Confessions of The Cat Lady (4) - Cats and Dogs

Cats are superior beings. They're a wonderful, charming animal. They make a good friend. They're not like dogs. Dogs are glad to see you when you come home. Cats - they are, but they pretend they're not. Some of them are a little more high maintenance than others. They get in habits. If it was your habit, it worked well. I never had any problem with them that way. 

Cats aren't dogs. They don't believe in doing the things dogs do. I like dogs, by the way. I had a lot of dogs. Dogs are pack animals and so are humans. They get along together. Dogs think more the way we do.

I ought to tell you about Ollie the Beagle. He was a friend of my cats, sort of. He lived down in Andrews Hollow, one of the newer houses down there. He was a funny dog. He showed up in the yard, baying at my cats. I told him to get lost. He kept coming back. I used to call him Elvis, from "You Ain't Nothing but a Hound Dog." Afterwards I found out his name was Ollie. 
 
I was taking care of my mother. It was getting to the point where I probably couldn't anymore. I would work mornings and then come back. I would leave everything she needed, very carefully, and then I would come back around noon or one o'clock, and I'd settle her again. This time she said, "The ground floor is a thunderstorm." The pillow case was leaking. I would never have sewn it up again. I put one pillowcase on one side and the other pointing the other way. I put some duct tape on it. When I came back she had managed to open it. The room was full of feathers.

I took the whole thing outdoors. Ollie had showed up and was barking and mooing at my cats, who were eating on the picnic table. I just lost it. I said, "Get out of here Ollie, damn it all. Go. Go." I started whacking him with the empty pillow cases and feathers. It didn't hurt him any. He started running down Gott Avenue towards the street. I was whacking him and whacking him.

I had a half grown orange and white kitten who joined in the fight. We all were flying down the road after Ollie. I think everybody enjoyed it, actually, Ollie and the kitten. We were laughing. I worked off some steam. We went right by the neighbors across the street. They were all sitting there watching. I gave up the chase when we got to the corner.

Ollie came back to visit us all the time. He liked my yard. He knew when I fed the feral cats. I'd give him a dog biscuit and hook him on a piece of nylon rope on the lilac bush. He could just sit there and look. He really didn't mind. My yard would get overgrown. There were tall wildflowers and cultivated flowers all over the driveway. It made a wonderful place for a dog to take a nap. That's what he did - go out there and take a nap. Right in the middle of the Cat Farm. I wonder if he thought I was maybe the leader of a really big pack that he was going to join, or what. He was kind of a member of our gang.

I did put my mother in the nursing home. She lasted there a few months. I think this was in the spring. I was cutting some of the long branches off the rose bushes. I was feeling bad. Ollie came up and gave me this sympathetic look and leaned against my leg. I honestly didn't cry much anymore, but I did cry. He really was being sweet. I always said afterwards that beagles know the Blues.

Cats are capable of sympathy. They're a little tougher than some dogs are. Dogs are more sympathetic, at least more showy. Sometimes when I'm feeling sad a cat has curled up alongside me. They're a lot more complicated than people who've only known one or two cats might think. I've seen them do things that nobody would believe. They're smart and they notice things. Some of them are super predators. They come from a family of super predators.

One time we were blowing a dog whistle. We were holding a stick for the dog to jump over. He'd run and jump over, then he'd be so pleased with himself. The cat was there watching. He walked over, and just from the sitting position he levitated over the stick and then he walked off. Cats do strange things.