Victoria has been living with me for a little while now and it has been really great, but she was not alone moving in with me, she had an awesome little bundle of fur, her cat Audrey. Victoria got Audrey a couple of months after we started dating, so I have known her for a long time, but I was worried about how she would cope moving into my house and also, how would I be with her. Here are a few things I have noticed.
They are the biggest attention seekers in the world
I have always had dogs in the family home as my family were very much a dog family. We live in between a busy main road and a railway line and then a motorway, so we were worried about having a cat and letting it out and getting hurt via the road. If we lived in a quiet area, maybe we would consider it, but alas no cats for us.
So, by having a dog we were accustomed to their attention-seeking, for pets, cuddles and playing. I had this idea that cats were the exact opposite, it is that old stereotype I guess, expecting the cat not to care about people and just ignore us. But with Audrey, she is as affectionate and attention-seeking as they come. I really didn’t expect it from her and it is nice, she just dander’s around the house and suddenly she is on top of the TV wanting attention from Victoria and me.
This level of attention-seeking has gotten to the point where she jumps onto the TV, waits for us to get up to shoo her from it. Then jumps into her foldable tunnel and waits. I mean she is literally waiting, for me to pinch the tunnel at both ends and make it into a hammock as I gently swing it so she can play a little. This only happened because one time she ran to hide as she had done something wrong and when I decided to grab the tunnel this way she realised she loved it and wouldn’t come out!
When they are hungry they really let you know about it
As soon as that little ball of madness realises Victoria and I are awake, her meows start, she must be waiting to hear the bed move or something, one movement after 6am and she will meow the hungriest of meows. When I go downstairs she will follow me and do that cat thing where they rub and weave between your legs when you are trying to walk… Not good Audrey! I am walking to get you your food and you are so excited that you are almost tripping me up… Come on girly! Anyway, she then follows me ALL the way to where her food is, to the point where I really believe she thinks Victoria and I have forgotten and she has to remind us every morning and evening.
The trip attempts continue until the food is in her bowl and she eats like the gremlins having a midnight snack… Just this week, in fact, I came home from work and went straight to the bathroom. The disgruntled whines of Audrey as she was expecting me as I usually do, to come in give her all the attention and a little treat for guarding the house so well before settling. No, the monster that is me went up to the bathroom and you could have thought she was being murdered, by the sounds of her. I do wonder if my neighbours can hear her… Hopefully, they do not think anything untoward is happening…
The fur, oh God the fur
As mentioned, my family have always owned a dog and we were pretty picky with the breed, we chose two dogs that did not malt much at all. So you can imagine the headache I have had to go through with owning a cat and seeing everything get a bit of fur on it.
I also thought I was doing a decent job on the grooming front, but apparently not as no amount of brushing young Audrey will stop the fur. I now get why people get the cats with no hairs…
I have invested in lint rollers and honestly, they are a great saviour to me as I am able to just roll away the clothes furniture etc. If anything I have to thank Audrey as I probably wouldn’t be trying to be as on the ball as I am with the housework if it wasn’t for her little bits of fur going everywhere.
The worst part of grooming a cat is that I think they love the brush, or Audrey certainly does at least. Nonstop purring and rolling about as she is loving it. She is a weird little thing…
No TV is safe and neither is the cat
As mentioned, Audrey tries to grab our attention by jumping on the TV, now I need to preface this by saying that I just bought a new big ole TV that is rather slim. So naturally, I assumed that because Victoria’s TV was thicker that Audrey would only go to on that one as she knew she could. Nope. I could get the thinnest of TV’s in the world and this idiot would still find a way to balance on top of it, well for a few seconds.
You see dear reader, Audrey is the clumsiest cat I have ever seen. She falls constantly, gets stuck on top of doors, makes the door swing and close almost onto herself and rather expertly, she cannot judge a jump to save herself. Many times I have watched this cat get excited and pounce onto the TV only to misjudge the jump so spectacularly that she clips the TV and falls over the top of it making all the noise in the world as she reaches the floor.
I have also seen her eyes bulge and panic as she slips off said TV and is clinging onto the top of it as if she is Mustafa in the Lion King and an invisible Scar is about to throw her off the heavy heights of the television. To be fair that little panicked face is always priceless.
I have noticed far more things, but maybe that is just cat-specific and I have used up enough of your time as it is. Do you have a cat? Time to share some stories! Until next time.
Scott H Gilliland 
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