Morticia

This week, I want to round out my series of blog entries about my cats by featuring our middle child (both in age and in terms of when we adopted her): Morticia. Morticia (or Tish) joined our family in August of 2014. Unlike Rumplestilskin or Gizmo, Morticia tends not to do the sorts of cute things that make for cute pictures. She’s playful, but not in the same ways that the boys are. She’s also a bit difficult to get good photos of, because of her coloring. So my options for this entry were a bit limited. But don’t let the relative lack of photos of her at play give the sense that we love her any less.

On my lap

Several months after we adopted Rumplestilskin, it had become clear to us that he was not going to be the same sort of lap cat that our late baby, Penelope, had been. My wife was disappointed, because she missed Penelope sitting on her lap or shoulders or head while she worked or watched TV. We loved (and love) Rumplestilskin, but missed those more overt displays of affection. So, in August of 2014, we headed back to the shelter to find Rumplestilskin (and us) a companion.

A little round around the middle, but that didn't matter

After visiting several of the shelter’s rooms, we sat down in the last one to see who came to visit us. A frankly pudgy black cat with bad breath immediately came over and curled up in Lura’s lap. After a few minutes, she got up and came over and sat with me. A couple of other candidates were also vying for our attention, but in fairly short order, this 2-year-old—named Morticia, according to the shelter worker, pronounced “Mor-tee-see-ah”—had won our heart. We kept the name, but pronounce it like on the Addams Family.

As we were filling out the adoption paperwork, we were told that she loves eating food, especially people food. We didn’t say anything, but silently cursed the shelter for getting her used to eating human food. That’s a habit that has stuck for her. She joins us on the dining room table and tries to take food off our plates. Part of the reason that I don’t have cute videos of her playing is that, basically, her antics involve trying to steal food, and I can’t take videos of that, because I’m too busy trying to stop her.

Seriously, when it comes to food, Morticia is the worst. One time, she ripped open a bag of bagels to steal a bagel. She stole a hot dog bun off the kitchen counter. Once, when I wasn’t looking (because I was distracted by another cat) she grabbed the top part of my hamburger bun, plus whatever fixings were stuck to it, and ran away with it. My favorite food-stealing memory of her is the time I was rinsing one of a pair a New York strip steaks we had purchased, only to turn around to see her standing with the second steak in her mouth, ready to run away with it.

From the early days, when we were getting them used to eating around each other

For the first few weeks, Morticia was kept isolated in my messy room

As you can see from the photos of her early days with us, she’s a bit tubby around the middle. However, after almost four years with us, she’s slimmed down quite a bit. We spoil our kitties, and nobody is starving, but she’s a lot closer to her ideal weight. She’s probably lost about four pounds, which is a quarter of her weight. 

When we first introduced her to Rumplestilskin, it was a bit of a rough transition. As detailed in my post about him, we don’t think Rumplestilskin ever really learned how to communicate with other cats. And even though Morticia is three years younger than him, she isn’t as playful as he is. Often, he’ll want to play with her, and she won’t want to play. And he won’t get that, and she’ll end up hissing, or they’ll end up fighting. 

Sometimes, though, it’s Morticia that starts trouble. She’ll come up to Rumple, who isn’t doing anything or interacting with her, and just bop him on the nose. Or she’ll stick her nose so far up his fluffy butt that her head disappears. Then he’ll turn around to play with her, and she’ll hiss or smack him. I don’t know what goes through her little cat head, but sometimes I think she’s as guilty of sending mixed signals as Rumplestilskin is of not understanding. (And, honestly, sometimes Rumplestilskin can just be a jerk when he attacks her.)

A rare moment of peace

Sometimes I think Morticia is the most enigmatic of our three cats. If one of us is sitting on the couch reading, she’s the one who will come and sit on our laps. (If it’s one of us, she’ll sit on the available lap. If it’s both of us, she’ll sit on my wife’s lap, and maybe Rumplestilskin will sit on my chest. Gizmo never sits with us on the couch, but he’s the one most likely to sleep with us in bed through the night.) Otherwise, she’s pretty aloof… unless there’s food present. She’s also the one who acts least interested in playing, unless we’re playing with one of the boys. If we are, she’ll swoop in and try to snag whatever toy we’re playing with.

On my lap, daring me to move her or get up

At the end of the day, though, she’s no weirder than either of our other cats. And she’s no less loving. (Towards us, anyway; we often get the sense that she’d be okay if she were the only cat in the house.) I think her life has gotten a little easier since we adopted Gizmo; Rumplestilskin can play with Giz, and Tish can find some space to herself. 

I don’t know how true it actually is, but the perception is that people are less likely to adopt black cats for superstitious reasons. If that’s the case, that’s completely ridiculous. We didn’t adopt Morticia because of or in spite of her color; we adopted her because she chose us that day. And every day that she is with us, I’m happy that she did.