[Vazra]
More window sittin’
Category Archives: Vazra
Welcome return visitor
The two women who live upstairs have two cats and one dog. Sonny, one of the cats, is an explorer who doesn’t waste any opportunity to get outside, although his jaunts are never long and always result in him sitting either by my patio or by the front door begging to be let in. His sister Cher, on the other hand, is a homebody who doesn’t even like being out on the balcony (oh, how she cries…).
Aside: No one will ever accuse those ladies of being creative in the naming department. Add to that the cats being brother and sister and the names become even more, um, lazy, if not downright incestuous.
Sonny loves to hang out on the balcony and can spend hours and hours enjoying the weather and all the wildlife that comes and goes, and he even has learned to use the tree to get down. All the way down. This has happened many times and I’ve caught him on more than a handful of occasions. Most of those times resulted in keeping him in my bathroom until someone got home.
I was out running errands this morning and returned with tons of stuff (cat food, cat medicines, beer, lunch, etc.). Just as I walk out of the kitchen with the cat food (so I can stash it in the closet where I keep it), I see the feline thud onto the ground outside my patio fence in a most ungraceful landing. I immediately recognize it’s Sonny, and he immediately realizes he can’t get back upstairs and starts trying to dig under my fence (he knows that’s the next best option if he can’t go home).
Needless to say, I retrieve him and bring him inside, put him in the bathroom with a litter box, food, water, and some toys, and then I go to my neighbor’s door and knock and knock and ring the doorbell until I’m certain they’re not home. I’ve since placed a note on their door letting them know where the cat is and to let me know when they return so they can get him back.
In the meantime, I have six cats at home. And it ain’t pretty.
Sonny appears to not be happy at all about the other cats. Meanwhile, all of mine are curious and even a bit insulted that yet another feline has been carried into their domain, but otherwise they’re not entirely concerned. They already know they’re in charge. They already know another cat is nothing more than an odd inconvenience at best, if not a downright home invader at worst, but it certainly isn’t an issue over which one should get one’s knickers in a twist.
The funniest aspect of it is Vazra. His integration with the rest of my spoiled brats has been unusually easy. I suspected for quite some time that he was not overly concerned with other cats; curious maybe, but not concerned. Introducing him to my household proved that assumption to be correct. Now, with Sonny in the bathroom speaking up from time to time and reaching under the door when something catches his attention, Vazra is the one over there trying to play and to see exactly what Daddy has hidden away in the WC. The rest of them? They’re all “Ehn… Whatever.”
On a side note, I’ll be sure to grab a few photos of Sonny.
No you DIH-IN’T!
Larenti’s double
Almost a month ago to the day, I mentioned another of the neighborhood cats who at first seemed to be Larenti, yet on that occasion I realized as I watched that what I was seeing was her virtual double. The stranger looked a lot like her but was different in several ways: smaller, darker and more brown as opposed to her light grey, tabby stripes slightly more pronounced, and no tipped ear. Since then, I’ve been watching carefully and have seen more and more of this feline. It’s more skittish than she is (in fact, she’s gone the opposite direction now and is quite comfortable with me) yet not so skittish as to run away when I go outside—although it does step away from the food long enough to be certain I’m not going to attack, and it watches me carefully if I move or make noise.
I was finally able in the last few days to get some photos of this new kitty. First, let’s do a bit of comparison. Here’s a previously shared photo of Larenti:
And here’s a photo of the new kitty:
Now you can see why I was originally confused by this one.
I’ve increasingly seen this cat over the last few weeks and have even learned it’s willing to wait for me to come out and feed it when there’s no food available. While it won’t sit at the fence and rub against my hand like Larenti while I fill the dinner plate, it will sit a short distance away. Sudden movements or unexpected noises frighten it, but it’s not so scared that it won’t eat with me standing right there. I just have to be careful not to interrupt too much. If I do, the first thing I get is this:
Because it doesn’t have a tipped ear, I can’t be certain it’s fixed. If it has already had its privates taken away, it’s like Vazra in that it is or was someone’s pet and has since been abandoned or ejected. Strays will always have a tipped ear if they’ve been spayed/neutered; fixed cats without a tipped ear absolutely came from a home where they were once a pet (tipping the ear is only done on strays to assist with easy identification of those who need the surgery and have yet to be treated/checked by a veterinarian). If you look at Clance, Kako’s dopplegänger, you’ll see it has a tipped ear. You can see from the first photo that Larenti has a tipped ear. One of the other cats I have a photo of (and am trying to get better photos of) has a tipped ear; it’s also a Larenti look-alike except is less pronounced with its tabby stripes and is a much lighter shade of grey (like smoke). Needless to say, this cat is one of two things: not fixed or a former pet who’s been kicked to the curb to fend for itself. Chira’s photos show he doesn’t have a tipped ear and is either another rejected pet or a complete stray who hasn’t been caught and fixed yet.
One thing I’ve noticed about this cat is that it’s been extremely hungry. It’s been a mere two weeks since it’s discovered I’m willing to feed it and try to keep food available at all times, and since then, it’s consumed mass quantities each time it shows up. I can’t be certain and am totally making an assumption, but that at least suggests it’s been abandoned and has only just found a source of nutrition. I hope I’m wrong; I hope I’m just the most convenient and consistent source. I doubt it.
If you look closely at the hi-res version of that photo, you can see its left eye has a minor wound beneath it. After looking closely at all the photos I have, it appears to be minor and healing.
This feline comes around throughout the day and night. It showed up at almost 11 P.M. last night for a very late dinner yet was here around 5:30 A.M. this morning to grab some breakfast right after Larenti had hers. At least it’s learning to trust me and to remember there’s food to be had if it comes and visits.
[Update] Subsequently named Aethon.
Izquierda
Vazra has this habit of leaning his head to the left (his left). He doesn’t do it all the time, but he does it most of the time. It’s amusing and a bit odd all at once. I’m not sure why he does it. I do know he does it when he walks and when he looks intently at things and at other times. It’s funny in the large volume I’m exposed to and probably wouldn’t seem so questionable to cursory visitors who might see it in passing.
Anyway, izquierda is the Spanish word for left (hence the title). I’ve also taken to referring to him as Lefty from time to time, although I’m still trying desperately to refer to him as Vazra as much as possible to help him learn his real name.
This photo shows only a slight tilt to the left. I assure you he takes it much further than that on most occasions.
