Friday, October 24, 2008

He's a Delinquent

Last weekend, Mario got a phone call. It was one of those phone calls that you know isn't good. Mario's sister Angela and I were sitting there looking at him trying to figure out who it could be and what could be wrong. His mother was with us, so it wasn't her. I was trying to figure out who was hurt. It was a long conversation. Well maybe not but when something is wrong, it is the longest phone conversation ever. Mario finally hung up the phone and looked at me...my heart was dropping. Something was wrong.

He just had this look. It was killing me. He finally told me...our cat Dexter was terrorizing a neighborhood a few blocks over. What!? Relief washed over me...well of course he is, he's an asshole.

Apparently, he's even more of an asshole than I thought though. All the neighbors on that block had been discussing what to do and they finally decided to call us. I guess this has been going on for two months. The man who called us, said that Dexter keeps provoking his two cats. He also told us that Dexter had eaten a few of his birds (he has a bird feeder, read cat feeder, he had gotten a couple of the birds). He also had tried to provoke and get to the neighbors rabbit....he didn't get him but poor rabbit. We feel bad, but we're not sure what to do. We told the man and neighbors to spray him with the hose if they see him. Squirt him with water and shoo him away. Luckily it's getting colder out. Like I've said before, he gets fat and hibernates during the winter. It's during this time that we're going to try to convert him to an indoor cat.

But we feel bad about this. Dexter came to us from a former friend of Mario's. Mario and I had just moved in together and had one cat already. One day while I was visiting Mario at a studio, his ex-friend came in and said that we could come by and pick up the kitten that weekend. Mario said sure, is that ok with me? Blank look from me. He had apparently forgotten to tell me we were getting a cat. Ex-friend told me that this cat was evil and mean and if we didn't take him, they were going to put him down. Even though this was no way to convince someone to take a cat, I wasn't letting them put him down. We picked up the cat that weekend. He was adorable, but he had never been loved. He played so rough and wouldn't be held or pet. Ex-friend and wife hadn't really pet him or loved him. However, once we got him home, it only took a few hours for Bob and Dexter fall in love. They quickly were named "the football team". They tackle and attack, and if you are in the way, too bad. I immediately knew I could never separate these two cats.

After two years, he is a different cat. He's not all the way there, but he's definitely different. He's loving in his own asshole way. He loves to be pet...until you piss him off. He loves his nose rubbed. He won't be held, but he'll tolerate it for half a minute.) He rubs on us when we come home. He's also gotten good at letting me know when he wants me to come outside and play. Bob and him also love love to go for walks with us around the block. He loves to be outside. He is a totally different cat outside. He is the friendliest, most loving cat you'll meet outside. He loves people and will rub on you and play. So, it's so hard to want to make him a indoor cat. Indoors he's become much better, but he's grumpy when he's inside. As I type this, he's come in to say hi...he's looking for dinner.

Cats fed...So what do I do? Now that it's getting colder and he's staying in more, we're thinking about keeping him in during the day when the birds and other animals are out. Then letting him out for a while at night when everything is sleeping for the night. I know that cats should be indoor anyway. It's safer for them and other animals, but it's so hard to take that away from Dexter. We don't know about where he came from, but I think he must have been a stray. He's just not an indoor cat.

He's beautiful, but don't let that convince you he's not an asshole



This is not too long after we got Dex. He loved to lay on Bob. Now he's twice the size of Bob.

2 comments:

  1. Beautiful cats. My cats do the same and I too have pics of them laying on each other.

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  2. You are so right. They look like twins! And definitely act like it. My cat taunts other animals. She so deserves a butt-whipping. But she's mine. Like a kid that way, really: my responsibility to tend to and love.

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