Friday, October 18, 2013

A Faux Post

faux

adjective \ˈfō\
:  imitation, ersatz <faux marble> 

He's not at all an imitation and we pronounce his name as the definition, "fo", not "fox" as is often said. 


I worried, needlessly of course, about whether he'd remember me. 


I last saw him in fall of 2010. That was nearly 3 years ago. Cats don't retain a lot of short term memory. You can train them, but you must repeat the action every day. Dogs can pick things up quickly. Cats don't. 

I expected the reaction to my arrival would be terror, after which I would be ignored.


There would be no welcome, no, "I remember you."

That was a wrong assumption and I need to stop assuming he's forgotten me. Oh he ran when I first arrived, but then he sniffed my luggage and me and you could tell something triggered. "I know her. I know those smells." 


He slept with me. He charged into the bathroom when I was in there and drank out of the faucet as he's always done. 


Carole said she believes the drinking from the faucet was just an attention getter. But, when he realized it elicited the desired response from his humans AND provided a source of water, he continued to do it. She still leaves the faucet running very slowly when she heads off to work in the morning, in addition to filling his bowl. What is it about the bathroom water? My girls love the water from the bathroom tap and eschew the water from the kitchen faucet or even the bottled water. 

After 24 hours, it was business as usual being around me and underfoot, just like old times when he used to live with me. 


He's my daughter's cat. When she comes home, he is by her side. They have gone from Wheaton to Seattle and 3 moves around that area. Then, he moved across the country to Connecticut. From there, it was down to Virginia and two moves since then. She gets so worried when she has to uproot him, but he takes it all in stride, if he's a bit clingy and needy and has an upset stomach for a week after the move. This is one well-traveled cat. 

Maine Coon cats are well-known for being adaptable. He's a good boy. That's why we love his name. There's really nothing fake about him. 


Beverage:  Water
Deb

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