49 thoughts on “Readers’ cats: Evil”

  4. How cool! I’ve wanted to meet Evil ever since your description of him, which made me laugh out loud each time I read it.

    He’s a doll. L

    1. … and by the well established inverse relationship between human perception of comfortable cat positions and the cat’s perception, then it must be hideously uncomfortable.

  6. I once thought to name a black cat Loki, but my wife maintained that naming a cat after the god of mischief was asking for trouble. We settled on Kveldulf, which means “evening wolf”.

    1. What is not commonly known is that in an early draft of the Star Wars screenplay, Darth Vader and Obi-Wan were from Scotland and they had their epic duel with light cabers.

  8. He appears to be giving us the Evil eye.

    Seriously handsome eyes and a tooth to match the puffer!

        1. I have a friend who couldn’t make up her mind about having a cat.

          She decided against, but that could have had something to do with my comment about finding cat hair in my eggs.

      2. And yet my cat rejects her luxurious plush cat bed that is a receptacle that was fine-tuned by humans for her comfort. Very puzzling indeed.

        1. I know exactly what you mean. I’ve got one of those, and I can set it down in a sunbeam, place Baihu in it, and give him a good bellyrub…and return a few minutes later only to find him anywhere but in the bed!

          b&

          1. Cats do not like to be “placed”. I used to have a clay cooker that had to dry for a day or so out of the cupboard. I used to leave it on top of the stove and, inevitably, my little six-lb Guelfo would curl up inside. It was kind of an endless loop…wash black cathair out, replace with fresh black cathair…

          2. My cats used to like to get under the bed and climb into the storage drawers in the pedestal to sleep. Since that’s where I keep my bed linens, every time I changed the sheets, the “clean” ones had cat hair all over them. So one day I washed everything in the drawers, then stored them in extra-large Ziploc® bags. It turned out that the bagged linen wasn’t as snuggly as the loose stuff, so they stopped sleeping there.

            One of my current cats, Isa, is a Maine Coon, with everything that implies. Every time I brush her, I get enough loose hair to make another cat. Recently, while I was recovering from surgery, her brushing got neglected and she developed some really horrible matting. I took her to her vet, The Cat Doctor®, for a grooming. They shaved all but her head, tail and lower legs. When I picked her up, I said, “Ye gods! You’ve turned her into a sphynx!” When I got her home and let her out of the carrier, I was amazed at how skinny she actually is. Until I got used to her new look, it seemed to me that her head and tail had been stuck on a different body. Ceiling Cat willing, I could send in before and after photos.

          5. As is obvious to anyone who watches Maru videos, cats make up their own mind on what constitutes desirable surroundings, and it bears no relation to what we might think is comfortable or remotely sensible…

          6. Yeah, I know — which is why it wasn’t so much placement as settling down with him in that spot for a good few minutes, with extended bellyrub and full-body massage and the like until he was completely relaxed, and then getting up to go do whatever. Still didn’t work….

            b&

        1. … by cats.
          Which explains many things, including our strange and poorly functional back (necessary to provide warm comfortable laps).

  9. There’s a paradox in here, somewhere, for Evil knows no fear. (But what could he possibly have to fear?)

    Probably just as well I’m not his human, because I don’t think I could resist constantly plunging my fingers into that coat. Then again, Baihu puts up with it….

    b&

  10. When I first adopted Evil, when he was 8 years old, he was unnamed. He was (and is) an extremely affectionate cat who is at all times as near me or on me as he can physically accomplish, given the activity in which I’m engaged. At my desk, for instance, like now, he curls into a circle between my arms while I’m typing.

    He answers to “Puppy”. Isn’t that silly?

      1. My 17 year old cat, Ebert, died a month after I moved from Los Angeles. In addition to grieving his loss, I was absolutely wracked with guilt for moving him. I really thought the combination of guilt and grief unbearable, and felt sure that adopting another cat right away would ease the pain.

        I went right off to the animal shelter’s cattery, and there was Evil, sleeping hugely and peacefully through the noise. At 8 years old, I didn’t think he would come to a good end at the shelter, so I took him, to save his life. (He probably saved mine, but that is another tale for another time.)

        I don’t know why Evil found himself in a shelter, but I’ve wondered more than once about his former owner(s), and what misfortune could have brought them to surrendering their cat, who was obviously well-treated and much-loved.

        I asked, during the adoption process, what his name was, but no one knew.

        1. Thanks, Marta nice story. In addition to being “old,” of course, he also had another strike against him–being black. (Black cats esp.; but statistics show all black animals are less often adopted than other coat colors.)

          I used to be one of those “you must have a significant interval of grieving before getting a new animal” types. Now I just think of all the animals out there needing homes, and that I don’t need to be pet-less to grieve. (Nothing against those who do prefer the interval, though.)

          My daughter is an animal shelter adoption counselor; there are so many sad stories behind relinquished pets…some of the worst involve pets accompanied with pages of notes on just what the abandonee likes to eat, play with, what are his favorite toys, rituals, special talents, etc.

          1. I wish I’d got notes like that. Evil was just a cat in a cage, a complete empty slate, except for the utterly wretched behavior he’d acquired. He’s awful.

