One Angry Cat
March 26th 2009 21:00
My frenemy, the GTC
I was on my way home one day when I spotted the Grouchy Tuxedo Cat. A woman was already on the stairs near my place, stroking him. A man was walking in front of me and when he got to where the cat was, he also stopped and started to scratch the area near the base of the GTC’s tail. By now, I had also reached the cat so I stopped and waited to take my turn to have a stroke. A few strokes later, the GTC lost it. He let out a yowl and turned around and tried to bite the man’s hand. The man pulled his hand away just in time.
The GTC then moved away from the man and the woman and sat down on the stairs. I sat in front of him and let him sniff my finger. So far, so good. But when I reached down to stroke his head he let out another yowl and reached up to scratch me. Like the man, I jerked my hand away just in time.
“Bad cat,” I whispered to the GTC. I continued to sit there, watching him. I noticed his pupils were constricted into small slits but that could have been due to the sunlight shining into his face. He was also thumping his tail against the stairs. I had never seen a cat thump its tail before so I kept watching until the thumping stopped. According to cat vs. cat by Pam Johnson-Bennett, these were signs of an irritated, aggressive cat. Johnson-Bennett also says some cats don’t like to be petted too long and will bite to show this.
I had learnt from previous experience that the GTC fell under this category, hence my nickname for him. But naively I thought that after the man had stopped touching him, he wouldn’t mind me petting him, especially since he already knew me. But from his perspective, enough was enough.
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