MEET "POPEYE" - 29 JUNE, 2023
Meet "POPEYE"
Popeye was a sailor, and you never see him depicted with two eyes...
Our "POPEYE" lives aboard So...fea, and also has only one eye (note the ear tufts).
Many animals (and birds) only have one eye.
"I was on the street, cold, hungry, always wet, and almost feral…I was homeless, and alone when I got arrested and thrown in jail, they neutered me, pumped me full of vaccines, then put me on display at the Shipping Solutions UPS store on 20th street,… in a locked public cage without any way to hide, where
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Although the Royal Navy banned cats from all British ships in 1975, sailors and cats at sea have a special relationship that dates back thousands of years.
The ancient Egyptians were the first seafarers to realize the true value of having cats as shipmates. In addition to offering sailors much needed companionship on long voyages, cats provided protection by ridding ships of vermin. Without the presence of cats, a crew might find their ship overrun with rats and mice that would eat into the provisions, chew through ropes and spread disease.
More superstitious sailors believed that cats protected them by bringing good luck. It was also common for crews to adopt cats from the foreign lands they visited to serve as souvenirs as well as reminders of their pets at home.
We did not last very long without having a Ships cat aboard, after losing "YUGGIE" in January of 2021, we agreed to not do any more pets (a pet timeline history best left for another day), in recent weeks an'ya had begun "missing" a cat on her lap (I laid down the cold steely NO !), our forwarding mail service has a Humane Society Cage inside that features a "pet-of-the-week" sort of exposure for rescue animals... animals as in, "cats".
HERE IS A TAIL OF TWO CATS
Early November (2022) I ventured in and was "snagged" by a paw through the cage in one of those "can't get the claw out" dilemmas, in the process of stopping to disengage... and it being the "Year of the Tiger", and my hating cats, and not believing in omens... what started out as a "lets go pick up the mail, hit the grocery store real quick, and get back home" morning run to town, ended with "Tiger" coming aboard as a new seaman apprentice. see https://www.mvsofea.com/2022/12/year-of-water-tiger-2-december-2022.html
I won't waste page space even mentioning the process of bringing a new puppy or cat into your life (which is another place to start a badly needed 24 hour call center help line for supporting insane adults), lets just stick to cats. Tiger is an Abyssinian, for us a new breed... with an unfamiliar manner.
This may be the first time we have ever brought an animal in as being a single pet household... but, it "is" a boat, and different due to no carpeting, all vinyl furniture cushions, no curtains, and a unstable ever-moving environment, of around only 400 square feet, the surrounding area terrain is water... not trees and grass. the ambient sounds are not traffic or human noises, but water slapping the hull, sea birds, and wind resonating through deck gear, the air smells different, and that "smell of home" that you "do not" smell (carpet, drapes, upholstery, and mother earth dirts), must all be new experience for a cat.
"TIGER" created her own routine, it was unwavering, and on a 15 minute day-to-day repeat timed event schedule, we determined her to be a "VIRGO"... read "her" interpretation here:
humans could see me, poke at me and tease me, it was like being pilloried.
of my prison… do I act “cool” and smile, or do I do something they think is cute, like rollover?
This may be my only chance… but wait ! he turned, nooooo he’s walking away! I missed my chance,
time to do something desperate, mustering up my loudest possible alley cat screech, I thrust my whole
arm out through the bars as if to “reach” for him, and gave a yowl… a plea for help. It worked ! I snagged his sweater ! he turned! and "has" to come back a second time… to free himself,it's my second chance.
Two hours pass, and I lose all hope, so close… I really thought this was it… now, I am
despondent, I’m going to spend my whole life here in prison. But wait ! they are back !! they
walk in and are now talking with the prison guard… after that, It is all foggy, I am put in a
very tiny cell and taken to a vehicle and for a ride, then, joggled around and walked
somewhere (still in my tiny cell), too much too fast for me to comprehend, the next thing I
remember is being set free… let me repeat… SET FREE ! I have a new home ! new cat parents, new smells, and a maybe new chance. BUT WAIT ! ... on a boat ?
