Mollinsky

Not having a cat in the house makes the space feel empty. But even worse is a cat that has lived with you for many years and abruptly, out of the blue, comes to the end of their physical existence. In this life, I’ve seen and buried more cats than I would care to remember.

The domestic cat is a wonder. If you’re lucky enough to have an intelligent feline, empathic and thoughtful, loving you above all others, can be a true gift though a doubled edged sword. The domestic cat is a tremendously jealous being. Domestic cats are the quintessential souls of Envy.

Moving away from sentimentality, a house of three grown felines, the pecking order is quickly established, once a new member arriving to the Pride enters, the rules are made known instantly.

However, once a leader of the house dies suddenly, particularly in a home of two, the one left behind will move through a mourning period. The family decides to find a replacement, usually a baby, a kitten.

The old cat will behave in a variety of ways. Responses: ignore, bully, harass or nurture.

In George’s case, because of his gentle nature, because he missed his mentor so much, he needed to nurture to fill the empty space of the loss of Titimone. Thus he made the effort to become the mentor of this little bundle of hysterical fur. Molly is a female, the genetic hunter for the pride, so George was getting himself into something way above his experience.

Molly is not your usual kitten, she is the runt, and would have died if we didn’t spend a vast amount of cash to save her life. Molly, for a variety of so-called psychological reasons, has major attitude about everything and anyone. She was born to NOT take crap from anyone, whether human, vegetable or mineral.

Only after a week did she start her “kitty politics” to remove the old one from his thrown.

Molly’s first action of insurrection was to pee around George’s food bowl!

I had never ever seen anything like it in the cat world. Molly was hell-bent, at seven months old, to rule the roost; move George out of the kingdom.

It was at that point that I realized that Molly wanted the central focus. We knew she was a teenager, but peeing on the Master’s water bowl is and always will be, unacceptable.

My wife at the time, once observing the terrible act, went ballistic.

Poor Molly: she reacted to my wife’s tirade in the exact same way that I do…run for the hills.

After a month or two later, Molly began to settle, her and old George came to some kind of agreement, and became friends. I became aware of this change when seeing George cleaning her head…comfortable, accepting and very much together.

Felines are one of the most jealous beings on the planet.

For years George would sit at the front porch and wait for me to come home from work. He would wait until I got out of the car and walk up the steps, and roll on his back, to ensure he got his daily tummy rub.

Eventually Molly joined George with his daily evening greeting after work. Both sitting regally on the front porch awaiting my return, turning on their backs demanding a tummy rub. Of course, both cats received the obligatory tummy rub.

Cats are a true wonder.