Sunday 10 March 2002

I figured it was time for an update on my wee tuxedo kitty. She's come a long way from the terrified little animal we first brought home from the cat shelter.

She's very affectionate, she'll stretch up and mow-yow to be picked up and cuddled, and will lie down beside me on the floor or sofa or wherever I happen to be, just to be near. She hasn't figured out about laps yet, but loves being held close and stroked, especially behind the ears.

The cuddling up extends to feeding time;  once I've served out her crunchies and a tablespoon of stinky wet mush (Ishe gets fed twice a day, with refills of crunchies if necessary, plus any meat scraps going from our dinner), she will stand by her bowl and look up at me with big eyes, watching or following me to the fridge as I put the tin away, and won't settle down to eat until I've picked her up and given her a cuddle. Sometimes one cuddle isn't enough; I'll set her down and chirrup at her to eat, but she'll stretch her head up and stand on tippy-toes for more strokes and cuddles. If I don't give her the cuddle (I've tested this out) she won't just go eat anyway, but will follow me around the house. I don't know where this behaviour came from; sure Gus won't  eat until we've said the magic word, but he's a well-trained border collie. But a cat? She's always asked for a cuddle, as encouragement or permission I guess, but cats don't usually have that kind of pack mentality. Well, lions in a pride have an eating order but a moggie? Hmmm. I hate anthropomorphising animals, cats in particular, but Jessie does seem to be more dependent and cuddle-oriented than other cats I've had.

She sleeps in her cat-bed, which is set on the floor by my side of the bed.  She won't sleep in it if its on Sam's side. Sometimes she will come up onto the bed and sleep curled up in the teensy space by my pillow for a short while, but she won't sleep on the bed at all, even though we've never discouraged her, and I've definitely encouraged her (I miss the weight of a kitty on my feet). Sometimes she will put herself to bed if we're particularly late getting to bed, but mostly she comes up to bed when we do. If I go to bed first, and Sam is still at the computer or whatever, she will trot back and forth between us and won't settle until we're both in bed.

She loves water. Or to be precise, she has a thing for the shower. When I take my shower, she sits on the bathmat, then plays with the water droplets flying out of the shower stall, dancing about on her back legs, front paws waving, then she gets closer and closer, often her front half is right in the shower and she has occasionally got right in. She always gets sopping wet. Sometimes I'm mean and deliberately splash her - except she seems to enjoy that and comes back for more. This is why a supersoaker would never work as a deterrent to scratching furniture.

She doesn't scratch the furniture. I clip her claws every month or so, because they get so long she snags them in the carpet or sofa or bedclothes, and I figure that must be painful for her. But nope, no scratched up furniture in our house ... though I bet if we got really good expensive stuff she wouldn't hold back. She's that kind of cat.

She likes to play with plastic bags and newspapers, pouncing on them and rolling about and hiding underneath. A piece of cable tie will keep her amused for hours.  Her favourite toy is a small green beanie frog. She carries Froggie about in her mouth with her, like a kitten substitute or something, she throws him about and pounces and tears and flings him against the wall. She takes him into her bed at night, or puts him on my pillow just before bedtime.

When Sam phones me from work, which he does a couple times a day but not at the same time each day, she comes running, and jumps up onto the sofa or wherever I happen to sit down to take the call, and mow-prrrows into the phone, and walks up and down the sofa back until I hang up. She only does this when Sam calls, no one else. I thought at first maybe she responds to my tone of voice when I'm talking to him, but then again she's always there and prowling around before I've got past "hello". Extra-sensory perception?

She positions herself in the bedroom window at 0730 and watches him leave the house at 0745. In the afternoon, she sits in the lounge room window from about 1630 onwards until he comes home. She'll run to the door, but as soon as he comes in she bolts up the stairs. When I've been out for a while, she tells me off and demands cuddles for five to ten minutes on my return. Abandonment issues?  But she's never been abandoned; she was with her mother up until we adopted her.

She has a whole heap of other rituals and cute ways; she's funny and seems to enjoy making us laugh by her mad rushes and dashes around the house; she's sweet and affectionate and as loving as a cat can get. She's a good cat.

So yeah, I'm definitely Jessie's girl. I don't know how Sam feels about it. But then, I'm his girl too.

I wanna tell her that I love her

but the point is probably moot

You know, I wish that I had Jessie's girl

I wish that I had Jessie's girl

Where can I find a woman like that

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