Cat's Name & Age:
Mandy - 12
Best Characteristics of the Breed
Affectionate, playful, smart, especially loving when they sense you're down
Most Challenging Characteristics of the Breed
Can quickly train their humans to accept annoying habits like 3am romps
When, Where and How I Got My Cat
We adopted Mandy from a local animal shelter when she was 6 weeks old. Initially lethargic from illness, she quickly displayed a lively and highly affectionate disposition. Partially white, she is largely a tabby cat with the typical 'M' marking on her forehead.
I'd Describe My Cat As…
. . . very affectionate, sweet-tempered, cuddly, talkative, playful, intelligent and quirky. Mandy loves to do her ablutions in the tub and will 'ask' for the tap to be turned on to produce a steady drip that she will catch with her paws to wash herself or to drink. When we moved to a place with only a shower head incapable of producing a drip, she one day knocked over an empty plastic bucket I'd left on the bathroom floor, and walked between the shower and part way into the bucket, meowing until I finally understood what she wanted. At least twice a day from then on, I would partially fill the bucket with water from the shower and then put it on its side on the shower floor so that she could drink the water as it flowed from the bucket. She will drink water from a bowl, but prefers to drink, and to wash with, what she perceives as 'fresh' water. 'Peek-a-boo' is a favorite game: we will disappear from view behind a wall or furniture or even our hands and each time we reappear she meows. She likes to sit on office chairs that spin around, meowing each time she comes full circle. Mandy loves catnip and occasionally goes on a real 'bender', tearing around in a rampage and playing with great gusto but decreasing coordination and balance until she finally falls sound asleep. She can move gracefully and daintily, but can also charge noisily around like an 'elephant' to get our attention. She can be quite talkative even when she doesn't want anything. She loves to butt her head against ours, especially if one of us is on the floor trying to do yoga or other exercises. Mandy seems to know when one of us is ill or in a blue mood and becomes extra affectionate and attentive. Last year after general anesthesia to remove a bad tooth, she apparently had a stroke, circling constantly to the left with extreme disorientation for about a week, but with no residual effects.
Advice
- Mandy has adapted quickly and well to several moves, but we always left her and her toys, scratching post and other familiar belongings until last, and I've always applied the 'old wives' tale' of putting butter on her paws once she was in the new place.
- She hated feeling abandoned. A few times when she was boarded in a 'cattery' or left in the care of another person, she wouldn't eat and would become prone to urinary tract infections, which a vet told us was often triggered by stress.
- Tabbies thrive on lots of attention.
