SheApril 11, 2019 Meet SusieQ
My cat's name is Susie Q. Not very original I know. It was given to the solid gray female kitten that was dropped off in front of my home, out in the country. She was about 9 months old and in heat.
So now we know why she was abandoned! She was definitely a house cat as she has never jumped up on a table or kitchen counter and she knew what a cat box was for. A bit shy at first, she hid in
the azalea bushes by my back door, meowing plaintively. When I spoke coaxingly to her, she backed up to the bush and shook her tail. So I thought she was a male. I was, at the time, unaware that female cats exhibit this same behavior under certain circumstances. Once inside it became obvious what the meowing was about. I advertised and put up some posters with her picture just in case she
was lost, all the while knowing what had most likely happened. She had a sweet disposition. Loved
the dog and my aged Siamese male kitty, Nikamew. I wonder what the person who left her out here alone in the country told his children that night. The kitty had found a nice new home? She could just as easily have been dinner for the coyotes which abounded in the area. .
When I got no response to my ads, I took Susie to my Vet, who pronounced her to be in excellent health. She received her vaccinations, was spayed, and had an identification chip implanted.
A few months later I moved to a small apartment. Nikamew had left us and was buried beneath the
honeysuckle tree in my yard. Susie took to the travel carrier well. Walked right into it for a treat and
never cried on our long journey.
We have been here for 6 years. There is a sign on the door reading "Caution. Cat will attempt escape." Yes, Susie watches out the window of our ground floor unit. She sees the birds and her tail switches. She sees the leaves blowing in the wind. She sees the feral cat roaming free. She watches the snow flakes drifting slowly down. Susie wants desperately to be part of that world. But it is not to be. She is very alert. Seemingly sound asleep, she can appear right under my wheelchair at the door when I am about to take Hannah outside. So I have taught her she must go to the bedroom
when told. I always give her a few treats (her favorite is Temptations Catnip Fever.)
Playing with her is an exercise in futility. She lies on her back and will take a swipe at the toy dangling from the string in my hand. She will not get up and chase. I swing the "birdie" and drag it around
until I am tired. So who got the exercise? But she will race around after nothing by herself at times.
I call it going on a wheeze. Sometimes with full blown tail, she races behind the chairs, over the bed,
into the dog's crate and out at full cat speed. I sometimes think she feels a change in the weather coming.
You can always tell where the warm spot is --just look for the cat. Especially in winter when the sun
shines through the window. Susie is a seeker of sunbeams, the yellow patch on the floor, where it
surely must be warmer than the rest.
This past winter I wrote a little verse about her. It goes thusly:
Sleepy Susie sitting in a sunbeam.
Purring pussy pausing after play.
Welcome warmth waltzing through the window
Warms her whiskers on this wintry day.
Susie tells me when it is bedtime. She comes rubbing around my legs and then heads for the bedroom. She likes to sleep curled up close beside me. Under the covers in the cold weather.
Susie snores!
My cat's name is Susie Q. Not very original I know. It was given to the solid gray female kitten that was dropped off in front of my home, out in the country. She was about 9 months old and in heat.
So now we know why she was abandoned! She was definitely a house cat as she has never jumped up on a table or kitchen counter and she knew what a cat box was for. A bit shy at first, she hid in
the azalea bushes by my back door, meowing plaintively. When I spoke coaxingly to her, she backed up to the bush and shook her tail. So I thought she was a male. I was, at the time, unaware that female cats exhibit this same behavior under certain circumstances. Once inside it became obvious what the meowing was about. I advertised and put up some posters with her picture just in case she
was lost, all the while knowing what had most likely happened. She had a sweet disposition. Loved
the dog and my aged Siamese male kitty, Nikamew. I wonder what the person who left her out here alone in the country told his children that night. The kitty had found a nice new home? She could just as easily have been dinner for the coyotes which abounded in the area. .
When I got no response to my ads, I took Susie to my Vet, who pronounced her to be in excellent health. She received her vaccinations, was spayed, and had an identification chip implanted.
A few months later I moved to a small apartment. Nikamew had left us and was buried beneath the
honeysuckle tree in my yard. Susie took to the travel carrier well. Walked right into it for a treat and
never cried on our long journey.
We have been here for 6 years. There is a sign on the door reading "Caution. Cat will attempt escape." Yes, Susie watches out the window of our ground floor unit. She sees the birds and her tail switches. She sees the leaves blowing in the wind. She sees the feral cat roaming free. She watches the snow flakes drifting slowly down. Susie wants desperately to be part of that world. But it is not to be. She is very alert. Seemingly sound asleep, she can appear right under my wheelchair at the door when I am about to take Hannah outside. So I have taught her she must go to the bedroom
when told. I always give her a few treats (her favorite is Temptations Catnip Fever.)
Playing with her is an exercise in futility. She lies on her back and will take a swipe at the toy dangling from the string in my hand. She will not get up and chase. I swing the "birdie" and drag it around
until I am tired. So who got the exercise? But she will race around after nothing by herself at times.
I call it going on a wheeze. Sometimes with full blown tail, she races behind the chairs, over the bed,
into the dog's crate and out at full cat speed. I sometimes think she feels a change in the weather coming.
You can always tell where the warm spot is --just look for the cat. Especially in winter when the sun
shines through the window. Susie is a seeker of sunbeams, the yellow patch on the floor, where it
surely must be warmer than the rest.
This past winter I wrote a little verse about her. It goes thusly:
Sleepy Susie sitting in a sunbeam.
Purring pussy pausing after play.
Welcome warmth waltzing through the window
Warms her whiskers on this wintry day.
Susie tells me when it is bedtime. She comes rubbing around my legs and then heads for the bedroom. She likes to sleep curled up close beside me. Under the covers in the cold weather.
Susie snores!
I am enjoying your writing, Cynthia. I can't have a cat or a dog, but I love experiencing them vicariously.
ReplyDeleteHello Meg.
ReplyDeleteI love talking about my animals. I write just as if I were saying it verbally. Glad you are enjoying the tales. (tails?)
C