We Think She Thinks She's a Meerkat...

Or maybe a prairie dog.

Maggie is a very strange little cat. Well not so little anymore, but definitely a bit odd.

Cats in general are strange creatures. All of them have their little quirks. Trouble likes to steal rubber bands. My sister once had a cat who liked to suck on her earlobe. The cat I had while growing up "knocked" on the flap of the mail slot when she wanted to come in.

But thinking back on all the cats I've met (and as a 3rd generation cat lady there have been many) from dignified ladies and lazy old toms to kittens who only stayed a few hours, not one of them has been quite as strange as our Maggie.

She does the usual cat things: waking suddenly from a dead sleep and dashing across the room at top speed, stealing packing peanuts and hiding them all over the house, insisting on drinking from a dripping faucet even when there is fresh water in the water bowl. But her oddest by far is the way she reacts to strange noises. When Maggie hears a noise she doesn't like she does not run, or hiss, or arch herself up like cats are famous for. Instead, she stands up on her hind legs and freezes.

Now this is not usually a naturally tenable position for a cat. Most cats can only balance on their hind feet while unsupported for a second or two. Not Maggie. She will stay in that position for several long moments until she decides whether she needs to run or go back to her nap.

I've never seen another cat behave that way. I've only ever seen it in small plains-dwelling animals, like meerkats, or prairie dogs.

But we're going with meerkat. You should have seen the look on her face when we suggested calling her a dog. LOL.

Ms. Betty