I AM COOKIE

I am 9 years and 11 months old; in human years that would be 56 years and 7 months old. As you can see I am pretty mature. I will be turning 10 on February 20; calculating in human years 57 (some calculators say 60, but let’s not push it).  In Brazil they say I have 7 lives, but in the US I have nine. I was born in Brazil therefore I’ll stick with the number 7 and not push my luck.

My owner is an English Teacher who likes to read, travel, listen to music, paint and write. She also likes to have people over and that stresses me out sometimes. She has named me Cookie. Since I only really hear the last vowel sound, I also answer to Sushi, Honey and Baby. She doesn’t like routines, although she does have some, so she varies in my name calling. People say that she owns me, but I am the one who rules at home. Let’s say that she is the one who lives with me.

We have been together since I was 3 months old, the size of a CD cover. She loves taking pictures so she has a rich register of pictures of me from that time on. I don’t mind being photographed, in fact, I only mind when she uses that strong flash. It’s really blinds me for a while.

Photo by Meire Marion Jan.11, 2013 - Cookie waiting for breakfast on top of washing machine 

She takes good care of me although I realize that I am a bit of a bother especially because I wake her up every morning at 4am for her to fill my food bowl. Since I sleep most of the day, I roam around the apartment and outside on the veranda  and end up eating all my food. All I have to do is scratch one of the many doors and up she goes stumbling in the dark to the kitchen to feed me. After eating, I go over to her bed and find a warm spot near her feet. They are nice and soft and I like to use them as pillows. She doesn’t mind. When I was a kitten, I used to sleep near her head or her back, but now I have grown to be quite big. There have been times though where she has kicked me off the bed. I choose to believe that it was by mistake and she has also rolled over on top of me; a little growl always did the trick.

Photo by Meire Marion January 11, 2013 - Cookie in the morning

Whenever she goes away on a trip, I try to go along and am the first to hop into her suitcase. But it never works. For long trips she usually takes me over to her parents house, which to me feels like Disneyland because it is so huge, so much to explore and enjoy. Besides her mother feeds me a lot and no one touches me because they think I am antisocial.

Whenever she goes on a short trip like three days to five, her friend comes over to feed me. I am getting used to this, but her friend walks around on crutches and that really freaks me out. The noise the crutches make is very intense to my sensitive ears.  This has only been this way over a year or so.

One time in 2011, my owner was taken away by two men and she only came back after seven days. During those seven days I was fed by her father who would come over every day just before midday pour food in my dish, clean my water bowl, clean out my sand box and run a little shower water in the shower box. I just love drinking water out of the shower box. I love getting my paws wet and then walking around the house for them to dry. When my owner came home, I was so excited that I would walk around meowing so loud that I am sure the neighbors heard. I meowed because I was happy that she was home and sad because she couldn’t walk properly. She had this medal gadget to help her walk and I had to be careful whenever I tried to walk close by to her. She was also so slow in moving about and you could feel that she was in a lot of pain.

The good thing though is that although she still feels the pain, she can fool everyone else but not me, she can move around a bit faster and doesn’t need the walker or the cane to walk anymore. She might stumble and lose her balance sometimes, but she laughs about it and goes on. I guess my hissing at those metal things did the trick.

As I have already mentioned, she loves having people over, mainly for a meal. She usually has family and friends. During these get-togethers I tend to hang out in the office where it is dark and off limits to the guests; to all the guests but one, a little three-year-old boy. His name is Joao Arthur and I am very jealous of him. I watch him closely and my hissing does scare him to some extent, but since it doesn’t scare my owner when I hiss at him, she scolds me. I am jealous of him because he’s always kissing and hugging her. He likes me a lot too. He’s not that bad. The only problem is that he talks too loud and always wants to grab my tail. I do not like anyone grabbing my tail.

I remember that when I was around 4 months old, she had a friend who would come over to visit and she would pull my forehead over my eyes. I couldn’t do anything about it. However, now when that person comes to visit, I keep my distance. People think cats do not have good memories, well that is just not true. I am sure that you would remember this kind of torture too.

Not all the people who come over I hide from. There is one guy who comes over every fifteen days to learn English. He is pretty cool. I walk by him; sometimes I let him pet me. He likes pets, I can tell from the vibes he lets out. Also, I have heard him and my owner chat about his dog. I do not know what a dog is for I have never seen one, but based on his energy, his dog must be nice. Maybe I’ll meet him one day.

So that is a bit of me. My name is Cookie and I am a happy almost 10-year-old Persian Cat.

Photo by Meire Marion taken January 6, 2013 - Cookie

( Written January 7, 2013)