His Chosen People

Phineas Icklebutt, our youngest cat of hand chomping fame , has finally decided to choose us as his people. I had been noticing that he has really attached himself to M. At night, as we start heading to bed, Phineas will launch himself onto our bed with vigor, wanting to be petted and play his favorite game: Blue Ribbon.

We used to call the game String, when Sebastian and Bina were younger. It was a very popular game. As any cat owner knows, dangle an object such as string in front of a playful cat and all hell breaks loose. They pounce, they jab, they tumble, they set their sensitive Cat Radar to "Kill." It's a wild time for human and cat, The Ultimate Play. The ultimate bonding experience.

String has been various sizes of string and rope and even the tie to M's bathrobe. Phineas found the ribbon in our room. It's actually a remnant from my doll primping days. I have this doll collection and had bought fresh ribbon to replace old and worn bows. This one was obviously not needed and has been floating about waiting for a purpose in life. I suppose Phineas felt the connection, being of feral cat origin. He too has been waiting for his purpose to emerge.

It has taken over a year for him to accept his fate as A Cat Who is Willing to be Owned. (or, rather, A Cat Who Owns His People.) He's still working on emerging from his shell and it may take years more. I know he's accepted us, not because of the string, but because of what happened at 3 a.m. the night before last. You see, for the first time, he Defended His People.

We have several neighborhood feral cats. Not one of our cats is usually interested if one of these cats wanders within sight of the house. They usually just sit and stare. One of the neighborhood ferals, Mama Cat aka Rascal has taken up residence in our garage and had four kittens there. Mama Cat is finally getting used to us and won't hiss when we are around.

So, when she came up to the back door at 3 a.m while my insomniac husband was at the computer hanging out with Phineas, something wonderous happened. Phineas reacted. He snarled and spit. He fluffed up his fur and threw himself mercilessly at the door. He let Mama Cat know she was Unwelcome. An Intruder. NOT PART OF THIS FAMILY.

M said he was surprised at this reaction. Me? I was pleased, because it is a step in leaving his feral past behind.

For the record, Mama Cat reacted as any good woman would with a calm look of "What the hell is your problem?" If cats could roll their eyes, I am sure she would have. In the end she walked away with her dignity.

And left Phineas with a new sense of family.