HOLLY

[Mike O'Hare]

Holly is a seven-year-old, black shorthaired female. I originally acquired her from a Cat Protection organisation when she was about three. Her previous owner(s) must have been crazy to give her up. The usual excuses apply: moving to where pets are not allowed; a new baby to the family, so the pet goes; owner gets a new partner who doesn’t like animals etc. Spare me please!

It’s been more than 35 years since I had a cat, but I eventually answered to the “call of the wild”. Once the desire surfaced to share my life again with a feline, it wasn’t long before Holly picked me (cats always pick us – not the other way around).

Whoever claims that cats are not loyal must have been reading the K9 weekly. Granted, dogs are very loyal and affectionate creatures (well, some of them are). However, the dedication offered to their owners can be likened to animal passive subservience. The cat has a lot more going for it.

The so-called “sly” exterior is nothing less than a calculating and reasoning behaviour. Its intelligence is confused for the predatory and selfish instincts that humans attach when they look upon this beautiful animal. The cat is superior to us in many ways. Our physical senses are no match for it and it has agility that we can only dream of possessing.

Sometimes, I will just sit and return Holly’s gaze and wonder just what is turning over in that compact little mind. She has no ego to cloud judgement, nor emotions to foul up decisions and her memories are designed proportionate to her instincts. How I envy her.

It is my firm belief that these intelligent creatures can “see” in so many different ways compared with us. How many can recollect the occasion when its attention seems to have been caught when nothing out of the ordinary has occurred? What is it attuning to or interacting with?

I often compare this with a young child who hasn’t yet had the conditioning passed on to her from her elders. Her clear sight is not fogged and so she can see beyond those barriers that we create via our intellect. The animal, particularly the cat, has this “sight” for life. One day, perhaps science will provide us with the answers.

To find out where the cat’s loyalty lies, we must look with it, beyond the physical ties that bond us. I have heard many stories of how it can seem to reach within us and manifest its reactions in the desire to protect us, thus reciprocating the love and affection we bestow.

The memories soon came flooding back on how to keep a cat amused – too late after having purchased numerous toys and then realizing how a ball of string would have sufficed. She soon cottons on to the fact that I am the manipulator of this string, so I have to retreat to another room, out of sight to carry on. She is so clever.

This fickle human who thinks too much for his own good and lets emotion rule over logical thinking, must now prepare for the day when she eats her last bowl of food. How sad is that? After all, she is still only seven years old and has a lifetime ahead of her.

By the way, I am allergic to cats, but who cares!!

[tranceman]

I love cats. One died last year, still have one though. My allergies are much better, but I miss her.