My family’s Siberian cat, Czar Apollo Ticklevich (C.A.T.) was sleeping on top of his cat loft, peacefully humming through his dreams.  As he rolled over, he tumbled off of the structure, which promptly woke him up.  He landed clumsily on his feet, shook his body for a few moments, and then walked away as if he had intended to do that.  But we could tell that he was embarrassed.

CAT seemed to be embarrassed every time he fell off of something.  Perhaps, as a cat he felt it was his duty to be graceful.  But as he gained more and more weight, he began to have issues with his center of gravity, and would constantly fall off of the high surfaces on which he enjoyed perching.

CAT on his way to getting enormously fat.

Another important aspect of CAT’s life, other than falling off of things, is his relationship with our dog, Daffodil Ophelia Greengrass (DOG).  CAT seemed to veer between wanting DOG to raise him as her child, and hating DOG.  He has scratched DOG many times in the past, and although he usually just ignores her, there are a few times when he tries to cuddle up to her.  But he had already burned DOG with his scratching and mean behavior.  DOG wanted nothing to do with him.

CAT’s mean behavior was not only directed towards DOG.  He also had terrible night frenzies, where he would jump around my younger brother’s room, where he slept, bumping into all of the walls and scratching anyone who tried to pick him up or put him to bed.  One time, CAT’s behavior was so erratic that my brother had to leave the room and sleep in the guest room.  

But that brings me back to CAT’s cowardly behavior.  Once it was clear that people were fed up with his actions, CAT became increasingly remorseful, meowing at the door of the guest room, and eventually weeping (if you have never heard a cat weep, consider yourself lucky because it will break your heart).  CAT would cry and cry, and when it was clear my brother was not leaving the room, CAT would aggressively slam his body against the door, hoping to break it or otherwise open it.  What CAT didn’t know was that the door was locked, and for extra safety measures against this exact issue, my brother had propped a chair behind the door.