          2. The notes are great if the animal gets a home…otherwise–so sad.

            Yeah, he’s awful…and he saved your life. 😉

          3. I like having two cats; when one dies, the other cat provides a sense of continuity in the household. When my wife was alive, we had three, but I find two per person is enough to handle. When Freti died in ’08, I started to watch the local Humane Society’s website (where they post pictures and profiles of available adoptees) for a suitable cat. After a couple of months, I found Isa, a four-year-old Maine Coon. When Kveldulf died last year, I started looking again, and settled on Samone, a two-year-old shorthair tabby mutt.

            As an incentive for adopting older, harder-to-place cats, the Humane Society here charges high adoption fees for kittens and cats under one year old. For cats over a year, adoption is free (though a donation is encouraged). The staff gives each cat a shelter name, usually a frivolous or ridiculous one. Samone is the first cat for whom I have not changed her shelter name.

            I got lucky with Isa – she’d been adopted and returned, and when I asked why, was told that she was too affectionate and demanding of attention. Since I’m on full disability and don’t work, that turned out to be a fine arrangement.

          4. I agree with having two! ATM we have 2 cats & 2 d*gs. The latter are 11 & 14…the cats much younger.

            Yeah, at my daughter’s shelter older cats are usually free as well. And they’re STILL very hard to adopt out.

            “Too affectionate.” Once more with the similarities–my d’s shelter has gotten similar reasons for returns. A d*g was returned because “it follows me everywhere.” Who are these people? So nice that you & Isa found each other.

  11. I cannot believe that I am the first person to alert everyone to that pinnacle of internet time-wasters, the website catsinsinks.com. Do check it out.

  12. Some so-called “domestic” cats are actually Observers From Outer Space, and clearly Evil is one of these observers. Millennia ago their civilization identified this terrestrial life form as the best disguise for their Observers, noting that cats are small, can gain access to all areas of all cultures, and are revered by many humans, including s great many poets and scientists, providing access to cultural decision making and opportunities to shape it. Being an Earthly Observer is a high risk assignment and only the bravest attempt it. Observe the relationship of some cats to their tails, which are the antennae for their transmitters. (I’m not sure about Sumatran Tigers.) Some of these observers even become fond of their Sapient hosts. Not all cats are Observers, of course. Some sci-fi writers have sussed out this connection and written about it. The Good Dr. A. who knew much, may be one of those.

    1. I googled “Isaac Asimov on cats” and found this, though it doesn’t cite the source:
      “”I never tire of listing the virtues of cats. They are beautiful. They are quiet. They are clean. They do not smell, and if their litter boxes are kept clean, they do not cause smells. They are easily housebroken and need not be taken for walks. (In fact, they scorn to be taken for walks – they walk where they darn well please.) They live with dignity and treat you with a quiet condescension that is soothing. (I dislike animals that jump all over you and slobber at you.) On the other hand, when they are at peace with the world, they will sit on your lap and sing softly to you. And at night they do not scorn to sleep in your bed with you.”

    2. A short story I read years ago (unfortunately, I remember neither title nor author) had as its premise a teenager’s speculation that one of his cats was an alien in disguise, possibly from Antares. In trying to convince a fried of his notion, he somehow manages to get the cat to take something that acts on the cat as a truth serum. The cat starts talking and denies being from Antares – he’s from Procyon, and he’s a cop in disguise sent to bring the other cat back for trial. The other cat has been branded a criminal because he’s a nonproductive member of society: lazy, pleasure-seeking, and only interested in food, and sleep – in other words, a perfect domestic cat. In the end, the kids convince the cosmic cop that the other cat has found its niche and should be left alone, since, on Earth, being a cat is not a crime.

      1. I like this. Do you remember the name of the author? Remember the most famous Sci-fi cat of all, the time traveller, Petronius the Arbiter, from Robert Heinlein’s “The Door Into Summer.”

    3. Sounds very much like Alan Dean Foster’s Cat-a-lyst. Only Foster calls them, “Monitors.”

      For bonus points, a number of Lewis Carroll’s favorite characters make appearances, as well.

      Cheers,

      b&

      1. I am quite sure it’s not Foster. The story dates back to the ’50s, before he started publishing. I’m thinking C.M. Kornbluth or someone in that era. I tried doing a search, but nothing came up.

        1. Foster may well have stolen the idea from somebody else — he absolutely loves doing that sort of thing, even evidenced in Cat-a-lyst (as I mentioned) by his theft of Carroll characters.

          b&

      2. Thank you for the reference. I cannot resist anything which incorporates the works of that delightful symbolic logician, known when in Wonderland as Lewis Carroll. The two Alice books are the first two books I remember — my mother raised me on them, I think. (And my father raised me with the aid of Mark Twain, who has a few choice things to say about Christian religion and Christians in “Letters From the Earth.”)

        1. You should get a kick out of Foster, then. He might not be the most profound author in the canon, but he’s one of the absolute best storytellers, and always a lot of fun.

          Come to think of it, he also likes to play around with non-Christian religions, extrapolating some of their stories into future technologies and / or alien races and / or other realms or the like. There’s a good amount of that in Cat-a-lyst, as well.

          b&

    1. I saw that. They also published a story headlined “Rafael Cruz: Atheism leads to child molestation and perversity.” They have several other such treasures as well !

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