Cinda

You might wonder why a boy cat is named Cinda. But, for six months, I thought for sure that he was a girl! He was completely white with a black smudge on his forehead, which has disappeared now. I looked and looked to see what he was, but I couldn't see anything under all that fur. The first inkling that he was a boy came when he was six months old. I took him to the vet for what I thought was a bladder infection. They laughed me out of the place and gently told me it was time to have him "fixed".

Cinda has a wonderful sense of humor. If he thinks I should be up in the morning, he will jump from the floor right onto the middle of my chest. A rude awakening! Before I can make a move, he will dash down from the bed and out of the room. When he is sitting in my lap, he will stretch both his paws up my chest and tuck them under my chin. When I come home from work, he will "lead" me into the bathroom and ask for water from the spigot. One thing he loves, but can't have, is milk. So, I have to be very careful if I pour myself a glass of milk, not to leave it where he can get to it. I have come back to find him with his whole head stuck down in my glass chugging down the milk.

He loves to play with his little leather mousie and will catch it between both his paws if it's tossed to him. He really sometimes thinks he is a dog, because he loves to play go fetch. When he was young, he would actually bring back the item being tossed. However, as he got older and wiser, he makes me do all the work. He will chase it, but I have to go and get it to toss again. His favorite thing to chase? A ball of aluminum foil. He also loves 2 music boxes I have - one with a crystal piano (he chases the prisms around the room) and the other has a tiny hand crank and plays Mr. Lonely. He likes this music box played while he eats.

The angriest he has ever been with me was when I had him shaved. The vet shaved EVERYTHING except his tail. Cinda wouldn't let me take his picture for about 24 hours. He would turn his back on the camera and leave the room if I kept trying. But, during the summer, his fur makes him so hot. In fact, during the summer, he takes up most of the bed at night. He stretches from one side to the other. I get a corner! One of his dislikes his for me to sneeze. If he sees me getting ready to sneeze, he will dash from the room so suddenly he leaves a vapor trail, grousing audibly the whole way. Then, I am laughing so hard I can't sneeze anymore.

When he is feeling especially affectionate, he rests his forehead against the palm of my hand with his eyes closed, and purrs. When one of my friends used to visit him in Baltimore (where he was born), he would roll over onto his back and show her his belly. She would say, "That is no cat! That is a rug!" There is only one other person he has shown his belly to (besides me of course) and his new vet, Dr. Neuman. I can tell he really likes her.