Skipper the Changeling Cat
Skipper the Changeling Cat
By Vicki Totten
May 5, 2019
When we first brought Skipper home, it was to our 33′ sailboat in the Rockport Harbor. He only weighed about 1 1/2 pounds and was starving and full of fleas and kitty lice. But he was also grateful to have been rescued and showed that by following us around, loving on us, snuggling next to us, and pretty much being an adorable little kitty.
Fast forward two years. We shifted from the boat to a house, so he rarely goes on the boat and usually fusses about doing so. He made our lives so miserable when we tried to keep him locked in the house at night that we finally gave up and so now he roams around at night and sleeps most of the day. But the main change that I have observed in him is that he now acts more like a wild cat than a house cat. He rarely will let me pick him up, and sometimes he even snarls at me. He one time even pounced on me for no apparent reason.
Yesterday he showed up literally covered in burrs. I have no idea where he slept that night – except that it was some place that had a garden of burrs as the mattress. Honestly, it felt as though he was daring me to complain about it, since, after all it was my fault that he now had to resort to sleeping in a bed of burrs. And how is it my fault, you might ask?
My guess is that it has to do with us bringing that “other” cat to live with us in Rockport. Skipper was very happy when we were bringing him to Rockport without the “other” cat. He would rub up against us, follow us around in order to fall on his back and have us rub his tummy – go with us on walks – anything to show us what great parents we were to bring such a wonderful cat with us to this splendid waterside place – and for leaving that “other” cat where he belonged back in the city of Coyotes and big trees, and shared food bowls.
Since we have chosen this place as where we want to live – which means the place we want to live with both our cats, that means that either Skipper is going to have to adapt to having Cisco here, or else we are going to have to adapt to no longer having Skipper be our little prince. Granted, it was never a role he wore well. He is just so darn cute that he can trick people into thinking he is this adorable cat that they might want to get closer to.
I have often compared Skipper’s current age of two as being synonymous to a teenager. If that is the case, I am hoping we will be able to quickly move through those teen years and come to a better understanding of where we each stand. Of course, where I want that to be is me standing as the Mom who saved him from starvation as a baby by rescuing him, and Skipper as the grateful cat who wants nothing more than to constantly show his gratitude by seeking me out and sitting in my lap. And by wanting to always respond to my voice when he walks into a room and I call him over, as opposed to pretending as if he doesn’t hear me and doesn’t know who I am.
But then, sometimes we just have to accept reality. Sometimes the future doesn’t look like we expect it will look, but we still just have to carry on. I suppose that is where we stand. Maybe the future will bring changes to the current status. There is no way to know.
What I do know is that I miss that sweet, snuggly little kitty who wanted nothing more than to be near and to play. Wait, I am still talking about my cat Skipper and not my soon to be 31 year old son, right? Maybe I need to read up a little more about empty nest syndrone.