Falling in love with the kitten

(This post follows ‘The kitten bonds with Vinod’ posted on 25 Mar 2017.)

With Vinod and the kitten bonding so well, I looked like an extra in my own home! I was still getting used to her ways. The kitten was primitive in nature. (Obviously she would be, but it was a different and new experience for me considering she is my first reciprocating and interacting pet!) She could neither control her hunger, nor her sleep. Playing, eating and sleeping is what she largely did, or still does.

She had the habit of scratching (which looked like digging) the floor next to her food bowl. She does that even to cover her poop. A quick search on the internet revealed that cats do that to hide signs of their existence from predators! Interesting!

The kitten also couldn’t control her anger. She was short-tempered; this could be because of her brief but probably disturbing time with her breeders/traders. A couple of times at some minor incident, she got instigated and hissed and spat! That was shocking. However, eventually, this behaviour reduced to almost nil.

The kitten was enjoying her time at our home. She had made a routine of taking a walk on the sofa; she would start from under the side table and then end it ceremoniously at the same place. That was fine.

Her other behaviour was not. Do you remember about her naughty and difficult nature that I had mentioned in ‘Getting used to the kitten’? Because of her, we had stopped eating on the dining table. She was an attention-seeking kitten demanding to play with her all the time. Well, that was just the introduction. The kitten had more mischief in her waiting to jump out.

Not letting Vinod eat peacefully on the sofa either

She had this quirk of throwing things from table tops! She did that in the most nonchalant manner! It would be one clean sweep of her limb and then a successful look at her target on the floor! She even sat on our laptops in the ‘switched on’ mode! 

Once, she even tried to climb up the laptop! Being an animal and that too related to the king of the jungle, she couldn’t care about how delicate, expensive or important that thing is for us! We didn’t know what to be shocked about more; her hissing and spitting or her throwing things?

However, what displeased us was her behaviour at night. She is more active and noisier at night. She sleeps for short durations and plays when not sleeping. Sleeping in our bedroom, we used to hear loud noises of chairs being pushed or pulled. It seemed as if she was launching herself into the milky way like the three little kittens of the popular cartoon ‘The Milky Way‘ who lost their mittens! In the morning, we would find the chairs displaced.

After some time, she would beg to be let into our room. She wouldn’t stop until we did. She would continue her zestful play. Her collar bell would jingle and disturb us. As if that was not enough, she would climb on the bed and chew my hair. When I hid my hair under the quilt, she would move on to the dressing table and derive nocturnal pleasure out of her quirk of throwing things! All this would make sleeping peacefully difficult. When we would have finally managed to fall asleep, we would either be awakened by her loud ‘waa waa’ or the alarm.

She ‘waa waas’ more than she meows. Her ‘waa waa’ sounds more like the cry of a human baby. Besides that, she has other calls. She uses a silent meow for sincere requests, a wide-mouthed waa waa for desperate needs and a growl to warn us to let her go or face the consequences which are angry bites. However, it’s her purr purr that puts us at ease.  

Slowly it occurred to me that she was not all that bad. She was independent; she was toilet-trained and could eat and sleep on her own. She would play alone and be happy; poor baby doesn’t and sadly can’t even ask about her mother and siblings. If she has an issue, she fights it out with us with all her might and then starts from zero; as if nothing ever happened! The kitten made me realise that animals are not prejudiced. They love without any consideration to race, colour, looks and socio-economic status.

Over a period of time, I didn’t mind her untimely ‘waas’. I had got used to waking up at odd hours at her slightest waas or any sound like that and attending to her needs. I walked with extreme care for fear of stepping on her. It was a sign that I had finally fallen in love with her and her perfect round head, her pink ears, pink nose, pink mouth, pink tummy and pink paw pads! She was my very own animated candy floss!

I was now waiting for a sign that she too loved me. And I got many; she runs to me when I return from work, she follows me around in the flat, she licks me, sleeps with me and kneads me.