Simmie [redux]

Esther says: Late last fall, a mother cat and three kittens were found in a garden shed behind someone’s house in a rural area near Ottawa, Canada. The person who found them was able to rescue two of the kittens, a brown tabby female and an orange male, but the mother escaped with one of them. They never returned and we don’t know what became of them. The kittens were tiny, probably only a few weeks old. It was lucky that they were found because a Canadian winter was approaching and survival would have been difficult outdoors. The two kittens were placed into foster care together. Their foster mother, Kerry, brought them to work a few times, where I met them. She had already decided to adopt the female, but the orange boy was available. He was outgoing and friendly, and purred like a machine every time someone touched him or picked him up. I had always wanted an orange cat, so one thing led to another and Simmie eventually came to live with us and our two senior cats, Edgar and Miltie.

Simmie has not read the cat behaviour manual. Simmie likes to be carried and cuddled and to be worn like a scarf. He will actually get up on his hind legs and reach his front paws up your leg, asking to be picked up, like a child lifting his arms. He does this several times a day. He comes when he is called and if you meow at him, he will have a long meow “conversation” with you. He is completely obsessed with food and shrieks in a piercing, babyish voice whenever anybody eats anything or simply walks past the refrigerator. The older cats don’t know what to make of Simmie. His rough kitten play seems to upset them, but they don’t seem to mind hanging out with him when he is behaving himself. We are hoping that they will eventually get used to him and that he will quit ambushing and chasing them. Simmie is quite a character and we are glad he found us.