|
|
|
Another little "sing-song" he didn't like was "Dmitri is a Wormy-butt" (or Wormy Cat), which was pretty much all the "lyrics". It ended with "yes, Dmitri is". He'd usually frown and stalk off somewhere. In fact, just about anytime we did something he thought was ignorant, we imagined he might say "I hate you!" or "Screw you!" when he fixed us with that look. |
|
|
| Especially as a kitten, and then as a juvenile, 'Mitri would wrestle with Sky. This "play" developed further into attempts of dominance - to be "Top Cat". Long-suffering, but still dominant, Sky would eventually get fed up and fight back. Having yelled at Dmitri to stop so many times before, we'd cheer for Sky, exhorting Sky to "kick his butt!". 'Mitri would disengage, frown at us, and walk away in disgust. |
 |
While we lived in the apartment, Dmitri would often eat bugs that got in. He was real
good at eating roaches he found or ones that we pointed to. He
stopped eating bugs and/or filth when we moved to the house. Grew
out of it, I guess. He had a good sense of color contrast, like many cats. he love to sit on a lap or fabric with dark colors, and be rather friendly. |
| Many cats have some little "ritual" with their water bowl. 'Mitri's was shuffling his from paws in front of it, like scratching in a litter box. He'd do this before and as he started to drink. I called it "doing his soft-shoe routine". |
 |
We never knew how or why but 'Mitri would occasionally get the hiccups. When he would lay half up on one side, his body would jerk almost imperceptibly, like he was burping, but they were too often to be burps. He apparently didn't want us to know about them. |
| Once we'd moved to our house, Dmitri seemed to develop a dislike of dogs. One time, when the cocker spaniel that belonged to the neighbor behind us was barking at us and the cats through the picket fence that used to be there, 'Mitri began stalking toward it. His demeanor was basically, "I'm going to kick his ass". Another time, he actually took a swipe at the dog before we could scoop him up! |
|
|
|
Hon!? There's
a flat kitten in the living room! |
| He never liked being cut off
from the litter box. If we had it closed (sometimes as a
"threat" to get him to go down), he would paw at the basement
door until we opened it.
We had to keep our bedroom door closed when we left home, because 'Mitri had a habit of stealing Nora's rubber bands and yarn-covered elastic that she used for her hair. Typically, he had to climb to a shelf to get at them. He liked to chew and play with them. He liked the sword Nora used when Middle East dance practice. At the apartment, he would sit and watch her balance it on her head. He would utter little meows, as if he wanted to play with it. Aware that some cats like cantaloupe, we brought one home for Sky and 'Mitri to try. Sky had no interest, but 'Mitri liked it pretty well. As time went on, whenever he smelled a melon (when I was cutting it, for instance), he'd start talking. It became a joke that when I picked up a cantaloupe at the market, it was for both me and 'Mitri. When he was younger, he got in more trouble, and we had to yell at him (like to stop bugging Sky). Being a fairly bright cat, he came to recognize that the name "Shithead" and the irritation in our voices wasn't nice. He realized that Skywise got praise for being a "good boy", so it became more important that he be a "good boy" too. When he didn't think something he'd done was bad, and we called him "Shithead", he'd "argue" or "back-talk" with us. As he got older, and Merlin came to live
with us, he became |
