I’m a cat lady and I’m not afraid to own it. Since I was 4 years old I have always had a cat, or two… or three in my life, but never my very own kitty, until a few months ago that is.
My family’s eldest cat, Tina, passed away last summer and my Mom was looking to adopt a new fur ball. She adopted Kasper, our first male kitty, in the fall. Soon after, my mom couldn’t resist an ad she saw posted for Narni, a 6-month-old girl cat, with double paws who was looking for a loving new home. So, without hesitation, she went for it, and Narni became part of the family. However, Narni did not get along with our eldest cat Tupac. Side note - My brother named Tupac in his want-to-be-rapper stage, after he requested a gray kitten, at the age of 16, and my mom couldn’t resist indulging his request. Tupac turned out to be a she and subsequently took on the nickname of Sue.
My boyfriend and I went to visit Narni and instantly fell in love with her big green eyes, XL paws, and loving personality. We convinced my mom to let us take her to our apartment in Cambridge. She was quick to agree because of how much turmoil Narni had been causing with the other cats.
And so we brought Narni to her new home, without notifying our landlord. You see, cats are allowed in our building but you’re supposed to let the rental company know so that they can jack up the rent by $50. We figured what they don’t know won’t kill them, right? Narni is a secret kitty but she has made our apartment a home.
For the first couple of weeks she remained the cool, calm cat we knew her as. She sleeps every night curled up against my back and absolutely loves belly-rubs. Her double-paws make it so she essentially has opposable thumbs, making her an expert climber. She loves hiding in high places and exploring tight spaces. One of her first days here she managed to make her way up our fireplace. I was observing her sniff around the candles at the bottom of the old fireplace, no longer in use. All of a sudden she seemed to disappear into thin air. She managed to scale the brick walls to the point where she got stuck up inside the chute. I thought I was going to have to call the fire department to get her out. But luckily after a bit of coaxing she scampered her way down. Covered in soot, black paw-prints soon covered her trail from the fireplace to the bathroom where she remained hidden. Once my boyfriend returned home from class, his engineer-savvy mind built a blockade to deter any further fireplace explorations.
The cheeky antics did not stop there. She insists on waking us up every morning between 7-8 by incessantly scratching the bottom of our mattress and meowing extra loud. Sometimes she’ll even sit next to me meowing and pawing at my face until I am forced to leave the comfort of my bed. She’s also a bit of a jewel thief. She steals my jewelry off my dresser and brings it to inconspicuous places. I’ve resorted to hiding my jewelry in the closet, safe from the little thief.
Most recently she’s become a bit more destructive. We had a beautiful Ikea mirror leaning against the wall of our bedroom, which recently was pushed over by Miss Narni. The following day the mirror resting on our mantel was knocked over as well. Does this mean 7 years of bad luck for kitty? I sure hope not! Maybe she thought we were just too vane, or found her reflection too tantalizing.
Regardless of her unpredictable behavior we still love her unconditionally. Those adorable doe-eyes make it hard to stay mad at her for very long, or even at all. This morning I decided to take a trip to the pet store to search for something for kitty to put her stored up energy into that wouldn’t destroy our apartment in the process. I brought home a new toy, which she has yet to stop playing with, and a new scratching post equipped with catnip. So far it seems like these outlets might do the trick and we have plans to replace the fallen mirrors at Ikea this afternoon.
Needless to say, I now realize why rent increases with the liability of housing a cat. Hopefully she will start to settle down, but for now her calamitous behavior keeps us on our toes and Narni in full use of those paws.
