Bobby, bless her, is the gentlest and friendliest little soul – and unfortunately totally socially inept when it comes to meeting other cats. She is also a bit of a wuss. I guess it’s our fault, because we protect her so much. She simply doesn’t know what to do when she meets other cats.
Our neighbours three doors down have a cat called Elise and she can roam freely, so could Bobby if she would put her mind to it, but the lure of a friendly home and being fed lots of treats seem to be too attractive to resist. Elise has been in our garden several times – unfortunately she is clearly not friendly towards Bobby, but our cat just stares at her not knowing what to do with the little intruder.
Recently a new cat has moved into the nearby neighbourhood and he is a friendly black tom with gorgeous eyes. He has a bell on so we can hear him easily. He is very friendly with humans. On Sunday, just before we wanted to visit a friend, he came to our front garden, where hubby was taking care of Bobby (she is not allowed out on her own as we live by a very busy road). We made the huge mistake of being friendly with him, giving him a cuddle and trying to engage him in play. Paul thought it would be nice if Bobby and the tom could play together and make friends. Unfortunately that’s not the way it works with cats! Bobby was just looking at him, then came close, too close for his comfort, and sniffed his nose. Big mistake – he twatted her with his paw and Bobby was a bit shocked. She didn’t expect that. And left it at that. When he whacked her again, she mustered her courage to hit back, but then he hit back again and she gave up.
We sometimes wish we could toughen her up so she could defend her territory herself. What makes her so endearing and lovable to us humans is not helpful when meeting members of her own species. I guess because she is a lone cat who was orphaned at an early stage in her life, she just didn’t learn those skills.
When we wanted to leave the tom tried to get into our home so we had to pick Bobs up and shush him away. He managed to get into our garden, which was not a good idea. Paul was not happy, Bobby upset and I was just shushing him out. We almost stayed at home, but I reasoned that our cat needs to learn to fight her corner and I simply can’t always “hold her paw”.
My biggest worry is how she would react when we eventually adopt another kitten.
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