Thursday, June 22, 2006

Our Cat Tabby

A year before the kids were born, we adopted a cat.

Well, more accurately, a cat adopted us.

A stray kitten wandered into our yard, looking pretty forlorn. At first we ignored her, but she hung around.

After she gave no indication of leaving, we ended up feeding her, and pretty soon she established our backyard as her territory.

We ended up naming her "Tabby", mainly because Terri and are were not cat people when we named her, and it seemed like an appropriate name for a cat (never mind the fact that she is not, in fact, a tabby colored cat!).

Tabby, despite adopting us as her family, is not technically "our" cat.

She will let us feed her, but never lets us get too close. Attempts to trap her to get her fixed and get her shots have met with utter failure. We think she might have been abused as a kitten, given her condition when she came into our backyard, and her skittishness around humans.

However, the girls are fascinated with her.

When Tabby comes to eat at her bowl, they will often crawl up to the glass door and peer out at her, often even banging on the door to try to talk to her.

Tabby, surprisingly, doesn't seem to mind the girls. While she would normally run away if I banged on the door while she was eating, she hangs around and continues to eat while the girls admire her behind the glass door. She will even sometimes sit and stare back at them, much to their delight.

Animals must have a sense of who is a threat, and who is not. Tabby has definitely decided the girls are not a threat. Or perhaps is just as curious about them as they are of her.

Whatever the case, it make for an interesting morning interaction between our girls and our cat!

Katherine checking out Tabby.
(click on photo for larger view)


Tabby checking out Katherine.
(click on photo for larger view)

2 comments:

Amy said...

Our cat was abused before we adopted her and--seriously--in the 7 years we've had her, my parents have only managed to catch glimpses of her twice. She is beyond skittish. However, she will splay herself at the babies' feet begging to be "pet". The first time she did it, I was shocked. Now, it's a common occurrence for her to nudge them when they are on the ground playing to get them to pay her attention. You must be right about sensing who is a threat and who is not.

Amy75 said...

I love how excited children get when they see animals. I always wonder what's going through their heads (the kids' and the animals'). Very cute! And very nice of you to take care of Tabby!