The Last Cat Post

I took this picture of our cat last March. It is significant because it apparently will be the last one I ever take of her. It seems we have lost our Olivia.

This past spring, Olivia was exiled permanently to the outdoors after three consecutive days of wetting on the kitchen floor. During rainy weather, there were a couple times when someone in the family took pity on her and allowed her back in for a period of time, but she was pretty much an outdoor cat. Nearly every morning by about 6 am she was meowing at the door. Once in a while, we wouldn't see her for a day or two, but she always came back. Now we haven't seen her for an entire week. It is quite possible that another family has adopted her, but it just isn't like Olivia to not come back home.

We acquired her about 9 1/2 years ago. My mother-in-law was moving to an apartment and needed to find a good home for her. My husband kindly decided to take her in. That day, I got a phone call at work informing me of the new addition to the family.

Not long after this, the cat scratched my baby boy (granted, it was self defense since he pulled her tail) and also left a couple messes on our carpet. Which I had to clean up. It was at this time that the cat and I developed a love-hate relationship. I hated her and she loved tormenting me. Sometimes she would park herself practically on my foot and I wouldn't even know she was there until I tried to walk.

There were times when I did appreciate her presence. When we first got Olivia, we lived in an apartment that had a mouse problem. Within a few months, the mouse problem was gone. Often, she would leave a dead rodent outside the front door. She apparently thought we needed to be fed by her. On one occasion, she deposited a small fish near the door (apparently swiped from a neighbor cat's dish) and I also remember her catching a live bird. With the bird still in her mouth, she asked to be let in. I politely told her no and a few minutes later, the bird escaped. Yes, she was quite the little huntress in her day.

Although Olivia drove me crazy, she provided a number of humorous moments. Ah, the many times I tried to convince her that the food dish did not disappear, it had simply moved temporarily. (See "A Cat's Life.") The numerous occasions she fell down the stairs because we couldn't convince her to stop sleeping on the banister next to them. (See "Olivia--The Supercat?")

I sometimes felt like I was carrying on a conversation with Olivia even though I was obviously doing most of the talking and she was mostly staring. I will now entertain you (hopefully) with one of these so-called conversations and what I imagined she might be saying.

Olivia: Um, excuse me. I want to eat and my food dish is missing.
Me: Oh, I just moved it over here so I could mop and vacuum the kitchen floor. See, here it is.
Olivia: (blinks) Uh, yeah. My food dish is always in this spot and now it's gone. I need you to bring it back.
Me: It's right here. (I pick it up and shake it)
Olivia: (blinks again) Yeah, so if you could find my food dish and bring it here so I can eat, I'd appreciate it.
Me: Oh, forget it. I need to vacuum.
Olivia: AAAAAH! Big noisy thing! (runs away)

So here is my tribute to Olivia. I tried to keep it upbeat because she did have a long full life.

Besides, there is still a small chance she will decide to come back and surprise us all.

A Cat's Life

I feel compelled to once again blog about our cat, Olivia. This time I am trying to figure out why she seems so intelligent in some cases and completely idiotic in others.

There are times when I am impressed with her cognitive abilities. For example, one day Olivia decided to step from couch to the window sill. (See photo) She sat there for a while then realized there was no way down. It was too far to jump down and the coffee table was too far away to step onto. It took her about 20 minutes to figure out that she had to walk backwards to the end of the sill, jump onto the couch and then to the floor. Smart cat, right? But remember this is the same cat who fell onto the stairs every day for about a month before she finally quit napping next to the stairs. (See previous post, Olivia the Super-Cat)

Still, I know Olivia has some intelligence. In the three houses we have lived in since we acquired her, she has always known to stay away from the street. Even now when we are right next to it.

But then I think of the ritual she and I go through just about every week. Olivia's food dish is in the kitchen. Once a week, I move her dish to the living room so I can vacuum and mop the kitchen. About 30 seconds after I move it, she decides to eat. She goes into the kitchen and stares at the empty space where her dish usually is. She looks at me and meows. I point to the temporary location of the food dish. I even pick it up and shake it so she can see what it is. She gives me a blank stare and meows again. I point to the food dish again. She looks at the kitchen floor then looks back at me and meows. Finally, I start the vacuum which scares her and she runs off. About a half hour later, while the kitchen floor is drying, Olivia figures out where her food dish is and begins eating.

Now if she were really a smart cat, wouldn't she figure all of this out so we wouldn't have to go through the same thing every week? Apparently not.

Then again, she has been smart enough to stay alive to the age of 15.

Olivia, The Supercat?

This is our cat. Her name is Olivia. She is probably almost 15 years old. I don't know her birth date, or even her birth month. All I know is that my mother-in-law had her for 6 years and we have had her for 8 1/2 years. So, in short, she is a very old cat.

However, I am beginning to wonder if she is part something else. Last winter, we had very cold temperatures. Nothing below zero, but record lows for the Puget Sound area. Since Olivia doesn't have a litter box, she needs to go outside to do all her business. Well, despite the cold, we made no exceptions. She was put outside. I'm sure some would think this to be cruel, but hours later, Olivia came to the door asking to be let in. And she was perfectly fine. No doubt, her abundance of fat and fur protected her. At least, that was our theory at the time.

More recently, I began to wonder if Olivia is impervious to more than cold temperatures. As shown in the picture, Olivia decided that her favorite sleeping spot is a narrow ledge right next to the stairs. However, I don't think this is a good idea. For one thing, her wide girth has caused her to get off balance and topple off more than once. The other problem is she leaves brown dirt smudges on the white paint. So we could either clean this area several times a day or do something to keep the cat off of it.

My husband found some spray that, when applied, keeps cats (and dogs) away from certain areas. He saturated the ledge with this spray. Within seconds, the entire upstairs was filled with a not-so-pleasant odor. The cat stared at her favorite spot, but didn't go on it. Problem solved? No way. Within ONE HOUR, the cat was back on the ledge.

A couple weeks later, we again tried it. We saturated the spot twice within a few minutes. As soon as the spray had dried, Olivia was carefully positioning herself on the ledge.

So our cat seems to be unaffected by cold, repellent spray, and also the passage of time. (She is, however, affected by fleas.) I am beginning to wonder if she is immortal. Maybe she is some sort of mutant super cat with powers that make her impervious to all kinds of things.

Either that, or I have been watching way to much SyFy channel lately.