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I found Bobcat on Craigslist
He cost $0.00.
For the first 24 hours he was like "Hey! Who are you? Where is
that nice lady who let me sit on her shoulder like a parrot?"
even though Bobcat didn't know what a parrot was.
The next 24 hours he was like "Oh, so you're the new human? OK!"
From day one Bobcat was calm, friendly, and amazingly
intelligent. Within a week he had the run of the house, and could
play outside on the farm.
He is the most remarkable cat I've ever had.
Thankfully he is compatible with the two girls. Raccoony is already
playing "ambush I tackle you" with him. When Dustball raises
her striking paw he drops on his back in submission, she relaxes.
Bobcat knows his name and comes to me when I call it.
He has already learned the 2 most important of all cat commands:
"Watch out!" which means Verne is moving look out for his feet,
and "Ssssttt!" which means do not step on the keyboard while
I'm typing. |
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Wise cat teachers
Someone had to watch over the kitten, to protect it from hawks
or evil spirits.
Dustball, age 3 and Raccoony, age 1 were Bobcat's teachers. They
looked over him. They stood guard as he ran around the compost pile,
sprinted through the greenhouses.
Dustball had raised two kittens before Bobcat. But Raccoony had
always been the youngest cat. She'd never seen a kitten before! |
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Everything tasted good!
Bobcat liked Verne's cooking. Eggs were good. So was roast
chicken.
...and Mexican food, too. |
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Yummy chicken burrito! |
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"Hey little buddy. You're doing a great job of learning to be a
farm cat. I think the girls like you." |
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Bobcat looked like a bobcat. |
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What's a kitten?!
As the youngest cat Raccoony had never raised a kitten. She didn't
understand that big cats came from kittens. Now she was
learning to be a teacher, a friend to a new member of the pack.
It challenged her, brought out the best in her. |
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Dustball had raised Cougar, Raccoony and now had Bobcat
as her kitten charge.
It was easy to tell right away that Bobcat was respectful. She
liked that. Dustball quickly warmed up to this new kid on the
farm. |
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Raccoony taught Bobcat about catnip
The key thing was to lay down near the cage where it grew while
Verne was doing farm chores. That made him pick a handful to drop
for the eager cats.
"Meow-chew-it!" instructed the older cat. Bobcat liked the
enticing smell of catnip that soon transported him to cat bliss.
Raccoony found Bobcat to be the playmate she needed. As the next to
last kitten she'd never had a younger cat pal. Soon these two were
chasing each other or staging "cat ambush".
They wrestled. Raccoony held Bobcat down with a gentle throat hold
to teach him how cats kill. Bobcat enjoyed sparring with big,
powerful but ultimately benevolent Raccoony.
When Verne saw her training Bobcat, letting him lick her--he'd call
out "Good girl, Raccoony!" That made her feel proud to be an
important cat teacher for the cat pack. |
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Bobcat told Verne a joke about Raccoony. |