The trauma of the past months of incarceration has taken its toll, I am broken and lost, who
am I? How to act ? can I stay here, or will I be sent back? It is all very exhausting, confusing,
and psychological. So, I am going to be on my best behavior and just sleep…
Three days' worth ! non stop recuperative sleep, no food, no water, no bathroom… just sleep...
and dreaming about my new home, for three days this chair is all I need. They Shake me awake,
they think I am sick. But, I am fine, it’s time to explore, eat, and learn about my new boat home.
This is pretty nice digs, not very big though, they feed that expensive small can and packet cat food,
not that cheap canned stuff, even the bathroom here is new and is using really good stuff ! I have a
brand new fancy stainless steel water fountain, a sharpening pad, and, lots of mouse toys. But my
favorite is this ¼” diameter green silicone hose that I found … it fell out of a porthole weather seal
yesterday, these fake mice remind me too much of my earlier life, and they stink like catnip, now,
this 6 inch green hose is the cats meow.
I can sprint the forty foot of these three levels and jump at speed,… there are lots of places to climb,
and glass everywhere… I can see outside anywhere I go. My cat mom and dad never leave, they
are always here, so I guess I have to live with them, they talk to me constantly, and are always touching
me, I have learned they will not hurt me, they must just sorta’ like me.
There are new scary monsters outside, they are bigger than I am ! they’re called birds, seals, and Otters,
the most strange thing is…I am surrounded by water… I am allowed to go anywhere I want to (except
outdoors), they must think I cannot swim, they yell at me really bad when I try to sneak out, so I am not
allowed to go outside, they keep me indoors, but I can watch the water, and sometimes see other big
“things” in the water called seals, geese, and boats. humans walk by my new home, and I hide so they
cant catch me and send me back. It took me a week to get used to the outside water world always
“moving”, and new noises like rain, and when the funny wind knocks me over.(being a cat, I have great
balance).
I also learned that my Purr mechanism does not work… I can hear myself purr, but no one else can
(unless they put their ear against me), also, my meower does not have any volume knob either, it is
stuck on quiet, and I have no Idea how I ever managed that attention-getting Yowl two months ago that
got me adopted, I meow a lot though, especially to warn the ducks away, and my cat parents sometimes
tell me to shut up….
I must be a Virgo-cat, I need organization, and schedules, now I have a “real” schedule, and a routine
(which us cats need), my three different daytime sleeping beds let me lie in the sun and watch the water
for bird attacks from all sides but, I sleep with mom and dad at night, by the berthing porthole where I can guard for night-time Heron or Egret attacks, maybe even if the Otters to return. although, I “do” have to wake them up every morning at 0530 and remind them to feed me (and then again at 0900, noon, 1500, 1800, and before bed at 2130 for my snack times).
I never, ever like being alone… so when my cat parents leave I can get in a really bad mood, sometimes I pout when they finally come home, but it makes me angry when they leave, my cat-mom must leave to go hunting to feed me, she always catches some sort of food for me, and gives it to me (first thing) as a treat when she comes back, so, I have to be nice to her.
I especially like to beg for my human Mom to hold me, and “always” make sure to sit on my Dad's legs
when he watches TV or takes a chair-nap, he puts his feet up and I sleep between his knees (where he cannot touch me) , I even have Mom trained to come back here at noon everyday to give me my noon snack (even if she has to drive all the way back home from shopping), life is really good here, and I like my, no, I Love my new home…
I have learned a lot about myself, I have a condition the humans call the “Zoomies”, It makes me have to run as fast as I can from end-to-end, back and forth turn around, sometimes 6 or 8 laps to get my energy burned up… I run over-under everything in an “out of control”, bounce-off-the-walls exercise routine two or three times a day.to prove to my cat mom and dad that I am healthy, also I keep in shape with my green hose, by running, and always protecting them from attack by the duckies/sea
gulls that constantly threaten us.
My cat parents tell people that I have an “Only Child’ play syndrome… because I play with one of my
six imaginary green hose friends constantly (unless I am sleeping, napping, eating or keeping guard for
the evil seagull/duck intruders), I carry it around, jump with it, even walk around with it and do
somersaults, my favorite thing to do is put in my upside down cardboard box that they leave for me on
the deck. I imagine my green tube as being a snake, or a duck, or maybe a mouse.. I have six of my
green hoses, and have trained my cat parents to crawl around on the floor with a flashlight and yardstick to retrieve them for me when I swat them under the refrigerator, stove, counters and anywhere else I can find to hide my toys (it is fun).
