Meet The Cats: Brodie

NAME: Brodie
DATE OF BIRTH: 15 August, 2009 (approx)
SEX: Male (neutered)
ANCESTRY: Domestic Shorthair (Mixed)



BACKGROUND

Brodie is one of a litter of three feral kittens adopted by me and Matt in October, 2009. He and his sister Coraline were trapped at about 7 weeks of age; Shadow (sibling #3 -- another brother) was trapped three weeks later.

APPEARANCE

Brodie is a long, lanky, yet solid and muscular (feels a lot heavier than he looks!) grey mackerel (striped) tabby cat. His coloration is a bit lighter and more subdued than sister Coraline's, and he has more in the way of pure-white background hair (where Cora has more of a buff-tan). His ears are on the large and pointed side, and he also has a somewhat long and pointed nose/profile (which makes me suspect he's got some Siamese or Oriental Shorthair bloodlines in there somewhere, especially given that his meow is VERY Siamese-sounding).

Nose and paw-pads are shaded pink and black. White "eye-liner" fur around his eyes. Extremely long, slender, whippy tail with a slight kink near the end. His eyes are a clear limeade green.

HOBBIES:

Batting toys under the rug, curling his paws under him, making sporadic but impressively Siamese-esque meowing sounds, bird-watching, playing with his siblings, trying (unsuccessfully but enthusiastically) to entice Nikki to play, batting toys under rugs, leaping about (he seems to store a ton of potential energy during his naps!). Shredding cardboard and paper wherever he finds it. Napping in the laundry basket.

LIKES:

Where his sister Coraline is Serious Business, Brodie tends to be quite silly, and is utterly shameless in his enthusiasms. And he is very enthusiastic about everything he enjoys, from napping to snacking to running around after toys and such. (Occasionally he will get so excited he will run into a wall or clip a corner whilst gallivanting about the house, but this never fazes him; he just rights himself and keeps going!)



DISLIKES:

Sudden movements. The Vet.

CATNIP?:

Another "yes, please!" Though not quite as enthusiastic as his sister Cora when it comes to the catnip, he is nonetheless generally very pleased to see (or rather, smell) the stuff. He also enjoys eating it.

FOOD:

Brodie loves eating and will eat practically anything he can find. I have to watch him in that regard because he has a penchant for chewing on string and other fibrous matter. He is very curious about "human food" and will steal your dinner if you leave it unguarded!

As far as "cat food" goes, he likes it all, wet or dry, though (again) I have to be careful because as a kitten we found out he was intolerant to corn (which shouldn't be in cat food anyway, IMO, but that's a whole post unto itself). It gives him the runs, to put it somewhat politely. So basically he isn't picky but his digestive system is. He seems to do best on foods like Orijen and Evo (which are grain-free) as far as the dry stuff goes.

UPDATE: As of August 2010 Brodie has been eating a mostly-raw diet, and this has so far been amazingly beneficial to his digestive system. He has also proven himself to be the most adventurous eater of all the cats here...he will try pretty much anything, and is so far the only one in the household who will actually consume mice. Though he prefers the heads to the back end (not that I blame him!).

TOYS/PLAY:

Brodie's taste in toys is similar to his taste in food...pretty indiscriminate! Like his siblings he is fond of "Da Bird" and other interactive toys, but he also has a greater-than-average tendency to, for instance, go after the string or the handle a toy is tied to rather than the toy itself on occasion. He is what one might call a "detail oriented cat" in this regard. He also tends to get very attached to certain particular toys...in particular, several of those little fuzzy toy mice that have had their tails ripped off. He will carry one of these around in his mouth, from room to room, for hours. And if he loses one of them under the sofa he won't be satisfied with a different mousie...he will wait for me retrieve his "favorite" and accept it delightedly once it has been liberated!

Temperament-wise, he's a bit more sedate than his siblings in general. But when he gets into playing, he really gets into it. He also seems to have an excellent memory / sense of "object permanence" (see the video below for this!), and has been known to "cache" toys for later, i.e., via sticking them in the food bowl for storage!



INTERACTIONS WITH OTHER CATS:

From the very beginning, Brodie has been the resident peacemaker/negotiator. His general attitude toward other feline-people can probably be summed up as "oh hai, want to play (or nap) with me?" He gets along splendidly with both Cora and Shadow, and can often be found snuggled up with one (or both) of them, engaged in a vigorous round of ear-licking. Back when Shadow first arrived (3 weeks after he and Cora), Brodie seemed delighted to have another playmate and I am sure that his instant acceptance of his "briefly estranged" brother helped Cora eventually warm up to Shadow as well.

Because of his easy-goingness with other cats, he was the first I trusted to physically meet Nikki when she moved in in January 2010, and (all things considered) that ended up going fairly well.

Overall Brodie is very sweet, generous, and gentle with other kitties but certainly has a mischevious streak as well and loves the Stealth Ambush. :P He also has a tendency to "push his luck" with Nikki, as if he's determined to bring her into the Inner Kitty Circle. E.g., if she is napping on the couch in front of him, Brodie will sloooooowly extend a paw out and lay it on Nikki's back, or very delicately start licking her tail. And he seems determined to keep trying even though he usually gets a hiss or a face-swat at some point!

INTERACTIONS WITH HUMANS:

With me and Matt (though moreso with me because I'm home more) Brodie is very affectionate, and recently has taken to curling up on the couch with us while we're watching "Buffy" (yes, again...I will never tire of that series!) and purring like a low-flying helicopter. He is also quite fond of jumping up on my desk while I'm sitting at the computer and sort of sauntering back and forth in front of the monitor, soliciting back-scratches (and going "NYEOW!" at me if I stop petting him too soon!).

One thing that seems very particular about his interactions is that, once he trusts a human, he seems very emphatic about treating you like you're another cat. Not that I think he actually THINKS humans are cats...I mean, we look and smell and sound so different from cats that it's unlikely they'd make such an egregious identification mistake! Rather, it's more like...(and I don't claim to know this for sure, it's just what it looks like to me) he is saying something like "oh how very CAT of you! Now let's touch noses!". And you get the sense that there's something almost...not "sacred", exactly, but it's got something to do with respect. And you feel (well, I feel, at least) very much like it's something that should never, ever be betrayed. If that makes any sense.



With human people he doesn't know well, though, he is still very shy and skittish. He usually hides if visitors come over, though if someone gets out an interactive toy, he will occasionally come out (on the heels of his brave sister Coraline!) to investigate.