Tribute to Claudine Housecat

No, she hasn't died. On the contrary she is very healthy and happy. I just felt it was time to dedicate a post to my wonnerful kitteh, Claudine.

Not a whole lot to say, except that Claudie is a good kitty. She makes us laugh.

She sleeps a lot.


She takes care of us when we feel bad.


All in all she is a very important part of the family. When we got her from the Humane Society, we were told that she had been brought back by the first family who took her in. They said she "didn't get along with their other pets." I suspect something much worse than that had happened to the sweet kitty, cause for the first month we had her she hid underneath a big desk, refusing to come out unless we were all asleep. She was very timid. At night I knew she was sneaking out, eating a little cat food and using the litter box, but she wouldn't do it when we were around.

After a while, though, if I sat very very still on the floor by her food, she would come out and eat while I sat there, stopping occasionally to check me out. I guess she was getting lonely by that time, and she could sense a cat person was nearby. Then one day she let me pet her head and tickle her flanks. Finally one day she climbed up in my lap and started making biscuits on my legs. She had finally let her guard down, and I was so happy. I've been her mom ever since.

She gradually got braver and braver, sometimes letting the kids be in the room with her and occasionally even playing in their (or other humans') presence. One day I decided to see what would happen if I let her outside. It was scary at first. I opened the back door (our yard is very large and is fenced in, so she was safe) and let her sniff the air to begin with. She seemed very interested. Then I went outside and sat on the ground and she sat in the doorway and watched. In a minute she tiptoed out, with those incredibly slow cat steps they take when you want them to come in, or go out, or move for some reason. She was very curious about the wind, the smells, the sun. Finally she came over and joined me where I sat, still very cautious but wanting so badly to be a part of this delicious warm breezy world. Every day we would go out for a little while together, then I began going back in sometimes and leaving her out, but keeping the back door open. One day I looked out and she was tiptoeing through the grass, heading up the hill in the yard. The next day she went a little further. Pretty soon she could stay out for hours on end all by her lonesome. Then Max, the neighbor cat, started hanging around, and they were an 'item' for a while. I think they've broken up now. But outside is still her favorite place to be, besides my bed.



Now Claudine has no fear, even going so far as to stay in the playroom when we open the backdoor to let Jazzy pup into her crate at night. She lets me pick her up and toss her over my shoulder, she joins us in the middle of noisy Christmas parties, and once she even sat on the couch without running away during a noisy and frightening (aren't they all?) session of vacuuming. Now THAT's a brave kitteh! Claudine also has an amazing knack for knowing when someone is making a sandwich, no matter where she is or what she's doing. Open a crackly sandwich meat wrapper and *zing*! Within two minutes, here she comes. Such a talented cat.

Here she is hard at work foraging water from my toilet. Like I said, multi-talented. Watch this till the end...it's funny.

My Claudie. I think I'll keep her.