Apr 24 2008
Charlie the Great
My cat greets me at the door. He plays fetch with his stuffed mousie. He curls up on my lap when I’m laying on the couch. He lets me hug him and brush him and trim his claws without complaint.
And in his spare time, he mentors younger cats adjusting to the domestic lifestyle.
I have absolutely adored Charlie since I brought him home last November, but the way he behaves with his new little sister goes above and beyond to tug at my heart strings. There was an initial adjustment period, of course, but now they are best friends. And maybe I’m giving more credit to cats than I should, but I would swear he’s actively trying to teach her about life in our house.
The first time I noticed this was once Cori was free to roam the house and they were both being fed in the kitchen. Cori spends a good bit of time hiding under the couch when I’m around, because she’s very skittish about people. When I’d put food out for them, Charlie would eat a bit, and then he’d wander out of the kitchen into the living room over to the couch. He’s stand there for a moment, and then go back to the food. And a few seconds later, Cori would peek out from under the couch and scurry off after him. They eat the same food, from the same dish, at the same time, standing on either side of the dish. As I understand it, this is very unusual for cats.
This morning I was further shown just how sweet Charlie can be to his little sister. Every morning when I get up, Charlie is sitting outside my bedroom door, meowing and waiting for me. The last several mornings, Cori has been out there with him. My typical morning pattern is to go downstairs and feed them, then go back upstairs and get ready for work. Usually when I get ready enough that I’m just brushing teeth, combing hair, and doing makeup, I open the door to the bathroom and let Charlie wander around where he can see me.
This morning when I opened the door at that stage, lo and behold, little miss Cori was sitting out there with him. Charlie made a big show of coming into the room and being friendly with me, letting me scratch and pet him, stretching out at my feet, purring loudly. Then he went and wandered the room as usual, but he went back over to her a couple times. Slowly she tipetoed into the room and sniffed around, following him eventually over by the tub (he likes to sit in the tub). In short, I really got the distinct impression he was trying to give her the message “See? She won’t hurt us; she loves us. It’s ok to come in here.”
How sweet is that?
The funniest bit was when Charlie ran into a bucket I had sitting on the floor, and it rattled and startled them. They ran from the room, completely in sync, and stopped simultaneously right at the top of the stairs. It was too cute.
I love those crazy cats.
