...Felineasy Cat Tales...
Maggie - A Very Special Calico Cat
​
Maggie Update: Our beloved Maggie crossed the Rainbow Bridge in January 2023. For 17 years, she filled our hearts and home with love and laughter. With her distinct three colors of black, brown, and white, she will forever be remembered as our hot fudge sundae with caramel sauce! Rest in peace, Maggie.
Say hello to Attitude and a very special Calico personality. There are many tales about these multicolored feline friends. A melting together of color, "sundae cats," with predisposed genetics toward independence and ATTITUDE. Along with a genetic female tendency. Maggie was our first intro for Calico. She came to us and introduced her blue eyes and multicolored black, white, and butterscotch coat. She was fresh from a cardboard box in an alley where she was rescued in a nearby larger city.
​
Our lives changed that November when Maggie, with her raccoon like diabolical round eyes and a perpetual burst of energy, found her way from the local humane society to our home. From the outset she was an amazing, lovable addition. Like a rocket, leaping incredible distances, from sitting to springing four vertical feet straight into the air. Often without reason or provocation or any other logic. Reasons for these feline behaviors and outbursts is only known to cats. Humans have little understanding or recognition for such behavior. It’s about much of what cats do and when and why they do it. A puzzlement for human thinking. Well, she arrived on the scene and was ready to take over some new turf.
​
Diminutive from the outset, her size prevailed to adulthood, and she grew to a hefty 6 pounds of substance, with 100 pounds of unrelenting energy. Carefully, we began introducing her to her new stepsisters, a little each day, as we always do, with new arrivals. The unyielding spirit was immediately evident. There would be no Lap Cat here! Great spirit lay behind those raccoon-like eyes. There would be new household excitement with this new package.
​
It took minimal introduction before she was fully integrated with her big, 15-pound, 8-year-old step sister, and her 9-pound, 14-year-old senior step sister. Those two learned quickly that their dominance and territory would be soon diminished and shared with their new sister.
​
As things settled, all learned to share space and live together, and the big white 8-year-old, Hailey, became very maternal with the new kitten. Sleeping side by side, boxing together and running in terror when Maggie full of steroids chased her tail. Sister Hailey seemed especially happy with the new friendship. The recent loss of one of our most beloved felines had left big Hailey isolated and pining through the house looking for her old friend. She carried her mouse toys, whining, searching for her departed 20-year-old Bandit. That behavior drifted away quickly as the blur of the three colors flashed on her tail as they ran the house.
Having lived thru several kittens, we have experienced the hyper stage for kittens. But, this one reigned supreme. Figurines fell to their death, pots and pans moved from counters to floors, books pushed from shelves, anything movable off the table, towels from racks, curtains for climbing and on and on. The infamous nine lives seemed likely to burn out in the first few weeks.
​
Trapped in floor joists after navigating plumbing pipes, trapped halfway along a support beam in the basement 8' from the floor, no clue on the path to entrapment as she perched there with her eyes playful and dancing. Just no way down? And of course, all of the usual locked in closets, cabinets, dresser drawers, cardboard boxes and laundry baskets. The dominance and independence made her more precious and lovable almost instantaneously. She playfully bit at most everybody that met her initially, but her appetite for humans seems to be controlled now.
​
For a time, deciding on the tiny multicolored cat on death row seemed an obvious handfull. But as time passed and her personality prevailed, she became a beloved part of the feline household. Thirteen years later! She has settled a bit but her energy to this day remains kitten like. Random bounding from tables, couches, and chairs is a daily exercise. Her dominance is a continual excitement and always an ongoing mystery of action.
​
She is far from the cardboard carton where she started life in an alley. Thanks to a good-hearted Samaritan and a wonderful Humane Society, she lives in the lap of luxury. Plenty of free food, two terrific stepsisters. Some her escapades are on you tube video. Look at her befriending a squirrel, nesting in the Christmas tree, or persisting to climb into the vase that had so often trapped her as a kitten. Once again, the lack of pedigree, brought us another dearly loved friend.
