Make Friends With Cats
How to Make a Skittish Cat Your Friend
A Short Story of Four Cats
Aren’t all cats skittish when you first meet them? Only when they bond with us do they either act hard to get or do the rub-a-dub-dub on any parts of our bodies. Usually, this means they are owning us.
In 2000 my ex, Wendy, told me a story about cats. She said and I’m paraphrasing — If you look at a cat with your eyes wide open, cats see this as a sign of aggression. If you squint at them, they will squint back at you and this is a sign of potential getting to know one another.
On a warm March 2001, I was on my back porch hanging up clothes on a small clothesline. I saw a funny-looking cat, grey with a wide chunky head and a body to match. I did the squint thing. The cat came up to me, brushing against my pant legs, claiming me as his territory. And he wanted in (as in inside). I went inside and blocked him from coming in too. He spent about 45 minutes meowing. It worked too well. I didn’t have any food for him and I wasn’t wanting a cat. Lesson learned.
Some years later I flew to Portland, OR — the greater metropolitan area to visit my sister. She warned me that her cat Gretta hated men. I told my sister that cats love me.
“Well not Gretta,” she said with a tinge of pride.
I was sitting in her living room as my sister was preparing dinner. Gretta was sitting opposite me — licking herself and occasionally glancing at me. I began the squint thing and added some blinking. Plus I slowed my breath and came into a calm, peaceful, and steadfast state.
Gretta leapt down. She trotted over to me and jumped into my lap. She continued her washing/licking ritual.
When my sister came into the room her jaw dropped.
“How did you do that?”
“I told you, cats love me,” I said. I wanted my sister to think I had some sort of magic. She swooned over my magic the rest of the day. I never told her about my trick, until years later after her heart brushed away what happened. Gretta died after 17 years of life in New Mexico and Oregon. She has two cats now Teddy and Callie.
In the mid-1970s my housemate and I got involved in a relationship. She insisted I get a cat — they were giving away kittens at the corner store. With Claws, I bonded with salted sardine juice from a can. Sardine juice on my fingers. Claws licked my fingers. Bonded by fish food juices and luv.
Sara and I got KiKi. I looked over at her and she was winking and blinking at me. I winked and blinked back. It was an instant bond of love that continues to last beyond her corporeal life of 16 years.
Thank you for joining me in the adventures of Backyard Cat, Gretta, Claws, & KiKi. Blessings, Passion, and Grace on your journey. May whatever your looking for — find you.
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