My Feline Security Detail

It never ceases to amaze me how a cat can pick up a strange habit, seemingly out-of-the-blue, and we end up having to adjust, whether it makes sense or not.

It could be as innocuous as a different inflection in our cat’s meows, or to find her somewhere she doesn’t usually hang out. Sometimes it’s a favourite toy that is suddenly no longer her favourite.

Sometimes it is a little more challenging to deal with it, like a sudden and complete dislike for a food that was a long-time favourite.

In recent months, Miss Ivy has picked up a strange habit as depicted by the picture. When she is doing it, I just turn around and see her backside, with her face looking in the opposite direction.

It’s not like she has done this once or twice. She started doing this a couple of months ago, and seems to be doing this all the time now to the point that it is a little creepy when I change rooms and she does the same thing.

The question is, why?

It doesn’t matter that she has a cat bed, two perches with a full panoramic view of the yard, and an unlimited supply of comfy throws on practically every horizontal surface in the house. She has suddenly taken to parking herself on the hardwood floor, two or three feet behind me, facing in the opposite direction.

In addition, there are two very willing laps she could sit on, which she does at least once or twice per day, but for the rest of the time, why the hardwood floor?

Is she acting like a sentinel? Is she my private feline security detail? Is she trying to be a guard cat?

I’m not sure about any of those options since her usual reaction to other critters of the animal or insect kingdom is to walk backward in slow motion, so I wouldn’t sign an affidavit to the effect that protection is her motivation. But then again, maybe in her mind it is. But more importantly, protect me from what?

Does she sense that I am in sudden and imminent danger, that she feels that positioning herself like that is the ultimate defence? How very selfless of her, if that is indeed the case.

The danger to her is that when I am working, when she creeps up on me like stealth kitty and I don’t know that she is there, it could spell danger for her tail if I suddenly roll back in my office chair.

Fortunately that hasn’t happened yet although we did have a close call once, as I found a lock of her hair on the ground, by one of the wheels of my office chair. But nonetheless, now, when I am working, it has become routine to look before backing up my chair, just in case.

It makes me wonder, where did she see that before? Was it something on TV like “Ooh, those lions parked outside the New York Public Library look pretty cool, maybe I should do that?”

Or did she pick up on the theme from a movie we might have seen, where the main character has a bodyguard.

Who knows what a cat’s motivation is.

Either way, it’s not particularly endearing to turn around and see my cat’s butt every time.

It has occurred to me that for a cat who is motivated by food, who is on a diet, and who knows that begging doesn’t really hold any merit in this household, perhaps that is just strategic positioning to ensure that she doesn’t miss feeding time whenever I happen to get up and head in that general direction.

It’s weird though, because there is no competition in this house for the cat food. If she slept through her scheduled feeding time, her portion controlled meal would still be there when she woke up.

On the other hand, maybe it’s just her way of being close, but not too close, as cats sometimes like to be a little distant, even when they are social kitties like Miss Ivy.

Either way, it’s just another simple pleasure of having a cat, and their funny way of keeping us on our toes, adjusting to their s“purr”-of-the-moment decisions, for which we humans just have to keep up.

Will this be a short term feline foible, or will this be a regular thing? Who knows?

But I tend to think that it is just the universe offering us cats as a reminder of the temporary nature of things in life, and to keep us humans sharp to expect the unexpected.

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Sincere thanks for reading!
Have a great day,
André