Sophie

I've written a bit about our cat Sophie before. Sophie is not right.

We don't know why, but she has always been a little off. She is extremely skittish. She doesn't even quite trust us. Not completely. Sophie has a crazy attachment to me, but even with me she gets frightened. If I move too quickly to pet her head she will interpret that as an attempt to pick her up (which is something she hates) and will race out of reach.

However, whenever I sit down or lie down she will immediately come up to me so that I can pet her or so that she can curl up beside me to go to sleep. She loves sleeping next to me and will not leave me alone until I acknowledge her presence and rub her head and let her know that she can lie down and sleep beside me.

If I walk down the stairs from the loft she will race ahead of me, throw herself down on the landing before I can get there, and start screaming at the top of her lungs. She will only shut up if I pause, sit down beside her, and scratch her head and rub her stomach. If one of the other cats walks up while I'm scratching her head she will get royally pissed off and either hiss at the other cats or run off and sulk. She doesn't do this with Carole or with Andy. Only me.

Sophie's getting old, now. She's turning a bit gray but still has the same old power and speed of earlier years. However, I can see the age piling on.

Here are some photos I took of her a few years ago. She's a terribly difficult subject because she is so dark that photos rarely show any detail. But occasionally I get lucky.

"What's that? Did you hear that? Sounded suspicious to me! Go see what it is!"

This is a rarity. Actually catching her sleeping. She is the lightest sleeper of any cat I have ever known. The merest sound or vibration will wake her instantly.

Always concentrating. Always suspicious. But her attachment to me is striking. Easily the single neediest cat who has ever been with us.