Cats and Loyalty - Not that Unusual

The news reporters are raving about the cat who chased away the dog who was chewing on a 4-year-old’s leg. It was wonderful and amazing, but they made it sound very unusual for a cat to be so loyal.

Sheesh. Back in NJ, I was living in a furnished apartment and the cat I had then jumped on my chest in the middle of the night. She cried and pestered and I couldn’t figure out what was wrong. It was not like her at all. Suddenly, I could see flickering through the shades on the windows across the dark bedroom. The building next door was on fire!

I had friends in that building. I ran up the street, bare feet and all, to pull the alarm. I didn’t have a phone back then, and this was in the 60s, no cell’s back then, either. Anyhow, the fire department got there in time to save the landlady who lived on the 3rd floor by having her climb down their ladder. I’ll never forget how close it came - you could see the flames right behind her. If Earline had not wakened me, I know it would have been different.

There have been other instances of brave cats.

We had a cat in the 70s who had every dog in the neighborhood afraid of her. All except the two German Shepherds on the corner. One guy who walked his Schnauzer daily finally got to where he would pick his dog up two houses before ours, and put the dog back down a few houses past us. That was our first “Amber.” She was a little aggressive. When I left for CA, and my friend Jane, and her son, Frank, moved to an apartment complex, they said she even had a young Doberman cringing.

So it’s not unusual for a cat to defend his/her turf.

I was seriously very happy that the little boy on the news had a kitty who had his back - but not all reporters are cat-people, obviously.