The Cat's Meow

(Today's word will be in red and bold.)


A day or two before our dog, Phluffernuffer, had to be put to sleep, a small cat showed up at my parents' place next door.

It's been a year or so since my parents have had cats, so they didn't have any food for it, or anything.  At first the cat was skitterish, and would run any time they'd open the door.  Even then however, my dad had given it a name, "Rusty".

The name is because of the cat's color, which I guess would best be described as cinnamon, though darker than our dog's color.  It's funny, because my dad professes to *hate* cats, yet, he was the first one to feed this one and give it a name.  My mom, who loves cats was the one saying they couldn't keep it.

Since we'd never had a cat the color of this one, I looked on the internet to see if I could identify at least partially  what the breed may be. According to what I read, (and what a friend later confirmed when seeing the cat), we've decided, 1.) It's a girl; 2).  She may be older than just a kitten; and 3).  She's at least part Abyssinian.  This last is determined from her unique color, face and ears.  If we could actually get a photo of her when she's not moving, or eating, readers would see what I mean.  Since she doesn't stop moving, except to eat, this is the best we could do.

In the meantime, Rusty kept hanging around; and so did her "cattitude".  This cat definitely has one of those! After a day, she began to not run when the door was opened; though the attitude of, "I'm humoring you", was there.

Within a week, she was letting us pet her, but not pick her up.  If she didn't like something though, she'd hiss at whoever was closest.  It only took one time with my mom for Rusty to learn not to do it again!  She learned immediately that she wasn't going to get her way by hissing.

From then on Rusty just got friendlier and friendlier.  Anything she was told she couldn't do, she'd stop.  In two months, though the attitude hasn't left, Rusty has gone from a cat with a mean attitude, to one of the sweetest cats I've ever seen.

Now that our dog is gone, Rusty tends to hang around our house during the day; she's madly in love with my son, Josh.  Any time he's outside, she's there.  When he paints the house, she's on his shoulder.  If he sits down, she's in his lap, just purring away.

Though Rusty wants to be outside during the day, at night, she wants inside.  So, when it starts getting dark, she heads to my parents' house, where she goes in the door, down the stairs and into the basement until morning.

Like it or not, my parents have a new cat; and so do we.  I have to admit though, she IS a sweet cat, once you get past her cattitude!