At around 2.00 a.m I was awakened by some scratching noise near the book case. Woke up to find Mickey scratching some plastic bags while spraying into some of my books on the book case. I got irritated and scolded Mickey, got hold of the water bottle which I kept ready nearby and started to squirt him with water and shooed him to the kitchen area. Every time he sprayed I used the water bottle as that is the only tool that Mickey understands to be a cue that I am irritated with him and that what he is doing is undesirable behaviour. If I beat the broom against the floor to frighten him, he in fact will start to play with the broom or even starts biting my feet, as if it is a cue for playtime. Some spoilt cat!
Banished to the kitchen area, Mickey stayed down flat on all fours and sort of squinted to look at me with that crestfallen, downtrodden look. "Duduk sana!", I said when he tried to come to me while I got down to wiping and cleaning the affected books. I do not really mind the spraying in other parts of the house.When you adopt a pet, you indirectly made a commitment to accept him as family and you do not admonish or reprimand your family for being himself or herself. To me spraying is a male cat's natural behaviour and why should you be angry to a creature who is doing something that is natural to him and moreover Mickey was only castrated when he was around three, the time that I adopted him. So he still remembered the spraying behaviour even though he is already neutred. Lately Mickey seemed to be doing a lot of the spraying. Not sure if he is stressed out because there is a hobo male cat who seemed to make Mickey's day bed (a pile of newspaper topped with some of my old blankets) in the porch area to be his living quarters.. There have been a lot of battles between the two, though mostly there were just volume competition and also who can make the better impression of a very huge cat, furs all standing up, tails up in the air! No actual fighting took place, but there were really a lot of noise.
Catching sight of the hobo cat
Total relaxation
I couldn't sleep anymore after cleaning the books and a few minutes later Mickey came to me. He stayed down, tummy flat on the floor all paws too and started coming closer to me, moving like a crocodile. I dubbed this "the crocodile walk". He rubbed his cheeks against my feet, while making affectionate sounds, like offering a truce or rather offering his apology.
When his previous owner dumped him near my home about three years ago, Mickey was not allowed into the house, even though I fed him like three or four times a day in the porch area. At few months before I lost my previous cat Benjamin Miki (Ben) due to a serious illness. The experience of having to euthanize my beloved Ben, which I had had for ten long beautiful years, really really traumatized me and I vowed never to have another cat.
Mickey did many tricks to entice me and to weaken my resolution. He would sneak into the house every time he had the opportunity, he would rub his body against me whenever possible, he would jump onto my lap and he would purr incessantly when I was near. Last but not least, he would do the crocodile walk in front of the front door every time I scolded him for trying to come into the house. That clinched it, his tenacity worked magic, I melted. To me the crocodile walk is Mickey's way of saying I love you why don't you adopt me or I'm very loving and I very much want to be your cat or please adopt me I'm too adorable or God sends me to your door what kind of a human being are you to send me away. I should add another interpretation of the crocodile walk: please forgive me, I feel very sad that you are angry with me. I rubbed his head and he came to sit next to me. The crocodile walk is abandoned and a few minutes later he lay down in front of the TV with his tummy up. The sad, guilty look was gone . He knew he has been forgiven!
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