Greetings everyone. I'm sorry if this is a bit off-topic, but it's
about a cat
rather than a bubbel :-)

Angelmaine Pericles, Red Tabby Maine Coon of the parish of Stoke
Climsland in Cornwall, UK, celebrates his 6th birthday today. His
festive lunch of a huge quantity of Cod having been demolished, he's
busy sleeping off the swollen tummy, so I thought I'd commemorate the
day with an anecdote.

His under-fur is dreadfully prone to matting, in little knots close to
the skin, so they're difficult to remove with electric trimmers
without leaving him quite bald in patches, which means that they have
to be combed out. He's something of a wimp when it comes to a bit of
pain so this has to be done where he can't run away and hide under
immovable furniture. This means the bathroom or utility room, the
latter on this occasion.

As he's normally tolerant of the first two tugs I try and get it over
with fast, but this time one particular knot was difficult. In the
past he always hiss-spits a warning and then goes for my offending
hand if I have another go, when he grabs the hand with his teeth but
doesn't bite down (bless him). But this time he hissed, then reached
up with one hefty front paw and biffed me over the head, exactly like
he does to Snowball the hoolikitten when S gets "in his face" - this
occurs daily.

From complete instinct the offended me (after all I'm his mother
substitute not the hoolikitten) hisses back at him and cuffs him
(gently but firmly) over the head right back, then holds him firmly by
the scruff to complete the job, accomplished with no more hisses from
him.

I thought he'd be highly upset and ignore me for days, but not a bit
of it. Ever since, and it's been nearly a month, he's been seeking me
out daily, more than ever before, to invite a caress, scritch and
stroke, and has even settled down in my lap several times.  Brushing
sessions, sometimes the precursor to the evil combing, are now enjoyed
rather than uneasily tolerated. So we're closer than ever.

I guess the re-establishment of the natural order of things, where I
re-asserted my role as parent in a way he clearly understood, turned
out rather well.

Purrs to all

Gordon & the TT

No new pics just yet, but several recent ones of Pericles are in the
"Owners Past & Present" album here:
http://community.webshots.com/user/exocat