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No
bigger than a handful, just a tiny, soft bundle of fluff, when Nicky
arrived to join a household already bounding with three very active and
busy Bostons, plus Goldie, a beautiful copper coated Lab/Chow mix, he was
only five weeks old. We feared he would be intimidated by all the ruckus
that was a part of our everyday lives, and were afraid that Goldie might
eat him for lunch. But not phased in the slightest, from the moment he
crossed the threshold, he made himself at home, and the ruler of the
ruckus. Now he is a most handsome cat, sporting a soft creamy beige coat,
contrasting deep chocolate tipped ears, feet and tail. You can bury your
nose in his coat as he always smells sweet and clean, and you can lose
yourself in those deep azure eyes that only come in the Siamese.
Goldie, and Pork, who just happened to be the most Alpha male Boston we
ever owned, argued from the moment he arrived. Trying to establish without
a doubt whose kitten he was, they took turns washing and grooming him, but
Nicky picked Goldie to be his surrogate Mom, after Sam (the husband not
the parrot). Not only did he sleep with her, but as a tiny kitten, and to
this day at over a year of age, he still manages to sneak an occasional
nursing in when no one is looking, and you practically have to wrench him
off if you catch him at it. As a baby, nestled in Sam's tee shirt, he
would suck on just about anything, chest hair, chins, or the nearest ear
lobe. Then he went on to electric blankets (we always worried about that
one) and sweaters.
He also has a weird fascination for unguents, linaments, and anything
containing menthol or eucalyptus. You have to be real careful where you
rub on such salves as mentholatum, or "Icy Hot" because in a flash, Nick
will be there, sniffing and rubbing, and licking, as if it were catnip.
Nicky is not much one for real toys. He has his favorite scratching post
with the bouncing ball attached, but he loves any dropped object, pens,
bottle caps, film canisters, and especially toilet tissue. He will clamber
up the clothes hamper to snake a fat brown paw warily up to top surface of
the bathroom vanity and skillfully, with claws outstretched pull down a
roll of tissue. This he then commences to shred, chew, pull out, and
rearrange into the most interesting sculptures. When he is done, the floor
looks like Wall Street on a good day, or at the end of a ticker tape
parade. Needless to say the roll of toilet tissue went quickly from
utilitarian to the role of an art object.
Nicky loves to hunt. The garden is his jungle, and crouched low to the
ground, as still as a sphinx, he spends hours lurking behind things,
hiding in the tall lush green grass, ready to pounce with the agility of a
tiger on the next thing that walks by, which is usually my foot.
Shortly after he arrived, we added a Blue Fronted Amazon parrot named Sam
(therefore, Sam the Parrot, not the husband) into the family. Nicky was
absolutely fascinated. He investigated the cage, in and out, the food
dishes, the water dishes and finally Sam himself. With Nicky going up one
side of the upper playpen, and Sam going down the other, they chased each
other around the cage for quite some time. After a few hearty exchanges,
claws for pecks, and pecks for claws, they soon came to a good
understanding, with Nicky telling Sam "if you don't come too close, I
won't scratch your beady little eyes out;" and Sam informing Nicky "Keep
your distance and I won't chop your durn paw off."
This morning going out on to the back deck to fill the cat food dish, I
found his first "love" offering, at least I presume it was his. A small
bird, battered, bruised and bleeding, lay still on the doormat, dead as a
"doormouse." But, in Nicky's eyes, a message of love and devotion. This is
Nick's way of letting us know he is on the job, and appreciates his home,
appreciates the love and attention, and the bowls of cat food, the rubs,
the hugs and the kisses, although he still wishes we would stop calling
him a "CAT."
~Buds~
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