Spoiling Loudmouth

15Aug17

I came home yesterday and saw a cat coming toward me on the sidewalk that runs between the apartment buildings, the sidewalk where I feed Patch and Mask. The cat was Loudmouth, the second he recognized me, “Yee-owl, Yee-owl.”

“Okay, I’ll feed you. But you have to wait while I go upstairs to get the food.”

Loudmouth acted like he was going to come up with me but stayed at the foot of the stairs. He meowed the entire time, so loud we could hear him from our apartment on the fourth floor. I came back down with food talking to him soothing words, “I’m coming. It’s okay. You don’t need to be so loud.” I could imagine one of the neighbors going out in the hall and screaming at the cat to: shut to f— up! Fortunately most of the people in our building are cat lovers except for a neighbor on our floor who’s afraid of them and claims to be allergic, and an old lady on the second floor who out and out hates them and told me to stop feeding them.

Much to my surprise, when I reached Loudmouth he was sprawled out on the first floor landing, “Meow! Meow! I can do this all day, Meow! Meow!” Of course, the other cats in the tribe joined him and expected an afternoon feeding too. And of course, I obliged.

So this morning I was met with five cats. Bag reappeared after disappearing for days, which is his habit. Mask swiped and picked on Patch and he ignored her choosing instead to swipe at me as I put food in his dish. 

Cats fed and quiet, I sat in the outdoor chair and when Loudmouth was finished pet him. Oh, I am able to touch Fluffy and instead of jumping and starting at me with, “HOW DARE YOU!”, she just runs a few paces out of reach. I’m petting Mouth and Fluffy is watching. Loudmouth starts loving it and when I stop he starts meowing again. Fluffy wants to try it, I can tell, but she can’t overcome her fear of me just yet.