When my father died he left behind two cats, Shadow and Impy. He always had a cat around, always. A few years ago he had two cats, Puff and Creampuff, who were sisters. They died of old age within weeks of each other at the age of 22 years.
After a few weeks I noticed that he wasn’t getting another cat, and it concerned me greatly as I just couldn’t imagine my dad without cats in his life. I knew of a little stray at the park that desperately needed a home, and I thought Dad would like her. So I talked about it with him, and it turned out that he was worried that if he got another cat that he would die and it wouldn’t have a home. At that time, I promised him that I if he adopted a cat I would make sure it had a home if he died before it did.
The ice was broken, and in addition to Shadow (the tortoise shell from the park), he acquired another cat, a tabby he called Stripy.
Life in the country is difficult for indoor/outdoor cats. There are coyotes, owls, raccoons and foxes all eager to snap up a tasty fat pussy cat. Stripy disappeared one night, and Dad was very upset about it. My sister lives nearby, and she happened to have a cat that was nearly identical to Stripy, and she planted this cat on his deck early one morning.
Dad awoke to a cat calling to be let in and be given food, and went to the door and joyously greeted “Stripy”. The cat was very friendly, loving all over Dad when he picked it up, purring and generally acting very glad to be home. But inevitably, after a few minutes, Dad did notice that there were some differences between this cat and Stripy; the most noticeable one that caught his attention very quickly was the fact that this new cat was not neutered… and Stripy was.
“You aren’t Stripy!” my father exclaimed. “You are an imposter!” For a few days he referred to the new cat as “The Imposter Cat”, but very shortly this was adapted to “Impy.”
Impy has come to live with us; Shadow has a new home in the enclave of felines at my sister’s place.
This is Impy.
He weighs 12.5 pounds, is quite friendly and loves to be brushed. In the above shots he is ensconced in the back bedroom. He is quite concerned about the presence of a DOG in the house and not exactly sure about the situation. Ruby isn’t sure either, as she is quite nervous about whether this cat is mean or not, but she’d like to be friends. But only if that doesn’t mean her nose is going to get smacked.
Mallory is totally pissed off. In the shot below, she has Impy pinned down in the back bedroom. She has hissed, and put her ears back, and told him that in general she thinks that there were quite enough cats in the house when there was only one, thank you very much.
Impy is used to pissy females, as Shadow used to box him on the ears on a regular basis, and not with her claws retracted either. He is quite deferential in spite of the fact that he weighs almost exactly twice as much as Mallory does.
There is an uneasy peace as he has begun to emerge from the back and explore the house.
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In other news, my quilt is done and so is the new bed skirt. I still need to do something about the covers of the boxes that support our bedside tables. I may just get bedside tables that are tall enough and dispense with the boxes.
I think the new quilt changes the whole energy of our bedroom radically.
Impy! Beautiful puss! And the quilt is amazing!
He’s actually touched noses with Ruby now and started exploring the house a bit. Still quite reticent though. He is a handsome dude indeed.
That’s fast progress. Jack the cat and I used to live in a house with another cat. They never had a full on fight but didn’t really seem to like eachother very much but I remember that they joined forces to discourage an invading cat by sitting like a couple of sentinels staring into the back garden. It seemed to work, this strategy; I don’t remember either of them getting into fights with any other cats at that house. 🙂
love your new cat!
You seem to have a lot of furniture very close to your bed – barely room to “swing a cat” 😉
I know. I’ve been looking at that room with a jaundiced eye for some time. There is more room than it actually looks like, but the piano really cut into the available space. The trouble is, there is no good place to put it in this house that isn’t already occupied with something else. And piano placement is complicated. They should always be on an inside wall and it is best if they never have sunlight hitting them. This limits the places I can put it in this house.
I wouldn’t swing a cat anyway….;)
Love the tale of the “Stunt Double” Cat trick — and the name “Impy”. Hoping a state of detente is reached soon for all involved…
Oh, and that quilt? Stunning! Love the tall bed, too
I love that bed too. Jim built it for us in 1983 when we lived in San Francisco.
Beautiful quilt and a beautiful story. The Impostor Cat, how wonderful.
He is still very freaked out; his life has changed so radically in the past couple of weeks. But he came out from under the bed and cuddled up next to me for a while last night, and purred while I petted him.