Reader Sastra entered her disgruntled cat Shirley:
Shirley was abandoned at birth by her mother and raised in a cage. My teenage daughter adopted her because she was very tiny and “cute.” She was not cute: she was evil. My daughter gratefully abandoned her when she went to college, leaving me with what had become a very disagreeable cat. I worked with the situation as well as I could, for now she was mine all mine. As you can see by her expression, she is much better today, though she still dislikes dogs, people, other cats, closed doors, small children, moving objects, stationary objects, things on the other side of the window, being teased, and being picked up. She likes to bite, sleep, stare disapprovingly, and hide in bags—the latter of which, for obvious reasons, is her best trait.
“I iz da boss!”
True story: some cats are part owl
Indeed: That was my immediate reaction: A screech owl.
Western screech owl
Should’ve called her Surly. My cat makes faces like that too. Never a good sign.
Awww…she’s gorgeous. Here’s hoping it won’t be too long before her re-gruntling is complete.
Cheers,
b&
Definite lack of gruntle …
Awww. Watz Rong, Kitteh?
Hahahahaha – god I love Sastra. “moving objects, stationary objects…” Hahahahaha
Most literally LOL writing! My high spot of the day.
LOLing as I type…that face! These comments! (“Western screech owl”!…”re-gruntled”! bwahahahaha!)
“If dis foto goez to da internetz, I scratch yooz.”
“As you can see by her expression, she is much better today…”
Why yes, she looks completely gruntled now. That is the funniest story yet. At least, I hope it was meant tongue-in-cheek. Lovely kitteh.
Reminds me of my brother’s cats: both strays, both need to be approached with oven mitts on.
Looks like a call to the locale feline head-shrinker would be in order.
Looks like my teacher in grade 5!
Behold! Owl cat!
My cat is actually named Evil, as a warning to all who approach his handsome, Russian Blue awesomeness, and get the everloving cat-love knocked clean out of ’em.
Among other things, he prefers to sleep on my pillow, when my head is still on it, and randomly punch me in the face while I’m sleeping.
He’s completely horrible.
I hope you’ve sent in your entry!
I’m a clueless dolt when it comes to cameras, thus there were no pictures of him at the time of the contest. There were pictures of my shoes, though. I don’t know why.
Well, crum! But you know, he’s still taking stories for possible use…(Don’t want to put you on the spot, but it’s obvious you could give us a great read!)
I’ve already made a private appeal for her story . . .and a photo!
;^)
That’s one mean looking cat.
Poor cat – what an awful kittenhood.
“she still dislikes dogs, people, other cats, closed doors, small children, moving objects, stationary objects, things on the other side of the window, being teased, and being picked up”
Me too! If she likes good whiskey, she can’t be all bad. She is very pretty.
I would add cameras to the list of things that Shirley does not like.
Hey, Shirley made the internet!!!
Thanks! Can’t say that Shirley is pleased, but she’s not displeased — and that counts for something, surely (shirley).
Actually, she’s not really as bad as I presented her. At least, not anymore. Over the years (she’s now 12 I think) Shirley has mellowed to the point where she likes to snuggle and be petted (on her own terms, of course.) Considering where she was when she started out, she now qualifies as a fairly decent cat. I’ve learned to appreciate her individuality, and gotten very attached.
No, she is not the cat I myself would have personally selected years ago, but coaxing her to accept normal reality probably taught me the sort of patience that has stood me in good stead with dealing with the woo-sters. Move very slow … and don’t let your expectations overtake the probabilities.
Joking aside (and you’ve made that very difficult), what a gratifying story. Few have the patience to do so well with the problem children of the world.
Shirley made my day.
Her resemblance to the great horned owl is uncanny.
“Move very slow” … or move very slowly.
Again, why no preview?
This reminds me of a formerly stray cat that I looked after for 6 months. At least I think he was a cat – he looked rather a lot like a baby bear. Poor Chunky had nothing to express but a mixture of disapproval and terror for the outside world. He was easily startled and always on high alert: he’d sit, with his muscles tensed, behind a doorframe or in a cupboard or under the bed, just watching you, ready to waddle off at high speed. He was a highly dispiriting creature, not to mention offensively odorous, but I loved him anyway. Below is video from one of the last times I saw him. I was never cruel to him, but even at the end he would lick his lips in fear when he saw me.