It has been two months now, and I “own” this place, I like being a “Ships cat”, and being alone on board,
I have learned to be very careful not to disturb anything my cat Mom has on display, or ever walk across
their keyboards, they learned that my peculiar fur has what they call “ticking” that is only found in
Abyssinian cats, and that my head shape, pink nose, white eye, and chin mask are also somehow
“weirdly” Abyssinian…so, I must have some royal blood in me from somewhere, maybe from a real
water tiger !!
My cat dad scares me with superstitious stories about my being a cat…how my ID chip is sending
information via the antenna in my tail to the government, and how cats evolved from snakes which is
why my eyes are vertical and my head is shaped so funny, how only tri-colored cats are ever allowed on
ships, that I am far smarter than people know… and that grey cats are good luck, he holds me up to look at the sumi-e painting on the reefer reefer image and tells me about how 2022 was the year of the water tiger, how water tigers are straightforward, they work hard and go after what they want. they have difficult early years, but their middle-old ages will be full of fortune, and that grey water tigers like myself are very very rare. Plus, I am a “special needs” cat, I do-not drink water, so my cat mom has to be sure to add water to all of my food, and she worries about me being inherited by someone who won't treat me who won't treat me “SPECIAL”.
WRITERS NOTE: Tiger came aboard in very early November... she finally acclimatized herself, became a "Mom's" cat, visibly repulsed by my presence, five full months later (in the last days of April), I again stumble in the door and past the Humane Society Cage (this time at the Humane Society Thrift Store)... there is a cowering-packed into a ball in the cage corner (covering his head cat)... he was actually shivering.
I would like to believe my voicing my opinion, had to do with his removal back to the shelter. I am sure he had PTSD from his eye removal surgery, and was simply terrified.
The experience haunted me, so I kept checking on his status for a few weeks (worried he would get a home at an uncaring child infested or indoor/outdoor household), after concluding we had the absolute "best" and safest environment, we went in to retrieve him... we changed his name to "Popeye".
Similar to Tigers first days aboard, he slept for almost a week, the difference was he hid, "really" hid !
After almost two months together, Tiger finally gave up "some" Alpha", and Popeye learned "some" trust, but... "he"is definately a "special olympics" grade creature.
two unfamiliar (new friends) cats.
Saying "new friends" is a stretch... Tiger is a lean, long legged, skinny "I've had faaar too much coffee" personality cat, highly intelligent, and very active, (who cannot purr, meow loud, or drink water), Popeye is a "hole in the wall" cat, short, stocky, a full-time very-very loud purrer, loud-mouth meower, and a "roller"... but also has a very badly missing depth perception issue, a blind side, and dwarfish physique problem set... he is rarely out in the bright sun, and plays incessantly.
Tiger thinks Popeye looks odd (missing an eye and all), so she thinks he may not be a cat at all, or at least is a deformed one that should be banned from her royal presence, possibly killed.... for a full six weeks (45 days) every time he was out of a hiding hole she beat him up ferociously, and we worried about his remaining eye being hurt, slowly his hiding places became more open, then... one day... he fought back ! his being built like a tank makes his slap lethal, one day, tired of being picked on, he simply never went into another hiding place, and that was that... conversion/adaptation ... DONE !
(jokingly he never looked back).
Now, they are buddies, he likes the mice she rejected, he cannot jump where she does, and she can outrun him, she has that Abyssinian "ticked" fur, he has "no" fur... it is a fluff like a baby chick, they call it "down", she (like a mountain goat) points, jumps and lands on 1/2" wide places, he points jumps and hits the wall, he is a brawler, she is a ballerina... being in a small easily learnable environment really helped him adapt.
But, all is well now (as you can see), Popeye and Tiger are now "ships cats", he has fully become normal (sorta'), and is out all day, he now takes no crap from his sister, his depth perception makes for some great humor, and he is "my" cat... rarely visiting "Mom".
SPECIAL NEEDS CATS, yes, there are animals that need more than "normal" everyday attention.