have hissed too.

I had a new found respect for Tammy that day. She had met a younger, faster, fitter and more deadly foe than her. She knew her days as top cat were over, so she made a tactical withdraw and used her brain to trap the cat that had frightened her so badly. That cat never once appeared in our garden again. It just shows how cunning and clever cats can truly be. I have to thank Tammy because many of her stories and the clever things she did inspired so many scenes in, The Legend of the Hermit Master, and it shows that if you use your brain you can overcome anything in life.

Do you have any funny, unique or silly stories of your cat? Feel free to share them.


5 comments:

  1. Simon Smith-Wilson1 August 2011 at 04:56

    Please feel free to share your stories about you cats here.

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  2. Love your story about Tammy. She sounds like quite a personality! You were fortunate to have her for so long.

    I have a story about Mr.Zeke, a big black tom cat I found abandoned at my apartment complex in Connecticut not long before I moved back into NYC. I lived alone in a studio apt in NYC, not knowing many people as I had been gone for two years.My apt. had one big window. I kept it open as there was a small roof outside it so Mr. Zeke couldn't fall out. He liked to sunbathe on that little roof.
    One day I heard a scream from the apt. next door, "There's a big black cat in the bathroom!" I ran to the window to see Mr. Zeke climbing back out of the bathroom window next door that also faced the same tiny roof. He came back into my place and I went next door to apologize. I met Susan and we became good friends. Mr. Zeke found my first new friend in NYC!
    Love your blog.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Simon Smith-Wilson1 August 2011 at 07:27

    lol, well done Mr.Zeke. I can imagine that must have been fairly embarressing too. I think I would have been startled to find a big black tomcat in my bathroom. "Don't mind me.", but it is really lovely that you made your first new friend through him.

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  4. Simon Smith-Wilson14 August 2011 at 17:07

    I am really glad you liked it and I love your profile picture!

    ReplyDelete