Mama M's Worst Cat

Mama M's worst cat was a beautiful white domestic shorthair (in other words, alley cat), known as Speedy.

Speedy was already a teenager when Mama M adopted her, but since she was to be totally a house cat, Mama M had her declawed. That means her front claws were removed so she could not tear up sofa, carpet, and other soft items. Remember, though, always leave the back claws on to give the cat traction and stability.

 

Well, those back claws caused part of the problem. Mama M was a teacher; she graded papers and prepared lessons sitting at the dining table. Speedy loved to get on the table and watch. Unfortunately, she also loved to speed down. She would "scratch off" with her back claws to jump into the air and land safely on the floor. Those scratch marks still mar the table, some 30 years later!

Another of Speedy's joys was jumping on bookshelves, dresser, anything high and finding small objects to play with and eventually knock to the floor. The sound of their fall never bothered her. She would just knock something else down.

One night, after working at her office until nearly 11, Mama M got home to find her TV on the floor of the bedroom, broken. It seems Speedy got mad at being left alone and went on a tear on top of the dresser, where the TV had sat for excellent viewing from bed. In the process, Speedy knocked the TV down and continued a path through the room.

When Mama M told colleagues about the breakage, she got expressions of sympathy. Her reply: "It was just a 12-inch black and white." And actually Speedy had done her a favor. The replacement she bought was her first color TV--a 19-inch one--that took its place on a stand in the living room and brought news and entertainment into the home for about 25 years!

The breaking of the 12-inch, however, was the incident that made Mama M realize what Speedy's real problem was. She only SAW objects falling; she never HEARD them hit the floor or other objects. She had inherited a gene that is fairly common in all-white cats. She was deaf.