By Suzy
Hi….I have acquired a very beautiful and delightful-temperamented 8 year old female cat in October 2012 called TigerLily. She was probably pre-owned by two or more owners before me.
She is an indoor cat with excellent house manners, who after nine months has managed to explore her new big garden but still prefers the house. She used to duck if a bird flew past her. A real scaredy-cat!
Her semi-long fur never gets matted but she suffers constant hairballs and has long tufts growing between her pads. Her pads are like pink soft skin unlike all the numerous cats Ive owned in the past, that were rough and like velcro to touch.
The other day she jumped down onto some stinging nettles and I could tell she was stung immediately, she spent the next 12 hours licking all her poor pads. She has a beautiful white ruff, and long fluffy breeches and a high fluffy tail. Her underneath is very very soft, like a baby’s soft hair.
Her last home was a happy home but the owner (my friend), could no longer keep her due to pet-tenancy agreements so I offered to foster her indefinitely. This was out of the blue as I was actually considering to rehome a dog not a kitty. But she came in to my life so Im very happy to have such a lovely new friend by my side night and day.
After my friends departure that night, having just dropped her off to me, I let TigerLily wonder around her new home for an hour then found her sitting on the very top step of the staircase staring down at me. I couldn’t resist any longer and went up to her for a chat and I felt immediately that I should pick her up.
Well I didn’t expect her reaction in the least, she just wriggled carefully around and flopped in my arms purring at me looking up at me with her massive yellow eyes, smiling at me. So I carried her downstairs and she snuggled instantly on me all night in the chair. Since then we have been inseparable, everywhere I go she follows. Curious and always playing with me, though shes not vocal at all unless locked out of the bedroom or hungry. Incidentally some mornings she takes a run-up and bashes into the door again and again until I wake up to let her in, meowing very loudly. But hardly ever other than this.
She can’t eat unless I stand over her or ‘go do her business’ in the litter tray unless I’m standing there (yuk). I think she has anxiety issues about being left alone, as when I go to work or leave the house she won’t eat a thing or go to the toilet, she waits until the moment I come back in to do both in an excited way.
When ever I pick her up she just loves it and would happily let me carry her in my arms for hours. No struggles just purrs, always. Floppy and trusting, amazing. I never experienced this with a cat before.
In the mornings she will climb up to my face in bed and gently tap me between my eyes to wake me to tell me shes hungry. The first few times freaked me out as I was sleeping and saw a huge paw between my eyes but she was very gentle just being demanding.
She throws herself down hard on the floor and rolls around on her back if ever I come across her anywhere in the house or outside, she also sleeps on her back with legs outstretched. When she goes up or down the stairs its like a herd of elephants, shes a really robust and heavy cat despite not eating much and being a very fussy eater.
I love her with all my heart and know she loves me to and we were meant to be together. I’m so happy.
I’ve had Siamese and Burmese and tabbies and black cats, moggies too but this kitty is in a league of her own, her personality is immense and although Siamese too are characters this little fury friend has all the characteristics of the other breeds rolled into one, I never thought that was possible. Its like having a cat who is crossed with a playful doggie. I love her very much.
Maybe she is an unplanned RagaMuffin and was just lucky to have the right ancestry to make her so lovely to be around and has identical traits to the real McCoy. She has all the physical descriptions and floppy disposition of a RagaMuffin even though her last VET certifies her as a semi-long haired British Domestic cat. She initially came from the Cats Protection League cattery and we have no knowledge of her previous lives before my friend had her.
Sadly she has been spayed and seems she may have had kittens before as she has a lot of loose skin on her belly. I would’ve loved to have had more cats from her with her personality.
Suzy
Note from Michael. This article is a comment made by Suzy on the RagaMuffin page. I felt it was too good – both the words and this superb looking cat – to leave languishing amongst the comments, which is why it is here.
Thanks for the wonderful sharing… I came across your post when looking around for image on “long haired tortoiseshell cat”. I too have a long haired tortoiseshell cat that looks similar to TigerLily, her name is Jasper. She too has the wonderful personality similar to TigerLily and also has the hairball problem. Jasper is a sweet and lovely cat, she is the best friend and partner I have in my life… I am fortunate to have her and love her very much and wish the best for her and wish her to live a very long life and many more years with her.
Thanks Wendy for sharing. Beautiful cat and I so pleased that have such a fine companion.
Beautiful cat and still strange that it has adjusted to a change of 3 homes and owners.
Her name fits her to a tee. She sort of looks like a beautiful flower in the picture that Michael put with the article.
Shame about her needing you to stand by her when she eats or does her business. I have heard of other cats that like companionship while eating (one I used to cat sit for had to be petted while he ate) but most seem to prefer privacy in the litter box. It’s a good thing you don’t work too much. I’d feel so badly all day knowing she was waiting for me so she could go potty. I’m lucky to have my sister living upstairs as our tenant. If I’m working late I can send her down to feed our cat Monty. I hope you have someone who can stand in for you if you want to go away for more than a few hours. I wonder if you went on a trip if she would be the kind of cat who would enjoy coming with you. We had a very “dog like” cat when I was young who enjoyed going places with us in the car.
A small snippet of info: if a cat is slow to eat, I have found that stroking her/him while she is over the food bowl results in her eating. It sort of kicks starts the eating.