Good Wednesday FR Friends. I traveled all the way to DC to meet with FreetheHostages two favorite kids…Bobbi and Kitty. Fred the Cat and Codee took the week off…they're both around 15 and the travel was just too much for them….plus we decided that Bobbi and Kitty might not respond to well to an invasion of three. So it is my pleasure to introduce you to Bobbi and Kitty…today's Finest FRPets!
Bobbi and Kitty...FreetheHostages' "FREEPERCATS"
Gizmo: Well it's nice to meet you. Glad we were able to finally "shoo" your mom and dad out of the room. So tell me…How did you end up with Free?
Bobbi: Mom and dad contacted the Humane Society to get ONE cat. Mom just wanted a cat, but dad wanted one that reminded him of his little gray childhood cat, "Holly," so they asked if they had any gray domestic shorthairs.
Kitty: That was me. They did say I was quite a feisty handful. At the time I was being "kept in line" by Bobbi…who was in "foster care" with me. I'm actually the reason she was adopted.
Bobbi: I'm Bobbi, an adult female Japanese bobtail (an ancient, intelligent, and playful species that has a bob of a rabbit's tale instead of tail). What a job being a "surrogate mom" to Kitty was….let me tell you!
Kitty: Mom and Dad came and saw the two of us, we "played nice" and rolled around on the floor playing with each other happily. They decided they couldn't split us up and took us both. (We learned to manipulate from the beginning) I was 4 months at the time…Bobbi several years old.
The First of Many FreetheHostage Moments
Gizmo: Mom warned me that Free would want to get her "two cents in". She stopped in at this point to make sure everything was going okay…that Bobbi and Kitty were behaving themselves and give me a much needed doggie treat and drink of water. Bobbi and Kitty seemed to need a little kitty litter and food break too. As Free and I sat there patiently waiting I decided to make conversation and asked about her kids political leanings….
Free the Hostages ("Free" for short): We love Bobbi and Kitty equally, but it's just fair to say that Bobbi's the Republican, responsible, kind, and attentive. Kitty's the Democrat…sleeps in late, very interested in the free food in the fridge, and not respectful of other's property.
Gizmo: Free also alluded to some "mental health issues" regarding Kitty…which we'll get to later. ANYWAY, when Kitty and Bobbi returned, I asked for a private moment with Bobbi. Both Free and Kitty slunk out "reluctantly" and I "began my heart to heart" with Bobbi.
Gizmo: So…Bobbi…was your mom exaggerating about Kitty's "ISSUES"? Bobbi said this section should be titled:
Saving Kitty's Life While Preserving Their Own
Bobbi: Well, there was a reason Kitty wasn't the pick of the litter! She was very feisty and seemingly half-wild. I knew that being in "foster care with her" but that was not what mom and dad expected. When they first got "Kitty," she didn't want to be petted by humans at all. Except every now and then she'd present herself for petting, but if you tried to pet her twice, she would, without warning, scratch you. I admit that I was very shy and had had a traumatic life to date. I spent the first three days under mom and dad's bed.
Gizmo: At this point…Free couldn't stand it! She was listening from the other room with her ear against the door and burst in with the following…
Free: What a mess it was! I said half-jokingly to Bill that we needed a cat psychiatrist!. I bought and read every book on cats, I, a girl from the country who grew up with cats and heretofore thought I knew them well. I knew we weren't supposed to "train" or "hit" Kitty, but couldn't we at least get her to stop scratching us? Desperate for help, we took Kitty to the vet, whom Kitty promptly attacked. The vet just laughed at Kitty and said, "Well, what have we here? A 4-month old kitty at the outer level of acceptable aggressiveness for an adult male cat!" The vet promptly copied portions of her vet casebook on cats, circling passages about special disorders having to do with aggressiveness and dominance in cats.
We followed the advice from the vet's cat psychiatrist book, engaging in stare-down contests with Kitty which we always won. We never let Kitty block our path and lay down and force us to step over her, which we learned was a way that cats with her personality disorder show themselves to be the Alpha cat. In other nonviolent, visual ways, we asserted our "dominance." (One of the most painful was *not* petting Kitty right away when she presented herself to be petted, but petting her infrequently, quickly, and gently when she wasn't asking to be petted.) Surely, slowly, over the next 8 months of her life, Kitty began to behave better. At about 8 months, Bill and I began to notice we had less scratches. At 12 months, Kitty stopped attacking us altogether!
