How I Came to Love Black Cats
It was adoption day at PetSmart and I wanted an orange tabby kitten. As I looked over the choices, the noise of dogs and people frightened most of the kittens, hiding in litter boxes. A few cages away, a little black Bombay kitten had his face pressed up against the bars, eyes wide and excited, curious about all the commotion. I couldn’t resist this “Mr. Personality,” and now, five years later, Drambuie (or Boo-cat, as we often call him), is still curious about his world. He and our orange kitten, Killian, often play together. While they "tom-house" with each other, they form a Halloween Yin-Yang.
How Black Cats Differ from Other Cats
Our Bombay, Drambuie or "Boo-cat", is very sweet-tempered and very intelligent. He will stare at a new object for hours, trying to figure out how it works, how it opens, or why his people have it. He has tried to open the doors in our house many times. Unfortunately, he doesn't have opposable thumbs, so he keeps on trying nonetheless.
He is an indoor cat, but dreams of hunting outdoors. His favorite spot is at the patio door to watch "kitty TV". He often gets hunting envy from watching outdoor cats stalk small animals and birds in our backyard. When the rabbits come, he wants to get at them so much, he will press himself against the glass as if he could get through by will alone.
He will only drink water from the bathroom sink. He has us very well trained to get up when he taps on us so we can turn on the faucet for him to drink. As he sits on the sink, he will watch us in the mirror. Not many cats I know been as aware of himself or others in mirrors as Boo has.
His favorite game is "Race Out the Door". He knows when we are getting ready to leave, so takes his place under the throw on my chair by the door, and waits. Most of the time, we will distract him or keep him from going out. But if we are in a hurry and don't pay attention, zoom he goes, tail up in victory at game won. Sometimes he will let us catch him right away, other times he will lead us a merry chase. As I said, he has us well-trained.
We have other cats: tabby, calico, orange. None of them have invented as many games or shown as much curiosity in his world as our black cat, Drambuie.
Tips and Tricks
- Life is too short to get stressed about things you can't change.
- Learn about everything.
- Look at things from a new perspective.
