Love, Jimmie

I have a brand new cat I want to share with you! This sounds weird, but his name is Seamus and I’ve had him about eight years.

Doing his best to sit on my lap

If you’ll remember, Seamus was the cat who hid under my bed for four years. He got stuck behind the refrigerator for a day or two when we were new to each other, because he was so wary of me.  Didn’t even warm up to me when I rescued him from behind there and gave him treats.  He eventually slept on the bed as long as Murphy was there and once he accidentally took a nap on me but upon waking, realized his error and scampered in horror very quickly away.  He did have some warm fuzzy moments with Woney, that heifer, a few years ago which really ticked me off because I have put in the work and the effort with that cat.  For the last few years he has tolerated me and even liked me a little from a distance.  I could pet him but we shared no warm fuzzy moments unless I turned on the sink for him or gave him canned peas.

For the first month after Murphy and I went to the vet and I came home alone, Seamus was a mess. A total mess.  He wandered the house meowing forcefully at all hours of the night and it just broke my heart.  He kept calling for Murphy and when Murphy didn’t answer, Seamus would jump on the bed and sniff for him.  He’d roam then sleep in the dark curled up on one of my pillows I’d stuffed in my closet and then would roam some more.  I think his appetite suffered, too, but it’s hard to tell when you go from two cats to one.   The food bowl always looked full.

After a few weeks in a fit of discontent and anger, I guess, Seamus wallered onto my pillow and tried to snuggle me. I think he was just looking for something to annoy, something like Murphy who Seamus used to annoy all the time, and I was the only live being in the house.  When cats snuggle humans it’s sweet and soft and kind of lazy, but when cats snuggle other cats it’s more forceful and annoying and involves a lot of scenting things by ramming their faces into hard objects, walls, corners, and books.  I do believe it also involves rubbing those giant fang teeth into soft smushy parts like faces and bodies.  Seamus did all of that to my face and my hands thinking I was a cat (and to be fair, there’s still a fine coating of Murphy fur everywhere) and then contented himself by selecting a wad of my hair with his paw and chewing on it.  Like bubble gum. Smacking and everything.  After a good half hour of that, he climbed onto my chest so he could have better access to my face and began rubbing his gigantic whiskers on my cheeks.  I could barely breathe but I let him stay and after many, many minutes, he put his paw around my neck and went to sleep.  We now do this every night and while it shouldn’t, it sometimes annoys me.

See, in the middle of the night I wake up to a cat purring in my ear. It sounds so sweet because who doesn’t like a cat who purrs?  It’s just that Seamus purrs like a Bengal tiger.  It’s huge.  It’s loud.  It’s forceful because the purring is usually is accompanied by a wet nose in my ear, claws in my hair and chest rumbles at a volume I’m fairly certain my neighbor can hear. This part I love – nearly every morning I wake up with a cat at least partly on my hip.  He’s taken naps with me, where he’ll stuff himself into the crook of my arm and rest his head on my bicep then sleep so hard he snores.  He comes running, his big fluffy tummy swaying, every night when I unlock the door.  I’ve never had a cat greet me with such exuberance nor heard a cat purr as much as Seamus, not ever in my life. If I’m home, then he’s no more than two feet from me at any given time.  I guess I will never pee alone again but I am used to that because I never peed alone with Murphy either.

I, of course, like to think it’s me Seamus is excited about. Murphy was a natural cat bonder who bonded not just with me but with Luke, with Sandi, with the neighbors down the road, with Pee-Tah, with Freddie.  Etc.  With Seamus, I really feel like he likes ME, and I don’t really want to hear any different, despite any evidence there is to the contrary, thanks.  I don’t want to hear that I’m his Murphy substitute or that he’s just looking for something to cuddle because it’s his innate instinct to smother live beings with affection and teeth scraping.

So this is my new cat. What do you think? Should I keep him?

On my stomach

On my chest

On my side of the bed

On my hip

On my arm

One more on my stomach