Gizmo: Okay Free…I appreciate your input….but you've had your profile. Isn't there a chess tournament going on somewhere or better yet a CNN freep? (Free took the not so subtle hint and left albeit temporarily!)
Bobbi: Just when the folks thought that Kitty was "domesticated" she went after our fridge. She learned to use her nose as a battering ram to wedge it open, and then she would stand on her hind legs and "shop" on the fridge's shelf. Mom went to the hardware store and asked what she could use to stop Kitty from opening our fridge, and they basically laughed heartily and sold her a bungee cord. Eventually, mom and dad settled on a baby lock on the fridge. Works perfectly. Keeps Kitty out!
Kitty: Now, if it could just keep Dad out of the fridge while Mom's trying to cook dinner . . ..
Bobbi: Hush Kitty…. be nice…this is going to be read by thousands!
Gizmo: A knock on the door and there is Free AGAIN…Mom (Dutchess)…warned me…Free, being a regular contributor to the Finest Thread, would relentlessly interrupt…which she did…I wasn't going to mess with someone with her verbal abilities or aggressive behavior (and she says Kitty is aggressive!) So another insight from Free.
Free: We've had Kitty for 4 years now. She's spoiled and a little overweight. She gets bottled water and too much food. She lets us pet her occasionally and she often, often uses our laps or legs as good pillows. She *loves* it when we use her name approvingly and praise her. She wants to be the center of attention. She will rapidly destroy any closed item she can - be it a plastic or paper bag - so you have to be very careful what she's able to reach, and we have to give her lots of toys and keep her very busy playing. She enjoys showing off her hunting skills for us. By working hard, we saved Kitty's life from I think an otherwise certain fate of being "put down" or, frankly, killed by us in self-defense. Nothing prepares you for life with a cat like, well, the cat - and a good vet psychiatrist book.
Gizmo: I reached a major dilemma. Do I continue the interview with the cats…or give equal time for Free to give her thoughts on Bobbi. I've been raised on FOX News…"Fair and Balanced" and decided to give Free equal time.
Free: After the first year, as Kitty became less rascal-ly, I could spend more time just quietly hanging out with my cats, Bobbi blossomed into this incredibly intelligent, loving lap cat that just *has* to follow me everywhere. She loves to just hang out and watch me quilt and sit on my quilting materials. Japanese Bobtails are notoriously "talkative," and Bobbi will often "complain" - a squawking sound - if I leave the room and don't take her with me! I basically often carry her with me if I go to a different room. She's totally spoiled! She's a little baby. Very loving. A bet she was a great mother. She's so intelligent and intuitive.
Gizmo: YES…Free feels she's contributed and is off for a "spontaneous freep" (I heard Howard Raines is in town!).... and I get Kitty and Bobbi to myself once again. So…I asked…how do you like it when company stops by.
Kitty: Bobbi's very shy and never comes out for most of our houseguests. Some of our folks friends are beginning to doubt she exists!
Bobbi: Kitty, on the other hand, is always patrolling when there is company. Her wild and chaotic selfishness really comes out at mom's annual Gingerbread House parties. So many people and smells - she becomes too stimulated and behaves just like an adult male dog - very territorial, growling at the guests, following them when they try to go upstairs, fluffing up her tail. If mom tries to lock her in a room away from the guests, she'll scream bloody murder like she's dying in an alley and scratch at the door. So lately mom just lets her out and explain my guests, "Please ignore Kitty. She's an Islamic militant."
Gizmo: Geesh…that was the shortest "freep" in history. Here we have Free showing up again….But...she just gave me a handful of doggie treats...rubbed my ears, and ever so nicely asked if she could give her parting thoughts...how can the Gizmo refuse???
Free: The truth is that I admire Kitty for being so wild and thinking that she's some big male panther - it's silly but strangely admirable, her silly courage against much larger humans. She's had a good litigator's feistiness since we've known her. If there is a pet Heaven, to be sure our Bobbi will get their first. But we really do love both our Good, Republican Cat and our Evil, Democratic Cat just as much.
Gizmo: So that's it Finest Friends. I hope you enjoyed meeting Bobbi and Kitty as much as I have. As mom would say, they are truly FRPets Finest.
Until next week…this is Gizmo signing off….Free's offered me her warm lap to lay on and a few doggie treats...before I treck home tomorrow…Until next week...that's this week...(Yikes....do I sound like that Sunday morning George Stephana..what's his name?)
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