Stares of doom and cats on a hot tin roof

 

In the early morning, I go into Yoyo’s bedroom to take him downstairs for breakfast.

Yes, this cat has his own bedroom, a smallish area that I’ve blocked off with screening. A few years ago, his brain told him that his mission in life was to eliminate every other cat living in the house, and no matter what I did - play with him, groom him, have him examined for health problems by my vet - he continued to attack any cat he saw.

Over the years, he’s slowly improved, and just the other day, I began thinking about not putting him in his bedroom anymore.

This morning, though, as soon as he goes downstairs, he attacks my white lady Mekhala. When I pull him away, he goes after the kitten Manohra, and when she escapes, he attacks Wan-Wan, my poodle pup.

The dog is completely surprised. Yoyo has always been her playmate, and she doesn’t recognise this animal who wants to rip her apart.

Before I can catch him, he’s upstairs, attacking one-eyed Angel.

The boy needs some chill-out time, and I put him in the first-floor cage, where he stares at me unhappily but without remorse.

Am I disappointed! He’d been doing so well until now.

To be fair, sometimes Mekhala deliberately annoys Yoyo. She approaches him, giving him the Stare of Doom. Her tail swishes back and forth aggressively. No cat, certainly not a neutered male like Yoyo, could ignore this invitation to combat.

Even Wan the pup recognises what’s going to happen. If Mekhala and Yoyo are beginning their fight where I can’t see them, the dog calls me, as in: “Something bad’s going to happen!”

Slowly Wan is learning cat language. On one of the small sois where we take our daily walks, a woman has “rescued” some beautiful cats. I put “rescued” in quotes because she rescues only beautiful cats - a three-coloured lady with a long-haired tail (one of her parents must have been a farang).

Another cat is a Burmese, with its elegant brown; another, a Korat, with shimmering grey fur and green eyes. She also has a “khao manee”, a white cat with blue eyes who could be related to Mekhala.

She allows the cats out for an hour or two when Wan and I take our walks, and there we see them enjoying the afternoon sun.

Most of these cats aren’t happy to see Wan, even if she is smaller than they are. The white beauty, however, isn’t afraid at all. She begins walking slowly towards Wan.

At first, the dog thinks that the white beauty wants to play. The cat, though, has issued the Stare of Doom.

Wan knows what that means. She backs away. The cat, still staring, advances. Wan backs away again.

She’s not stupid. From playing with Mekhala, she’s learned what a cat can do to a small dog. She decides to continue our walk unwounded, and a bit more careful than she was a moment ago.

The next morning, when I go up to Yoyo’s bedroom, he’s looking out his window. On his face is a Stare of Doom. I look out too, where I see a cat family, mama and her kittens, sleeping together on the neighbour’s roof under Yoyo’s window.

No wonder he’s been so aggressive lately. Unable to chase the strangers from his territory, he’s displaced his anger, going after other cats in his frustration.

I’ll wait awhile. It’s too hot for the cat family to stay long on the tin roof, and when they’re gone, perhaps Yoyo won’t be so aggressive.