by Natasha L. Kohlhoff Polak

Created on: November 25, 2009

Our cat thinks he's high and mighty - not a plain old cat, that's for sure. From the day my husband brought him home as a kitten, his lively spirit emerged. As a stray barn cat, we thought for sure he'd be a loner. Boy, were we in for a surprise! Because Mickey is anything but that - not only does he run to the door whenever visitors come to the door (whether it's the pizza man or a repair man), he demands to be petted, and is extremely vocal about it. Oftentimes, if we have anyone visiting us who isn't fond of cats, Mickey still has a way of nagging at them until they finally pet him.

After we trained him not to walk all over our heads at night, this cat of ours enjoys sleeping at the foot of our bed. Can we say guard cat? He watches over us, waiting for the exact instant when either of us opens our eyes. As soon as we do, he will scoot up in between us, wanting attention. It's rather pathetic, really. He does this also in our daughter's bed - and I suspect if we had any overnight guests, he would do the same to them. When we are not in bed, he lols about as close as he can get to our pillows, and lies on his back most of the time. If he is being lazy, he will squirm around on his back, bicycling in midair with his paws - and if he makes eye contact with us, he might even mew to ask if we could tickle his belly. I tell you, he is such a weird cat!

When it comes to meal times, Mickey is overly curious about people-food. We can't eat anything without him having to come over to investigate. Much like the fictitious cat Garfield, well - he loves spaghetti sauce. Particularly Chef Boyardee. We found this out when on occasion we bought tins of cat food and he learned to associate the sound of an opening can with his food, so he'd come running. So if ever I open a can of raviolis or spaghetti-o's, he thinks those are his too. The first time that happened, we thought we would let him sniff the lid so he would know it's not his food. Without warning, he licked the lid. And thereafter, whenever our daughter eats Chef Boyardee, the cat is sure to mooch off of her! He has been known to eat off her plate if she's not looking.

Just last year, I discovered that Mickey will come running and meowing when you call his name really fast "Mickey-Mickey-Mickey" or "Come here, Mickey-Mickey-Mickey". If you throw a ball, he will go after it just like a dog. And sometimes, I swear he even smiles at us (or laughs at us, depending on how you look at it). Our cat is not normal!

I don't know if other cats also do this, but one last thing that Mickey does that takes the cake is that he hunts us down when he wants to play rough. You can see that gleam in his eye when he wants to "fight", and his mouth opens partway like he's taunting us to a challenge. The least provocation will get him going, and he'll either jump out at you, bite, or chase you down until he can nip at your ankles, wrists, and knees. Since my husband likes to play rough with him on the bed at night, Mickey will many times initiate the attack while we are stretched out watching tv. He nibbles at my husband's toes, lunges for his elbows, or bats him with his paws so that as soon as my husband reaches out to him, Mickey will strike.

Even after 3 years, our cat is definitely a kitten mentality. Despite all his sleeping by day, he has plenty of energy to interact with us at night! We love him dearly, and never thought our lives would be so full with him as our second kid!

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