When she came to live with us five years ago, Miss Lyra was a frightened little cat. As I’ve noted before, she has long since overcome most of her fears, and is now the most affection-seeking cat in the known world. My known world, anyway. Not only does she actively seek out the attentions of her two people, she now considers visitors to our home to be perfectly acceptable petting providers.
Any visitors, that is, who are over 4 feet tall. She’s not so sure about the shorter ones.
Our nephews Max and Reed, their mother and their grandparents are in Seattle for what’s known around here as Boy Days. When they all arrived at our house yesterday, Sergei and Sasha raced up the stairs to hide under our bed. Brave Miss Lyra stayed downstairs.
Max and Reed live with dogs. They spend little time with cats. Therefore, they are fascinated by cats. When they see cats, they want to pet cats. They know that Aunt Kimberly and Uncle Paul live with cats, so they arrive at our house ready to see our cats. (Interestingly, three-year-old Reed told someone recently that his Aunt Kimberly and Uncle Paul have 15 million cats. Fifteen million?!? Can you imagine the fur?)
What little experience Miss Lyra has had with boys has been with these two boys, each of the past two summers. Each year, the boys have tried to pet her, and have been a little clumsy in the attempt. Each year, both boys have been scratched, not because Lyra is mean, but because she was scared, or had had enough, and the boys didn’t know how to read her body language. When handled roughly, or backed into a corner, Lyra has batted at the outstretched little hand, then run upstairs to join Sasha and Sergei under the bed.
Yesterday, Max and Reed were once again drawn by Lyra’s lovely feline form. When Max got a little too close, or rubbed her a bit the wrong way, Miss Lyra batted at him… and stayed around. When Reed crowded in on her, she swiped a paw at him… and didn’t run. And eventually, as she became accustomed to their being around, Lyra even greeted Max and Reed’s approach by rubbing her face against her front paws — her way of requesting petting. For a few moments, Max stroked her back gently… and then he rubbed her ears a little too roughly, and she swatted at his little hand, and he backed off. And so it will continue, I’m sure, each time that Max and Reed are at our house: Miss Lyra will gradually teach those boys how to pet a cat.
You can see lots of other animals (who may or may not want to be petted!) aboard the Friday Ark. Please pet all the cats at Weekend Cat Blogging, hosted by Sher and Upsie at What Did You Eat?
{ 11 comments… read them below or add one }
Hundred of cats, thousands of cats, millions, billions, and trillions of cats! That was a favorite book of mine, my sons, and my grandsons.
Awww such a sweet story!
Lyra is a very clever catlady and the boys are lucky to have such a lovely teacher
purrrs Kashim & Othello
Oh, so you’re the couple in Washington with millions of cats. . . ; )
Ah, Miss Lyra is so beautiful. She looks like a beloved cat of mine when I was was much younger. Gorgeous picture, as always!
I bet they will be perfect cat petters one day too
And no I cannot and do not want to imagine the fur that would come with 15 million cats!
Miss Lyra looks beautiful! A gorgeous kitty!
Miss Lyra is furry patient. Sticky Little People (as Psychokitty Max calls them) need a lot of trainin to be good wif kitties. Bonnie has taught our boy good reflexes (avoidin her whaps and bites) an I’s teachin him how to snuggle a cat.
That was such a lovely post about Lyra teaching the boys how to pet a cat. It really made me smile!
Lyra is so elegant- but then I have a thing for gray cats. Before Sophie, we had Velcro- a handsome silver gray feline. The British professor who lived next door and shared his morning tea cream with him each day once said: When others take liberities, Velcro takes swipes. I’m glad Lyra is warming up to a variety of humans, great and small.
I’m still planning to see you soon, face to face! Let’s e-mail…
Elegant or otherwise…. I was thinking it would be wonderful if someone could break out the RIBBONS for the cats, so we could see some wildness, some rolling, and some fangs!
Fantastic face! What a sweetheart. Thanks for showing us. Snuggle for me!
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