When I met her, Sue had this big, floppy, loose limbed cat named Ivan. She could do just about anything to Ivan. She’d pick him up by his arms, and he’d dangle in front of her, entirely unconcerned. She’d pull on his feet and muss his fur and squeeze his ears - he was completely nonchalant, in a way that made me wonder whether he was a cat or a surprisingly lifelike stuffed animal.
I’m not sure how she figured it out, whether it was by accident or by some sort of spiritual communing with this cat, but he really liked to go on walks with her. He didn’t need or want a leash; she’d just walk down the sidewalk through the neighborhood, and he’d follow her, or sometimes trot on ahead. They’d go a couple of blocks before turning back and coming home. For me, this was something of a revelation - I’d never seen anything like it, and after walking with Sue and Ivan on one of these little ventures, I came to appreciate what Sue had been telling me: cats *like* going for walks. Ivan would dart into neighbors’ yards and rub on the local cat billboard (aka fencepost) and just generally have a great time because Sue was there, and he felt safe. These days, it’s become a ritual for me and my cats to go on similar walks, but it all started with Sue.
Sue’s later cats were more challenging than Ivan. Some cats are more food-focused than others - Ivan was’t, but Madam Catso was, and Sue was determined that Madam was not going to turn into the small furry blimp-with-eyes that the kitty seemed to feel was her right. Sue refused to free-feed Madam, and so began one of the great human-vs-feline battles of will. The cat would go through the garbage, rip open any bags that *might* contain food, and happily destroy automatic feeders. Sue mostly won this battle, but doing so required a self closing garbage lid, the discipline not to leave *any* food on the counter unattended (we are not limited to cat food here; Madam had a thing for vegetables), and an ingenious contraption designed to spew kibble from a height of about 7’, which put it out of cat jumping range. And after all of this, Madam still managed to look a little portly.
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