introducing muffy...

Who is the cutest of them all?

Fr. C dared me to entitle this post 'Hello, Kitty'. I refuse to blatantly bait Felipe that way.

So...here's the new kitten (and just for the record: she was 'unplanned'). Her specialties: careening, cavorting, catapulting. Two weeks ago, she careened into the spotlight from the woods surrounding our hosts' home on the evening of the year-end choir party. Her desperate yelping was piercing and resonant even for a much much larger animal. So we batted around 'Magnificat' as the most fitting name for a feline who loudly crashes a choir party, but we already have a Maggie in the grandkitty generation. And Muffy (short for the more respectable 'Muffin') just seemed to fit her. Besides, I like that name and can always plead that she named herself, as pets are wont to do.

Those who are animal lovers/whisperers know that each and every cat is distinct in every way, from how they move to the intricacies of their psyche. The Muffinator is sweet... spicy... grateful... engaged... communicative. She's a rival for 'brains' in an already brainy pet pool at our house. A sprite who's full of reckless inquisitiveness and is fearless in almost all things...and that's where the cavorting comes in. She doesn't simply aspire to climbing onto a sleeping Mommy: oh, no, she must leap in the air and land like, well, a plump tarantula...splat!...and then scamper off to prepare for a string of similar antics. And this is just in the middle of the night. She plays more intensely (insanely?) and intentionally than any cat we've ever had. And this is a vast understatement.


Muffy:5, Camera:1

Mostly, her moves come under the category of 'aerial'. The little flying-squirrel/super-girl likes to go with arms straight out and cape flapping. Or maybe she's spidermancat. I swear, she has little suction cups on the ends of her extremities. Let's just say she uses her claws well. We're all impressed. Here you can see samples of her horizontal and vertical techniques (oh, and her championship 'waiting the dog out' act):



So, how do Lucy-the-wonder-border-collie and Bixby-the-orange-tabby-terror fit into all of this? Well, it's been quite a journey. Her relationship with Lucy looked like it was headed to a control freak circus act. But much to my surprise, the little Muffmeister - who doesn't know she's a half a percent of Lucy's size & weight, is seemingly best friends with her. What she has in her favor: needle-sharp claws and entertaining moves. She is intent on snagging Lucy's nose with the former and can still dazzle her a bit with the latter.

Bixby isn't 'allowed' to open his throat to emit a teeny growl at the new kitten (Lucy long ago herded this wild cat into a straight jacket). But after two weeks of avoiding the new kid in the living room, he reached out a paw to so some 'air-playing' in her direction.

I'm still waiting for WWIII to start, i.e., the three super animal powers to meet in a dead end hallway.

When our children were young, we had a small 'Muffy' book. I may need clarification from them, but I think she was Hello Kitty's rabbit friend. I've stumbled across a couple of short and very clever Muffy adventure blogs. If you've got the time, you may enjoy Muffy Misadventures and It Was a Dark and Stormy Night, which are mostly about Muffy looking for her missing sister, Miffy. There's even a link to a 'Carrot Toast' recipe.

This one's for you, Muffy!