Guest Cat Star: Squeaky the Stressed-Out Cat

Hi everybody,

Today’s visitor put up comes from our good good friend Ben Herman and his cat Squeaky:

Our cat Squeaky is certainly considered one of a form.  I’ve blogged about Squeaky before.  Michele and I took her in when her earlier human abruptly determined that he had too many cats.  Since Squeaky wasn’t getting together with the others he wished to drop her off at a shelter.  That most likely would have actually been the dying of her.  Squeaky is extraordinarily shy and delicate, plus she had well being issues on the time, so she would most likely have been put to sleep.

Michele advised me that in her former residence all the opposite cats beat Squeaky up at any time when she tried to return out to eat, and so she was usually hiding behind a radiator.  She was even too scared to make use of the litter field, and so she scratched out a gap behind a settee and used that as an alternative.  In the 5 and a half years since we adopted Squeaky she has positively come out of her shell, although. She was extremely frightened after we took her in, however now she is extra at ease.  She was extremely skinny and unhealthy, however now she is spherical and wholesome.  Squeaky appears joyful.

That stated, she is a unusual cat.  Even after being with us for all this time she continues to be very jittery.  Loud noises trigger her to run & conceal, her tail fully fluffed up.  Squeaky nonetheless doesn’t like tall males standing close to her.  I’m 6 toes 2 inches, and when she sees me strolling in direction of her she runs away.  She has no drawback with me when I’m sitting down or mendacity in mattress.  Actually she may be very affectionate at these occasions, and he or she loves for me to pet her or brush her fur.  But the moment I rise up she bolts.  Michele believes that Squeaky continues to be traumatized from no matter craziness went on the place she used to dwell.  I feel that there should have been a whole lot of noise & chaos there.

Squeaky typically jogs my memory of the cat Mooch from the caricature Mutts by Patrick McDonnell.  Like Mooch, Squeaky is a moderately idiosyncratic cat who likes to eat.  Reading the strip within the newspaper usually brings to thoughts our personal black & white kitty cat.  That’s particularly the case when McDonnell does a strip about Mooch’s love of meals.

It should have been as a result of she was ravenous for all of these years earlier than we adopted her, however Squeaky is obsessed with meals.  We usually feed her at 7:00 within the morning.  Well, beginning round 5:00 AM she begins meowing incessantly.  She’ll soar on the mattress and scratch up the furnishings.  She desires meals instantly, and he or she doesn’t need to wait.  When we lastly open a can of moist meals and feed her, she dives proper in.  Nettie additionally eats at the moment, however she likes to tempo herself.  She’s a small cat, and has a tiny tummy.  So she’ll have a number of bites and stroll away for some time.  Unfortunately Squeaky will then attempt to eat out of Nettie’s bowl, and we’ve got to place it on prime of the fridge till Nettie is able to eat once more.

Around 10:00 AM Squeaky begins meowing for dry meals.  We’ll often give her and Nettie some an hour later.  She’ll devour that immediately.  Dinner time for the cats, after they get the remainder of the canned meals, is at 3:00 PM.  Well, come 1:00 within the afternoon Squeaky will begin meowing sadly, just about continuous, circling about in a apprehensive method.  She actually appears to be satisfied she isn’t going to get fed.

Of course, each time Michele and I’ve one thing to eat, Squeaky should examine it to see if it’s one thing she would really like.  If it’s, she’ll both give us a wide-eyed pleading expression, or she’ll merely attempt to snatch a few of our meals along with her paw or mouth.  She is extremely persistent.

This all impressed Michele to attract a cute, humorous illustration entitled “Squeaky Loves To Eat.”

Poor Squeaky.  She can get very stressed typically.  This simply goes to indicate that animals could be very very similar to folks.  If an animal experiences trauma when it’s younger, that may have an effect on them for the remainder of their life.  I positively suppose that occurred to Squeaky.  She nonetheless seems to be dealing with a number of the stuff she went although earlier than we adopted her.  She looks like a really delicate soul.

Sometimes I’ll clarify Squeaky’s story to folks as a cautionary story, to show that it is rather necessary for us people to deal with our four-legged mates with kindness.

Having stated all this, I do consider Squeaky is now a lot happier.  She has meals and two people who love her.  She ultimately received used to Nettie making an attempt to play along with her, and the 2 cats are actually shut.  Squeaky additionally will get to play, one thing she by no means might prior to now.  Occasionally she’s going to play-fight along with her toy mousies.  But way more usually she’s going to seize considered one of Michele’s pencils, pens or markers in her tooth, carry it off whereas yowling, after which wrestle with it, chasing it concerning the condo because it rolls everywhere.  chunk of Michele’s artwork provides go lacking on this method.  We usually discover pens beneath the mattress, or buried within the blankets, or hidden beneath the rug, or within the laundry pile.

I’m glad that Michele and I had been capable of give Squeaky a a lot better residence than she as soon as had.  She is a really affectionate cat.  Despite her sometimes-unconventional conduct, she actually does brighten up our lives.

We hope you loved their story and also you’ll take a look at their very own Blog.

And don’t neglect in the event you fancy sending in a narrative do drop us an e-mail! 🙂

Thanks,

Marc