Wednesday, May 9, 2007

Max's Mid-life Crisis

With the new addition to our family (Leo), our 3-year old cat Max is feeling the pressure to appear fun and youthful. Instead, he just looks really silly (but gets extra hugs for trying).

Max has never been a very adventurous cat. He is afraid of the vacuum, garbage bags, loud noises, forced air (breezes, fan, hairdryer, etc.), small spaces, the elevator, people with hats and in general, anything unexpected. He often enjoys forays out into 'the wild' (ie. the hallway) but boots it back to the apartment if anyone sees him or makes noises. Recently, he'd developed an irrational fear of his scratching post/penthouse and would not go anywhere near it.

Max, to put it nicely, is also not a very small cat. In fact, he is gigantic. He probably weighs a good 18lbs and he's tall enough to stand on his hind legs with his front paws on the counter. When he wants to be held, I have to sling his front half over my shoulder and cradle his bottom half with both arms.

The arrival of Leo has turned poor Max's life upside-down. He now has competition for our attention, and has concluded that to be 'top-cat' he needs to be a kitten. In the last 2 weeks I've witnessed the following completely out of character 'Max-moments':

1) He's re-asserted his ownership of his kitty-penthouse and sleeps there most afternoons.
2) He's crammed his giant cat body into a tiny play box with only one hole.
3) He's learned to climb things by chasing Leo up the rolled up carpet.
4) He's spent 10 minutes trying to squish himself underneath the sofa because he sees Leo do it. (NB. He made it halfway but then got stuck and almost couldn't drag himself out)

It's actually a wonderful change we've seen in Max; he's really starting to mellow. Leo on the other hand...

BOB points: 8

No comments: