A Very Unique Cat

Our family has a cat, actually four, who each have their own unique way of interacting with the world. Tucker Tabby, our big orange cat is quite comical, but also quite the empath. Whenever I sneeze, he blesses me by meowing until I stop. We think this is a type of blessing because these are long meows and when I stop sneezing then he gives a satisfied short meow. At first we just thought this was a coincidence. He has done it enough times to rule that out. If anybody in the family is sick or upset for any reason, he will sit right next to them or right behind them with one paw on their shoulder or head! This is one big affable lion in a cat's body.

As I said, we have four cats and Tucker is by far the most unique. Tucker will tuck himself into quilts or blankets. He does this by going under the blanket, then swirling around so the blankets and quilts are surrounding him, then sticks just his head out. Other times I will find him all tucked in under the couch cover or under a table with just his tail sticking out. Did he forget to hide his tail or did he just want to get away from it all? I think when he leaves just his tail out, it's his way of letting us know that he's around, but doesn't want to be bothered at the moment.

He is the creative cat because I catch him sleeping on his back in a kind of corkscrew position with his upper body pointed in one direction and lower body going in the other direction. As he dreams away the day, I am always prompted to ask him if the world looks better upside down. Maybe this is why he can connect with human feelings. He looks at things from many different angles. Do cats have ESP? This one sure does. If you even think about turning the stereo on, before you do this he is in the room right by your side waiting expectantly.

Grooming this cat is a whole other adventure. All I can say is he goes from affable to scary in one moment. All I need to do is get out the nail clippers and he is gone like the wind. I've gotten this down to a science. I clip his nails as efficiently as I can and laugh at the growling and make sure somebody else is holding him.

Tucker figures puzzles out. We have a stereo and he could be in the basement and he'll hear the swish of the cd player opening and he'll come flying into the room to make sure he can watch the cd player open and close. Any day now he's going to figure out which button opens it. The cd player is on the second floor of the house. After he inspects the cd player he will then jump right onto the soft quilts on the bed and go right to sleep but this time with a little jazz music. He really responds to music. He looks like he's smiling while he's sleeping. He also understands how the Keurig Coffee Maker works. He has figured out that as soon as I place the water in the coffee maker and the top clicks open it's coffee time, which means a treat of half and half! Suddenly the cats emerge out of nowhere, expectantly waiting for their cream. SRCs (spoiled rotten cats)!

Tucker very rarely runs, but when he does, he kind of looks like a bunny rabbit on steroids. One time, he was chasing a rolled up piece of tinfoil and he ran so fast he actually did a somersault. That's the first time and last time I ever saw a cat do that. The big orange round cat turned himself into a furry round ball. One of his many monikers is Tucker the Great Hunter because he will hunt anything. Watching snowflakes drift down on a snowy day is another one of his amusements. Sometimes he is content to just watch them gently float down and other times he tries to catch them as they come down. I often wonder what is going through that feline brain of his.

Most cats are blessed with excellent hearing. His is exceptional. His ears move around his head like radar. Hence, his ability to hear the coffee maker open while he's all the way upstairs or to hear the cd player open when he is in the basement.

Did you ever see a cat flop his two front legs down (not just his paws) at the same time while launching himself along the carpet? Sometimes when he is feeling lazy which is more often than not, this is the way he chases a toy. Opening the closet door in the bedroom always brings Tucker running. He insists on dashing in there and playing hide and seek. This is always in the morning when I'm in a rush, so many times closet doors are left askew in our house. Closets are his secret hiding places.

Always the gentle giant, he will stop in the middle of this game if you so much a sniffle. His other name is Beautiful Boy because he has a beautiful soul. He just wants everybody to be happy and being the clown and blessing us whenever we sneeze or sniffle is his way of making our lives happy.

Tucker is a contortionist. He is also known as "Yogini" or "Liquid Cat" because he can drape himself over things in the strangest ways. Sometimes he'll actually sit like a person on the couch. He'll run after a ball on the floor and then tumble into a somersault. He will sit on the arm of our big brown chair with his two front paws on the cushion and his hind feet on the arm. He's so long legged that he looks completely comfortable, not as if he's going to tip over. He will seek out a person to sit next to and always put one paw near them or on them. He sleeps with his arms stretched above his head and his legs stretched out as far as they will go and will stay in this position for hours. A student of yoga could learn a lot from the Tucker Tabby School of Yoga. Amen to the goofy cats of the world.