My Cat Is Pretty

On the way to driving the boys to school today the morning radio show had a segment called “My Pet Is Crazy…” where listeners called in with stories about why their pet was crazy. There are some nutty cats out there. The stories ranged from a cat who though she was a dog, to another cat who emptied out a lingerie drawer to another cat who would drag naked Barbie dolls up to her owner’s room and leave them in a pile next to the bed.

After hearing these stories I was a little disappointed to conclude that Stitch isn’t crazy. Stitch isn’t crazy in the slightest way …except for maybe when he gets high on catnip.

Instead, Stitch is vain, and odd and completely OCD. Yes, my cat is obsessive compulsive when it comes to his looks. Perhaps it's because he's an Orange County cat where most of the guys take the extra step when it comes to their looks. Maybe it's because he has all those pretty shades of gray and cream. Maybe it's because he has those extra thumbs so he feels the need to make sure the rest of him is pretty so people don't stare at his abnormalities.

Stitch is such a pretty cat. I don’t just mean that his fur is a pretty pattern and pretty colors either. I mean that he feels the need to make sure his fur is always in good looking order. He is always grooming his fur. He doesn’t like to play fight because it messes up his fur. If he is walking by you and you dare to pet him or brush up against him accidentally he will stop in his tracks and lick wherever you touched him back to perfection.

One time he got outside and I spent a good 25 minutes trying to get him to come back in. He declined the offer. I watched him frolic (and yes I mean frolic like a baby deer) across the empty lot next door in the moonlight. Halfway across the field he stopped mid frolic to lick a patch of fur on his shoulder. I guess the night breeze must have blown it the wrong way.

Do I really want a crazy cat that would dig my panties out of the drawer and hide them in a most embarrassing spot? I guess not really, but it would be fun talk and laugh about. Instead, I got the pretty cat who can’t go 10 steps without stopping to fix some patch of fur.

I guess that's part of the reason why he doesn't like it when anyone touches him. The boys try to give him hugs and he always has a look of disgust and irritation on his face as he slightly leans away. It must be tough to be so pretty. Maybe he should try being crazy just for a day to see what he’s missing out on.