Ready To Rumble
Anyone who has a short tail Manx will understand the neurotic behavior of a cat that has little or no tail. I am the fortunate owner of a beloved calico Manx, given to me by my Late Father who found her at the local shelter. This brave little being has saved our lives at least twice in her life when we’ve had gas leaks in the house, so, naturally, we would do anything in the world for her.
She’s a “Stumpy”, not show able in North America, but I enjoy all of the assets of owning a Manx despite the fact that she may be a reject in some circles. She possesses the same colorful personality and talents as any other of her breed, but her heart is huge and so full of love that often I end up defending her, as she has a big heart and generous good nature, she will rarely defend herself. My cats love it both indoors and out and when outside they generally stick around their own yard.
The other night, as we sat relaxing and watching TV, a strong series of gut-wrenching yowls resounded from outside the front of the house. So violent and guttural that they sounded not unlike the howls of your average horror flick werewolf baying at the moon. Naturally, knowing that Sweet Pea was outside, we spring for the front door, my sister first who observed our Manx, Sweet Pea, in a rather intense standoff with another cat. Having had this to happen a few times in the past she announced the fight-to-come and outside I swiftly stepped, knowing exactly what action I had taken that worked before.
In the past Sweet Pea had had several run-ins with a tabby bully and later a plain gray one. She will gladly enter a standoff, but it seems that she will not fight and so Mama came to the rescue, hopefully before blood was spilled, once again.
I made my way slowly towards Sweet Pea, stopped about a foot and a half behind and beside of her and I squared off with both of my eyes directed at the offending feline and announced with a slight hiss that I was there…a soft warning that I have learned from my cats. Sweet Pea maintained her position and so did nasty bully cat. I hissed again and Sweet Pea seconded with a repetitious hiss whereupon nasty bully cat proceed to yowl what sounded like a rather lovely song! Briefly, the musical range of this creature’s vocals charmed me, but my love of music aside; I managed to snap to my senses and resume my defensive position despite this lovely intonation. (What was the matter with me? This creature was picking on my baby girl!)
With the fact becoming clear that nasty bully cat was not going to back down easily when my sister let out a loud hiss and Sweet Pea seconded again. Of course, I followed suit; I wasn’t going to be left out of this exciting event. The offending feline looked up at me quickly and locked eyes with Sweet Pea again.
By now, my other cat, Tiger-Lily, who was up in the front window bellowing out her best guttural growl in near-constant repetition, was getting louder and so once again, we began our “group hiss” several times in succession as I stomped one foot in nasty bully cat’s direction, she looked up at me and back at Sweet Pea and flew off of the porch into the driveway where Sweet Pea, now appearing at her bravest, followed until nasty bully darted under the car and stayed hidden. Wow! How powerful we all were! There’s nothing quite like the family that defends it’s feline together.
I called to Sweet Pea; she looked around at me and sauntered towards the porch like some great jungle cat with muscles flexed and bulging after a raw battle, back up onto the porch. Suddenly she had found her own little brave hero inside, (with her family’s help). She came to me for a nice head rub and then proceeded to march back and forth in front of the door way several times as if to say, “…and don’t you dare ever show your face on my property again!”
Copyright, 2019, M.L. Kiser
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