A New Mud Cat

Tide at high tide.

A lot happened in the four+ years while the tide was out for the Mud Bay blog. The biggest change? A new Mud Cat (short for Mud Bay Cat) now lives with me. She’s a two-year-old Bengal and her name is Tide. To mention the word for the third time in this opening paragraph, the photo was taken at high tide while she was patrolling the bulkhead in front of our house.

The original Mud Cat, a Bengal male, was named Pi. Sadly, Pi died in early 2015 from complications from surgery. He was 12. The second Mud Cat, a Bengal named Trek, lived with me after Pi but only for a couple of years. He was hit and killed by a car on Rocky Point Road. I learned of his death in a post on the Next Door web site and was able to give him a proper burial.

After owning two Bengal males, both indoor-outdoor cats that were outdoors a bit more than I liked, I opted for a female this time, reasoning that a girl kitty might not stray as far from home as explorers like Pi and Trek. So far, so good, although it might be the promise of a late afternoon half-can of Friskies that keeps her close by rather than her gender.

Pi and Trek were fed dry food only. Tide gets wet food twice a day and all the dry food she wants. Full-grown now, she weighs 12.5 pounds.

Tide was born in a Bengal cattery in South Kitsap in November 2016. I won’t mention the name because I wouldn’t recommend buying a cat there. The owners were excessively secret and had an unusual take on kitty vaccinations: they didn’t believe in them. They never disclosed the cattery location much less allowed anyone to visit there. Although the stated reason was to keep the cattery disease free, I’m guessing they were dodging taxes on their cat business.

We met at a neutral location, and I had just a few minutes to decide if their Bengal kitten was right for me. I think I made a good decision. Of course, the deal was cash only.

When I told this story to friends at the Bookstore bar in Seattle, they called me gullible, naïve, dumb, a sucker, and a bad negotiator. I told my friends the same thing I will say now. When you buy a kitten, it’s the kitten that matters, not your relationship with the cattery owners.

Because Tide was only about seven weeks old when I got her, I kept her shut up in the laundry room for a few days before giving her the run of the house. The first thing she did was to get stuck behind the washing machine.

Things have been looking up since her rescue. She’s playful, affectionate, dutiful about using her litter box, and surprisingly quiet for a Bengal. Most important she hasn’t had a single health issue and has always come home to spend the night inside, sleeping on the bed with me. The one catpower of warmth she adds has been important this month with overnight lows in the 30’s.

Outside the house, she has patrolled our property and the Mud Bay shoreline like a Mud Cat should. But that’s something for future blog posts.