WILD THINGS
82 | July• 2019
Better Friend to Your Pet, this is a sign
of dominance. All along she was say-
ing “I own you” to me as she lapped
up my facial hair, and to him as he
napped like a toy in her grip.
ORWELL PEAKED EARLYa n d
garnered a fourth, seventh and 10th
place in subsequent rounds. The last
judge was explicit about her prefer-
ences. “In my ring,” she said, twirl-
ing a teaser feather around Orwell’s
non-compliant head, “I want cats
who are having a good time.” His
place standings kept declining, even
after the emcee announced that
Hamish, a rescue who was gobbling
up golds, was going home with his
new adoptive parents.
Orwell did fine for a rookie, but he
lacked something possessed by the
Hamishes of the cat world – what
Pamela Barrett calls “star quality”.
Pamela, an older woman with a
smart blonde bob, was later award-
ed TICA’s Judge of the Year prize. A
former fraud investigator, Pamela is
exceptional at pattern recognition
and spotting deviations.
She told me that it’s normal for
owners of the household pet con-
tenders to take losses very person-
ally. Professional breeders look at
their specimen and see quality ears,
eyes, coats and paws, but what about
people like me? “All they see is love.
It hurts them – it hurts me, even as
a jaded professional. But it is a com-
petition. You have to rise up, figure
out what’s wrong and do it better
next time.”
Orwell’s coat and icy blue eyes im-
pressed judges, but his personality
was lacking, and there would be no
chance at improvement.A
MENTAL-HEALTH NURSE,
Janae’s cat intuition is un-
canny. About a year after the
cat show, Janae sat me down and
very seriously asked, “Do you think
Darwin is depressed?”
I laughed heartily at the absurdity
of projecting human conditions onto
our animals – before rubbing Dar-
w in’s belly and talking baby to her.
“Who’s a belly girl? Yes,youa r e ...”
Then, one day, Janae called me
in hysterics. “Something is wrong
with Darwin,” she cried. “She’s
gone ballistic! She’s trying to kill
Orwell!”
A stray had entered the carpark
below while Janae and our two cats
were on the balcony. For some rea-
son this one stray set Darwin off.
She growled and yowled, then
turned to Orwell and saw not her
long-time companion but the devil.
When Janae tried to protect him,
Darwin lunged at her, leaving her
with deep cuts to her arms and legs.
We cut Darwin off from the
balcony, but after two months with-
out outbursts and the cats snuggling
again, I thought she’d re-earned her
privileges. Within minutes of sliding
open the door, Darwin had Orwell