The Two Sides of Kitty
Up until now, you’ve seen only one side of Kitty:
The cute, inquisitive, fluffy side.
But there is a darker side of our lovely little housecat that only a few have seen.
A side we are not proud of.
A side we call: Evil Rotten Kitty.
We have a resident tomcat. Now this tomcat is the friendliest, sweetest tomcats you’ll ever meet. He doesn’t have a mean bone in his body. But Kitty, for whatever reason, hates him. HATES, with a capital H. He’s never done anything to her. His motto is “live and let live”. But Kitty still HATES him. On several occasions, he has been taking a nap on the front step when we exit the house. Kitty hops out the door, takes a quick swipe at him with her front paw, does a U-turn and hops back into the house before Tom ever knows what’s hit him. He flies up into the air looking all around for his antagonist. She always attacks him from behind, chicken that she is.
Poor Tom.
A couple weeks ago, Tom was blissfully snoozing in the sun on the sidewalk in front of the house. Kitty had been up in a tree when she spied her arch-enemy.
She came down and stalked across the lawn intent on sneaking up behind Tom.
She took a swipe at poor sleeping Tom’s backside,
Tom jumped out of her way, turning around to face Kitty’s open mouth and bared fangs.
He finally collected himself ready to take on EVIL ROTTEN KITTY. She lay in the grass all hunkered down in front of him. Lot of hissing on both sides.
It was at this point that Kitty finally lost her nerve, and ran towards me and the house for protection with Tom in pursuit.
“Oh yeah”, I’m thinking, “that’s all I need is to be in the middle of two fighting cats.”
So I shooed Tom away and let Kitty into the house. Within a few minutes she was back to her normal cute fluffy self.
We’re not sure why Kitty hates Tom so. He’s so sweet, but she never misses an opportunity to sneak up on him and try to hurt him. And unfortunately, Kitty doesn’t confine her evilness to just Tom, she hates all the barncats, but the rest of them have learned to stay out of Kitty’s realm: the yard.
One time though, Kitty truly did decide to pick on the wrong animal. I’ll never forget the day several years ago, when I was calling and calling for Kitty to come into the house, but couldn’t find her. I finally caught sight of her out in the pasture facing down a black and white animal about her size with a large fluffy tail.
It was a skunk, and Kitty was engaged in a stand-off with it.
She wanted it to run so she could chase it, but the skunk refused to do so and continued to just stare down Kitty, jumping at her repeatedly to scare Kitty off. Kitty didn’t scare though, and finally sat down, disappointed the skunk wouldn’t run. At this point the skunk turned its butt around towards Kitty and looked over it’s shoulder at her.
It was a not-so-subtle warning, but Kitty didn’t get it and continued to sit dejectedly staring at the skunks rear end and swishing tail. In the meantime, I was desperately calling for Kitty to come back into the house, and trying to figure out what we would do with her when she got sprayed, as I was certain it would happen any second.
Finally, finally, after what seemed an eternity, Kitty got bored and walked away from the skunk and towards the house. The skunk walked away too towards the barn. I breathed an enormous sigh of relief. For Kitty it had all been a game, and she had no idea what a narrow escape she’d just had.
Kitty is quite the character. If she lives to a ripe old age, it’ll be a miracle. But the days until then should prove to be endlessly entertaining for us.
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo
I’m speechless….right! At least Kitty seems to tolerate me better than in the past. Whew! I still wont’ try to pet her. Big mistake! I’m glad Tom has stood his ground. Kitty needs that.
I assume that Harland got out of the field long enough to mow the grass since you took those pictures. A farmer’s work is never done!
Ha ha… 🙂 Kitty is more tolerant of all visitors now, which shocks us. Maybe she’s mellowing.
After the drought and then the rain, and the grass started to grow again, we let it go for a while so it could get back on it’s feet as we thought it must have died. We’ve mowed it since then.
I just adore your cat! I lost mine after 17 years and have not gotten another (my daughter is highly allergic). I really love your posts (and pics) of Kitty… She is a Star in my book! Thanks for posting 🙂
Kitty is a treasure! You know Suzanne, you are so good at telling Kitty’s story, have you thought about writing children’s books? You are writing for us and taking beautiful photos! Everybody would love, Kitty’s comic antics! Thanks for the post, it always makes my day! xo
Thank you Carol! 🙂
So good to know Ms. Kitty is up and around obviously back to her old self. I didn’t know she went out that much to get into trouble with the other animals. She’s a little devil!
She’s only outside maybe an hour a day, but she makes the most of it. 😉
Kitty is just telling Tom & other Critters, that this is her house & yard. Perhaps she needs to wear a Bell so Tom can hear her coming.
We drove through Kansas years ago. From the highway it looked like a flat land with corn fields. Your posts have really brought out all the beauty of the state.
If you drove through on I-70 it does look that way. But a good part of Kansas is actually hills and trees and rivers, not the stereotype that most people expect.
Amazing action shots you got there. I would imagine there were quite a few sound effects too! Cat fights SOUND horrible!
I love your Kitty stories. I agree… you should write a children’s book!
Your pictures of Kansas make me want to live there! It looks so peaceful and beautiful.I say more power to Ms. Kitty, it takes a tough cookie to be the Queen!
No freeloaders around Kitty’s farm! You go, girl. And maybe, just maybe, Suzanne, Tomcat has a dark, evil side that you don’t know about and Kitty does…………..
“I AM WOMAN, HEAR ME ROAR”
🙂
In Kitty’s mind, she’s more than woman, she’s Tiger too. 🙂
Kitty is pressing her luck, one of these days very soon the barn cats will get together for a pow wow and plan their attack… strength in numbers theory! She was lucky this time, Tomcat had had enough of her shenanigans! One spraying with a skunk will teach her to not mess with skunks. She is going “Nanny-nanny Boo-Boo” at all of the farm animals since SHE gets to sleep with the masters! Funny!
I wouldn’t be surprised. She is large for a female, but still, she is smaller than Tom. She’s got more nerve than sense. One day I intervened right before she was going to chase a raccoon. She thinks she’s a large guard dog.
I think miss kitty loves you and doesn’t want any other critter to get near you. She wants you all to herself. I had a cat that did keep any other cats away from me until he got older then he invited the cat I have now into his home. This one was a stray and very much a baby yet and old kitty “Alley” taught him about life then he died. I still miss Alley and that was at least 12 years ago.
If Tom is not a “fixed” kitty, and Kitty is, that could prove to be part of it…Tom will have a different smell, as well as being in Kitty’s turf!….I have 6 cats, in and outs, and they all have gone through a “stage” until they visited the vet…and after that, it’s just a matter of time before the pecking order is established!