Q is for Query…and Quandry….and Quiver

… the way my cat shakes when the fish make her shiver.

The cats aren’t allowed in my office. Since the aquarium went in, however, Oobie the Small has decided the rules don’t apply to her. She likes to sit on the desk and look out the window at the bird-and-squirrel feeder and she also likes to watch the tank – though she hasn’t quite decided how to deal with it.

At first she sat and watched like she does the TV when animals come on the screen. She’ll park herself on the floor in front of the set and stay as long as the animals do. (She also likes Ice Age, particularly Scrat.) She knows she can’t touch the images and rarely tries. She’s content to watch, head cocked to the side and eyes riveted to the screen.

She initially seemed to think my aquarium was a TV stuck permanently on The Fish Channel. She sat motionless for up to an hour, watching the fish and shrimp go by. After a while, though, she seemed to realize there was something more involved. She sniffed at the tank and looked into the top (which has no lid). The water set her back a little (thanks to a recent and traumatic experience with the bathtub) – why had we put water on top of the toys? She couldn’t reach them that way…

More recently, she started pawing at the tank when the fish and shrimp get close to the edge where she sits. She seems to understand she cannot reach them, but that hasn’t stopped her from trying. Her confusion is highly entertaining, particularly when she ends a furious bout of patting at the glass by “shaking it off” and sitting back as though she didn’t really want to catch them in the first place.

To make the situation even more entertaining, Johnny the Dragonet isn’t afraid and doesn’t consider her a threat. He gives her the same cool stare he gives Max, a patented Johnny-Cash “That’s all you’ve got?” query that makes me snicker every time.

Fish 1, Cat 0.

And likely to stay that way.

2 thoughts on “Q is for Query…and Quandry….and Quiver

  • April 21, 2011 at 4:01 am
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    Poor Oobie. You should videotape her for bad days for a guaranteed laugh 🙂

    • April 21, 2011 at 4:01 pm
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      I’ve been tempted, believe me. That cat has more weird moments than any I’ve ever seen, and that’s saying something, for sure.

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