Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Just... you... wait...

This is Sid.
Sid just had a bath.
Sid is mad.
Mad may be an understatement.

I have made it known on many occasions that I have never really been a "cat person." I owned a cat once, for something like two hours. It was a Siamese kitten (the last to leave its mother) who howled and sought comfort in my parent's old console television. Yes, inside the television. The howl was disturbing. After finally liberating the cat from the inside of the television, I decided rather than make a two-hour drive back from their house with a howling, neurotic kitten in my car, we returned it back to its mother. Pronto. I all but vowed right then and there I'd never call myself a cat-owner again. Ever. Period.

Then I met Sid.

There is just something about this cat that makes him... well,... cool. I don't know if it's his coloring or his attitude. Who knows. Maybe it's the way he pairs up well with our dog, Buddy. (Both Buddy and Sid were pictured peacefully coexisting in yesterday's post.) If anyone has ever read the comic strip "Get Fuzzy," and you are familiar with the dynamic between Bucky Katt and Satchel, then you have the basics of Sid and Buddy's relationship. Sid is so Bucky (only without the fang), and Buddy is so Satchel. Making this connection has boosted our ever-present enjoyment of these two animals in our house. They were a bit wary of each other at first, and I can't say I'd blame Sid one bit. I mean, there he is, just minding his own business... then BOOM! There's a huge, dopey Lab following him around. They gradually warmed to each other, and even began trading food bowls -- yes, we had a dog that ate cat food and a cat that ate dog food. How cute. (Side note: the vet said it wouldn't hurt either one of them. Who knew?)

By now, Buddy and Sid have worked themselves into a groove of peace and acceptance. Sid does get in his "frisky" moods, where he plans and executes surprise attacks on unsuspecting Buddy. The attacks are quite funny, made even more adorable by the fact that Sid has no front claws, yet feverishly swats at Buddy's tail as if he's fully-armed. This sends us into fits of laughter, which probably infuriates Sid.

So, I can finally not only call myself a cat-owner, but I am quite smitten with this temperamental ball of silvery-grey fur. Like I said, there's something about him that just makes you want to like him. This theory has been all but scientifically proven by my own mother, who, to my knowledge, has NEVER liked a cat in her entire life. Within, like, five minutes, of meeting Sid, he was curled up in her lap. Purring. And she was fine with it.