Quick Cat Post: Burr Is a Special Tomcat

Call it a belated Tortie Tuesday post...or an early Tuxie Thursday post, in honor of Loulou the lovely Tuxie:

https://www.livingwithloulou.com/good-apples/

I think I figured out the words to the little morning song with which Burr woke me this morning. (Burr is more white than black, but he almost qualifies as a Tuxie.) I think they must have been,

Good morning to you, and how do you do,
Get up, it's five-thirty, you lazy thing you.
Dawn's a fine time to play! You can nap in the day!
Never knew why you humans mix up times that way.
Well we're all hungry now, so bring out some chow,
To get home before you go into town is my vow.
I will not stay to eat what you set at your feet;
My other family worry if they don't see me eat.
Feed my daughter, OK? Then I'll be on my way,
And if you're still sleepy, you can sleep the whole day.

Humans would sing these words to the old kindergarten classic, "Good Morning" or "Happy Birthday to You." Cats are not particular about tunes; or at least, if they hear tunes at all, they hear pitches and rhythms very differently than we do. We know this because they don't seem to mind listening to one another "sing."

Tomcats usually sing to female cats who are in heat. Since that was last week, romance was probably not the theme of Burr's song this morning.

Burr is a very special tomcat. His mother, Irene, gave birth to only one viable kitten. He was it. He was, technically, adopted at an early age, but his official home is near enough for him and Samantha to have been quite a steady couple since she moved in. He has always been big for his age, not particularly cute and not at all cuddly (although he'll rub against me if he wants food). He's a big ugly jugheaded Manx-mix who provides a good example of what I'd prefer that no kitten ever look like.

But, what they act like? Burr is his great-great-granduncle Mackerel all over again, except that Mac bonded with me as a kitten. Most tomcats either ignore or actively attack kittens...Burr has fed, visited, played with, and fought in defense of kittens who I know for sure aren't even related to him. (Traveller, for one.) Most cats' pairings are all about sex and dissolve as soon as the female comes off heat...Burr has stayed around to reassure and "socialize" our little Samantha Scaredycat from the first full day she spent with me. He never seemed fond of his aunt Heather or cousin Tickle, or of me (I was fond of them), but he bonded with Samantha.

Recently Samantha actually let a visitor stroke her while she snuggled in my arms. She's let herself be flea-combed. She's actually purred...I don't know whether she'd let her claws be clipped without a fight, because I've not had a reason to clip her claws--no inappropriate scratching for at least a year. I remembered the little panic-biter she used to be. I've put some time and effort into providing calm, firm, stable discipline for the cat who spent too much time around middle school boys. I wonder, though, how much more Burr has helped Samantha than I've done.

I think Irene, who always adopted everyone else's kittens even when one of her own had survived, would have been proud of her one son. (Most cats don't seem to have family ties. Social cats do.)

I've not found statistics about how cats react to images of other cats on computer screens. I've not tested most of the cats at the Cat Sanctuary; not Burr, not Irene, not Samantha. Heather would look at another cat on the screen without showing a real reaction, then snuggle against me. As a kitten Serena ignored my computer; as a cat she positively dislikes any cat image, especially her own reflection in a dark screen, and won't stay in the room with one.

So, for those who want a cheerful post, here's a picture of social cats surviving a socialist government in Venezuela:

These cats need a lot of food and rabies shots. http://paypal.me.FReinosoPerez/ is their fundraising link.

Someone dumped a Manx kitten outside this Cat Sanctuary and, just as when someone dumped Inky off on us, within the week one of the females had adopted it. And very likely somebody's fallen in love with it...after Inky moved out, Tickle stayed around and missed her for a while, and then he started commuting between his home and hers. Someone feeling really munificent might want to send this Cat Sanctuary the cost of a simple operation. I don't imagine these cats have a bed of pennyroyal to wallow in, as Samantha does.