Thursday, October 9, 2014

Personalities


I’m sure I’ve written before that I find the personalities of my cats very interesting. I see examples of their individuality every day, of course, but I experienced one a little while ago that shows a fundamental difference between two of them.

Cammie and Kola, my two foster-cats, are starting to remind me of The Odd Couple. The fact that they both enjoy being in the parlour forces them to take each other into account, and I can see a lessening of Cammie’s unease at Kola’s proximity, and vice versa. (This does not mean that the Siamese princess doesn’t chase the other at high volume when she’s had enough for the time being). And, at least in a single instance, one is tidy and the other messy - or at least not as tidy as she should be.


Every morning before I go to work, I lock Kola in the parlour, to prevent him from being terrorized by Tucker. In addition to food, water, toys and the Track-ball, the floofy one is of course given a litter-box. I place that in the room just before I leave, to prevent the other cats from nipping in and using it. I wasn’t fast enough to stop Cammie the other day, and she left a little clump in the litter. She did not cover it, because she cares nothing for anyone’s opinion of her, good or bad.


I closed the door on Kola and went to get the scoop. When I returned a minute later, the clump had been covered with litter. No other deposit had been made, and Kola was lying where I had left him. He had quickly jumped down from the couch and finished Cammie’s job for her.

Thus are personalities revealed in just a few seconds.

10 comments:

  1. Kola is a very pretty. Too funny about him covering up the clump. Some of the cats around here do the same thing. If someone doesn't finish their food, Maggie or someone covers it up with nothing but they think they are covering it up.
    Cats are very interesting to observe. They are a whole lot smarter than most people know about.

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  2. It's good to see them so close together on the chair and ottoman. It would be lovely if they each could find wonderful forever homes, but they have a pretty wonderful life in their foster home. :-)

    Oddly, Derry, who definitely is submissive to Nicki in most, if not all things, often will pee but not cover his deposit. If Nicki is near that particular box at the time, he'll do it instead.

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  3. Amazing!! Just like humans! Some are neat and tidy and some are ........ errr. .... not!!

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  4. My Ernie does that! Whenever any of the other cats use the litter boxes, he hovers nearby, watching until they finish. Then--even if they have covered "it" up themselves--he has to race to the box and vigorously throw MORE litter on top.

    Good to know I'm not the only Weird Cat Household around.

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  5. Kola sounds such a sweet soul and I feel his personality must be much like Eric's was. Kitty Yumbum would never cover. She would always go in the nearest litter box, do her business and walk off and leave it on display. As soon as she had gone, Eric would get in and cover it for her and sometimes he would get a bit of help from Flynn.

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  6. Your babies are precious and you are the best parent they can have. I came to thank you for your so needed comment to me about my son and to thank you for it.

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  7. I always have to cover up for one of my sisters! Thanks for the kind thoughts for Sister Zoe, we sure do appreciate them.

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  8. I think you're darling Siamese is making a statement. She's saying "I'm here, I belong!" She wants everyone to know your home is hers too. She wants to reinforce her belonging.
    Kola doesn't get any of this psychological stuff. He just likes it tidy. I have a large cat family and I'd just love a few more tidy Kolas.

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  9. Amazing isn't it? Then to read all the comments and see how many other kitties are this way.

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