About

 Purrseidon was born to a feral cat in our neighborhood… we were smitten, but wanted to wait until the babies were 6 weeks old before we ‘claimed’ her. In the meantime, we focused on taming her mother and both kittens (another neighbor claimed Purrseidon’s reddish sister and names her Lucy Fur.)

All seemed fine, except for the wait, then Lucy Fur drowned in a puddle. Next, we saw a dog shaking Purrseidon, like a toy … the owner said they were just playing. (Not the way we allow our dog to play with a tiny creature!) We went into a panic and catnapped Purrseidon two weeks early.

 

When she got old enough to climb (other than jeans and slacks) and got the kitchen cupboards, we tried to train Ms. Purr to stay off the counters with a squirt gun. She liked getting squirted, and we suspect she’d get on the counters just so we’d get her wet. Then, she learned to turn on the lever sinks and <ehem> play in the potty. Any running water was like a summons for Purrseidon, and no matter where she was, she would rush to it: flush the toilet, she would rush in; fill the tub and splash, you’d have company; forget taking a shower alone. Fortunately, she hasn’t figured out how to get into the dish washer, coffee pot, clothes washer (it has a locking lid, but purrhaps it is only a matter of time before she figures this out) Bottom line, if you want Purrseidon, forget calling, “Here Kitty, Kitty.” Just turn on the faucet and she’ll be there in a flick of her tail

We began to wonder if we’d somehow jinxed our kitten when we purrified the name Poseidon or if we’d subconsciously known she had an obsession with water.

 

As spring came, we noticed that she would sit in the window and meow whenever it rained, so we taught her how to walk on a leash – our county has a leash law for both cats and dogs. She learned quickly, so soon, she was walking Ms. Munchkin two blocks to the school bus. Eventually, we decided to get really daring and took her to The Jungle Trail. 

She loved riding in the car and adored chasing crabs on the trail, as well as climbing a few trees…. then, she caught a whiff of the Atlantic, and suddenly, instead of walking along companionably, she was tearing off over a small dune. We figured she simply wanted to see what that smell was.

 

She wanted to play in the waves. She wanted to go boogie boarding. She wanted to swim….

 

When the weather and our schedules permit, we try to humor her, even though our elderly tom gets very upset every time she comes home happy as a clam, but soggy and smelling of the sea.

Her kitten antics were included Kaj Graham’s humorous little book Kittens Are A**holes – Kaj loves kittens and cats, but is also realistic about the situations they create. Purrseidon’s influence has infiltrated my own Sea Purrtector Files in the form of Mischief, who first appeared in Purr-a-noia  (I was writing the rough draft of that book about the time she moved in. Mischief is also in The Vi-Purrs, and will be in Me-YEOW!, which is currently being edited.)

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