By Valley Girl (VG)
Michael, I have to tell you about something that happened just now, as I was reading through the Sphinx/ Tootsie thread.
It really is, literally, a “visitor cat story”. I looked up from my computer, and saw a cat who is NOT Tootsie was inside my home eating Tootsie’s dinner. I jumped up, and the cat ran away. But, Tootsie was just outside the patio door, and looked confused, and maybe unhappy.
So, here’s the the back story:
I sometimes take Tootsie for “walkies” around our part of the condo complex. I happened to meet a neighbor on Toostie’s “walkies” who saw her and said “oh, she’s been on our patio.” They also have a rescue cat, “Steve”. I’d seen Steve occasionally, and realized that Steve must have been the cat I’d seen on my patio, even before I got Tootsie. So, I told my neighbor, Steve’s human companion, that Steve had been visiting us, also.
I ran into him later, and we joked that maybe Tootsie and Steve had a “thing” going. I don’t have any further reports about Tootsie’s visits, but we haven’t been on “walkies” for a while.
Anyway, back to the present. I realized, about 20 seconds after the visitor cat ran out the patio door, and saw the look on Tootsie’s face, that the cat visitor surely was Steve. Handsome short-haired tabby.
So, this was very very ODD behavior on Tootsie’s part. Maybe they do have a “thing” going.
It is really ODD, because of the visits of the cat I call “the invader cat” is a ginger and white cat that I’m sure doesn’t live in the condo complex.
Last summer this particular cat came into my condo in the early hours of the morning, and I woke up (a lot of noise) to find Tootsie hissing at her/ him in my bedroom. After I made a wild chase to capture this cat, and that is a story itself, he/ she leaped out of the open part of the window in my bedroom (upstairs, second story) and managed to take out the window screen on the way down to the ground.
I’ve seen same cat twice since, so cat obviously survived adventure. But, the only reason I’ve seen the “invader cat” is because I heard Tootsie outside on the patio, hissing and making a fuss. Both times I rushed outside, once to see Tootsie in action hissing off the “invader cat”, and the other time to see the “invader cat” running off. Tootsie does not like the “invader cat”, obviously, and Tootsie defends her patio territory perfectly well.
So, what’s going on? I need a cat specialist to explain this to me! Bear in mind, this just happened, I mean the Steve visit.
Why does Tootsie allow Steve on the patio, and even let him come inside, whereas she ferociously hisses off the “invader cat”? Are Tootsie and Steve in love, or what?
This could be true. I agree, I think she is a gentle cat. She might feel that she needs a bit of a cat company and Steve seems like a cat she could associate with. Perhaps arrangements could be made for a supervised meeting 😉
Maybe then Tootsie feels like she was entering Steve’s territory to begin with and so it’s more about her being accepted in his space. She sounds like a very peaceful and friendy cat.
Yes all cats can spray but I understand that cats neutered at a young age don’t usually spray much or at all.
I think she likes Steve – I think the fact that he’s male means something – not sure what but technically he is her boyfriend 🙂
My reading of cat to cat friendships is that male cats spend more time and are physically closer to each other than female to female. But there is not much difference.
The difference in Tootsie’s attitude towards these two cats may simply be a choice. I don’t think females prefer males as friends etc. in the cat world unless the female is in heat 🙂 Then she wants all the boys she can get. This is pure procreation.
It seems to me that experts don’t know how cats make friends with other cats. Cats that are related will be friends. But we don’t know what motivates a cat to be friendly with another cat. We have to presume therefore that the reason is similar to ours; we just like someone else. It could be scent related and a visual thing as well.