Many Felines / #1

Miya the Merciless

I’ve mentioned my cats several times in this blog but I really haven’t told you anything of interest about them. So I thought I’d do a series of posts about them. The idea is that I post a biography of sorts on Saturdays until I’ve written about all of them.

§

Miya the Merciless

Miya is the oldest of the “indoor” cats. Husband and I adopted her from the animal shelter in 2004.

She sat in a box with her sister and two brothers looking at the two of us as if we were aliens from Mars or something. Each one was pure black. We would have taken any of these four little fur balls, which made the decision impossible for us. Our solution was to let the four of them decide who was going to go home with us. We played with them in a room that had the carpeted juggle gym , cat nip, and cat toys. That is we tried to play with them. All four didn’t want to have anything to do with us at first. This isn’t to say they were feral because they weren’t. They were just indifferent to us.

It was Miya who finally decided we were worthy of her time to investigate. She sauntered over to where we sat Indian-style on the threadbare indoor/outdoor carpet. She sniffed all around us, giving special attention to our backsides. Coming back around to the front, she eyed the shoelaces on my jogging shoes. She went for one of them, pulling and tugging.

Soon she was tired. She didn’t go back to the box where her siblings were though. She crawled into my lap and snuggled down.

Like any other cat, she has her own personality.

She’s afraid of anyone who doesn’t live in the home. We don’t have people come in often, which may be half the problem. When someone unknown does enter, she escapes to one of the bedrooms and scoots underneath the bed or dresser.

She hates to be picked up by anyone. There are times when we have to, but fortunately it isn’t too often. It’s a good thing too because she’ll complain the entire time.

I know cats shouldn’t be given milk but husband started giving it to her anyway and now she’s addicted. She expects just enough to cover the bottom of a cereal bowl and she has us trained to give it to her twice a day. She’ll go as far as coming to get one of us, complaining of course, until one of us relents and gets her milk. She prefers the bowl be on the side-table in kitchen. She’ll stand on a chair, put her front paws on the table, and lap up the milk.

About her title, Miya the Merciless: When she plays with Marble, another “indoor” cat, she can get ruthless. She’ll arch her back, put her head low, and give poor Marble the evil eye treatment. Before a couple of seconds have past, she’s charging for him. Poor Marble doesn’t have a chance. Yet, he usually come back for more.

She’s gotten too big for laying in laps, but she’ll scooch next to one of us while we watch TV.

(One of her brothers was adopted by a good friend. His name is Murphy.)

§

Any questions?

“Never try to outstubborn a cat.” ― Robert A. Heinlein, Time Enough for Love