Wow. After the bulk of that video, those last frames were a real surprise! (Those vocalizations brought my cat to high alert.)
Apologies to all cats and humans troubled by this – I immediately regretted posting it when I remembered I have footage of him feeling something approximating happiness: his one joyful hobby was starting fights. Step 1: jab opponent cat in the head. Step 2: flop sideways onto the ground, defensively pointing front paws at opponent. Step 3: Wait ten seconds, bemused at lack of response. Repeat, until fight starts and is swiftly lost.
Yes, one of mine is sitting at the office door with a very concerned look on his face.
We had one rescue. I don’t know what happened to that cat in the 6 months before we adopted her, but she spent the remaining 12 years of her life constantly ready to make sure it never happened again. She would consent to be stroked occasionally, as long as you obeyed some never-defined rules; but all most people saw of her was a fast disappearing impression of black fur.
Lovely well-built paragraph.
Agreed:-)) That’s the nice thing about reading comments at WEIT, isn’t it–they’re generally interesting or informative, often funny, and most always well-written (we know you meant “slowly” Sastra… ;-))
Reminds me of a former girlfriend.
Shirley looks almost linx like. Scary.
Perhaps you would be more proud of her progress and think her tame if you would just admit she’s an owl. She is so striking. How is she at the vet? Do they use a dart gun on her while you are still in the parking lot?
You funny…
Actually, I used to try to think of her as a squirrel. When I did this I would find myself delighted by how incredibly tame and manageable she was. All in the perspective…
The first time I took Shirley to the vet she was about 6 weeks old and absolutely tiny. She needed her shots. I warned them that she was “a pistol.” I still remember the warm chuckles of the staff as they carried her off — not to worry, they were used to kitties — followed shortly thereafter by about 15 minutes of howls so loud and furious the dogs in the waiting room were agitated and everyone wondered “what in the world could that be?” Even I guessed there was an adult cat back there getting something horrible done. Feral tomcat, probably.
They finally brought her out wrapped in some sort of bag, their eyes wide and voices hushed. “Did you hear that? That was HER!!!” There was real respect. She was about 3 inches long and had held them at bay for almost a quarter of an hour.
But still, that was the day I thought there might be a chance with Shirley, a possibility of her turning into a real pet. When I took her into the vet’s office for the rest of the checkup, in her fear the little kitten hid her face in my arm. Awww. That was the first time in the week or so that we’d had her that she had shown any sign of acknowledgment or scant affection towards me (or anyone.) In her opinion, I was now the better option. I was touched.
Awwwwwwwwww.
Please continue to post any Shirley anecdotes you can think of–I could never get enough of them!
Vet trips were the first thing I wondered about, too, having had a very vet-phobic cat myself once (Catzilla). We went through a variety of tranquilizers, leather gauntlets, and a kitty straight jacket before the vets themselves declared that, as an indoor cat, he really didn’t need annual vaccinations…
Hilarious. Also touching, but really hilarious.
It’s all in the telling.
Woman in our building, Marcia, goes to same vet we do. Her cat is muzzled and kept in her crate until M is ready to go out the door, and then M has to reach into the carrier to remove the muzzle. M wore boots around the house and to bed the first 9 months she had Greta, she never wore skirts and hose unless she changed at work, and didn’t get to pet Greta much for the first 11 years. Greta tore up M’s furniture and even took all the pile off the carpet. I once mentioned to the vet that I thought M’s cat was crazy, maybe had a personalty disorder or a brain tumour, but our vet assured me that the cat was just fine, perhaps a bit spoiled. 🙂
We had a guy who’d been caged >5 years, only taken out for stud. He was a physical wreck when we got him. He HOWLED for 5 days and 5 nights – took over a year ($5k) to get his health up to par, but was a gentle giant, Hairy Bear. When we had to put HB down @11.5 yrs, my spouse, Georg, cried for the first time in his life (age 48). Ever since HB, Georg is convinced that big black male Persians have huge hearts.
So your girl is no longer evil, but has never gotten socialized. That would hurt my feelings, and I would probably pester her 24/7. She really is a sharp looking cat. I’m glad she has you.
When you look up the words “glare” and “glower” in the dictionary? The picture next to them is Shirley.
I think that’s what makes her look so owl-like to me. Owls never look like they are smiling.
Really enjoyed this thread, reality mixed with humor is so delicious.