Chloe's World

The small brown dog curls up on the pillow and is more or less instantly asleep, an ability I envy beyond measure. When the tabby arrives to join her, she opens her eyes and tenses but doesn't move. The cat circles once or twice then lays down, paws tucked neatly beneath her and looking as deceptively sweet and innocent as a kitten. The small dog slowly lets down her guard and goes back to sleep but I know this little Norman Rockwell picture will not last long. The tabby - greatly put upon, relentlessly suspicious and ill tempered - can strike at any moment and for no apparent reason. She's a loner at heart, a wary first strike weapon, always poised to defend herself from threats whether real or imagined and frequently on the offensive, a provocateur of sorts.

She is not my first terrorist cat and was not always so feisty and tempermental. As a kitten, she was affectionate and friendly, getting into all kinds of typical kitten mischief and content to play and sleep and play some more. She more or less accepted additions to the household until the advent of the black dog who she immediately recognized as The Great Satan and they have been mortal enemies ever since. So now my time with her is limited to sleeping - she curls up against me at night, keeping me between her and the dog, and sleeping cautiously and lightly, always listening, always ready to spring.

Cats - so innocently and endearingly packaged as kittens - grow, change and become. Like people, they are shaped by their surroundings and treatment, by nature and nurture, by love and care or neglect and abuse. They find their place and claim it, despite the odds. But their individuality always manages to break through and in the case of the tabby, it's a mixture of conflict and needing space, of protection of territory and anxiety. She loves but only with conditions, she accepts but only on her own terms. She is a complicated animal, full of contradictions and needs.
Her eyes meet mine over the blanket and one paw reaches out to touch my face - a gentle gesture from an old tabby cat who feels safe and loved despite the nearness of the enemy. Gain the trust of a dog and you have a friend for life.
Gain the trust of a suspicious, old tabby cat and all is right with the world.