Inspired by the dumb cat thread. I can't say I own Habibi, my genius cat, because I don't own her in any way shape or form. First, she tricked me into adopting her. I was intending to get a shy, sweet and submissive cat because my existing cat Zara is nervous and quite small. As I was walking through the shelter, she came up to the bars, caught my eye and mewed sweetly.
"Who's this youngster?" I said. She was about 8 to 10 months.
"Oh she's a real sweetie," they said: "She gets on with all cats and all humans. We've put her in with the grumpy old boy because she doesn't mind him."
Yes my friends. Habibi can act. I picked her up and she began to purr immediately, curling all around and pretending to be the sweetest, most submissive, darling little kitty in the world who would never be the slightest hint of trouble to anyone.
Three days later, she took over my house.
Despite being ill and malnourished at the time, she leapt out of her carrier with a clear pronouncement of "lol tricked u" and STOMPED all around the house, up and down the stairs, with the posture of a conquering lion. Habibi, which is Arabic for darling, was promptly shortened to the more suitable Bibi or Beebs.
Unlike Zara, Bibi is superb at being a cat. Despite being fat, she is fast, balanced, and an extremely proficient hunter. She is an equally brilliant manipulator of humans. Even the most difficult housemate I ever had has been spotted cuddling her. She regularly engineers situations to get what she wants, including the best furniture and pillows. But its more than that - the way she communicates is almost human, staring into your face and using a huge range of sounds with real tone and intonation. If you call her name, she replies in a tone that sounds like 'What?' When you open a door and see her she makes distinct 'hmrr', which is her greeting. She only ever uses it for that purpose. Though I try to get her to exercise, she is rarely engaged by toys, because she knows they aren't real prey. She understands the laser pen. She uses her paws like human hands. She's just an ordinary black and white moggie, no special breed, but I have honestly never met such an animal in my life. I love her, but I don't entirely understand her, and the way she looks at me sometimes is so penetrating its almost scary. Does anyone else have a human genius cat? Tell me some stories about them.
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35 replies
iloveeverykindofcat · 22/03/2017 05:49
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