by Erin Ahmed

Created on: March 23, 2008   Last Updated: October 31, 2008

I love her, I hate her. I had no idea that fateful day I found the tiny, very sick kitten in the street, that it was actually a well planned ambush and would change my life as I knew it.

Tiny, very sick kitten was taken directly to the veterinarian. After being treated for a bad cold and given several injections, including a heavy dose of vitamins, kitty and her new mom headed for home. This was the first of four more visits to the veterinarian for various afflictions over the course of approximately four weeks.

After giving the new arrival a few days to feel better and adjust to her new surroundings, it was time to choose a name. Moxie seemed to fit her personality perfectly as she never showed an ounce of fear from the first moment we met. Little did I know just how well it would describe her.

Moxie is, well.... different. Moxie doesn't "meow" like a normal cat, she whirs. And she does this every time you touch her. She is a thief. She goes on raids into my landlady's house and steals her hair rollers, fake flowers, combs, whatever, and once we had to chase her down to retrieve a blouse she stole from her bedroom. All these things she dutifully presents to me as a gift. She also feels absolutely entitled to leap up and pull all of this poor woman's clean clothes from the clothesline onto the floor. Perhaps she felt they hadn't been washed right the first time.

Her favorite toy seems to be my hair scrunchies, which she will come and steal right off of my head while I'm sleeping. These can be recovered by a trip to her water bowl where she seems to feel they belong instead.

No toe in the house is safe if it is underneath a blanket. Move that toe even a fraction of an inch and you will think you have woken up in the middle of a Freddy Krueger dream.

Moxie is also obsessed with anything electronic in the most hateful way. Cell phones cannot be left out on a table, they must be put in a drawer or they are dragged off and chewed, much like you would expect from a puppy. If the phone in the house rings, she will appear like a phantom from the shadows and leap upon it, attacking it with all the ferocity of a lion on its prey. If that doesn't dissuade the individual who had the nerve to call, she will grab the phone cord and pull the receiver from your hand. Oh, but Moxie's coup de grace was the day she knocked my brand new laptop onto the floor and destroyed it.

So, by now I'm sure you are wondering if Moxie yet lives or perhaps you are reading her eulogy. Fortunately for Moxie, I have a weak spot for the weird and eccentric. She is also the most affectionate and interesting cat I have ever owned and though she tests my patience to the limit at times, she gives more than she takes. Well... with the exception of the laptop perhaps. I hate her, I love her. I can't imagine what it would be like without her.

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