The Placebo Bengal

I wanted a Bengal! Wasn't that difficult, I had the money, my name was down on the waiting list for the next litter. We weren't allowed to have a dog at the house we were renting - so of course the next best thing had to be a decent size breed of cat, with a temperament more like that of a dog. Bengals like water - & don't mind being walked on leashes -lol!

Besides - I'd held one at the Pet Store sometime earlier & fallen head over heels in love!

I was sick of not having a pet - no dog since my Golden retriever had died & I hadn't had a cat in 23 years.

After a holiday in Australia I came home to the news that a litter had been born - & the choice was mine....boy or girl! Boy of course - they grow bigger. So now all I had to do was wait - for the 3 months until they were old enough.

Of course fate intervened & time spent by Michaela playing at a new friends house, where there just had to be kittens, resulted in a very excited 10 year old coming home & saying "Mummmmm, can we have a kitten - you should see them they are so cute...pleeeease , can we get one....there are only two left". You can guess the rest.
I went around there & to be honest this wee beauty wasn't in the safest or cleanest of environments, a couple of the kittens had already died - I didn't like her chances of survival if she was left there.
Yep - I'm a sucker, & so home came a 5 week old kitten......

Enter Bizkit - the cute, independent non- Bengal psycho kitty! Mostly in this photo journey she looks cute - believe me looks can be very deceiving. She does have personality - that much can be said ....with a good smidgen of stupidity that no self respecting cat should have.

For a while we didn't know what to call her. I wanted "Delilah" - but the kids wanted a cutesy name like "Fluffy Bum" or something.....

She was a tad too small to handle Delilah when she was small, cute & fluffy.....& slept an awful lot.

& she did sleep - anyhow.....anywhere.... anytime.

We always knew she'd make a great mouser ..........

if only she could stay awake long enough!

Even as a littley she was brave & indomitable -
she never displayed fear of any beasties bigger than she...

especially 7 inch long "Pooh" toys that were bigger than her!

(even though you had to wonder just how, exactly, she had gotten them down off of a high shelf)

She made friends easily too - trying to fool us humans (& the Jazz the Lorikeet) by looking cute & relaxed ....

not at all predatory....

Well.....

unless she couldn't see us ;o)

She was little - she was cute ....& she still didn't have a name...

Now - the name! While I was still rooting for "Delilah" or something equally as regal sounding - no one else would wear it. The comments each time I suggested it are not printable ....here at least.
One night I entered the kitchen talking away to the bird, & asking Jazz in my best silly birdy voice what we should call the kitten hoping she would miraculously say 'Delilah' - or even Psycho' even though she had been taught neither of these words. I paused mid sentence, upon spotting the kitty by my feet & said (still in silly birdy voice) 'awww you're out of biscuits"...... But what do you think they heard from the dining room " Hey Jazz Baby - what are we going to name this Kitty....biscuit?". A chorus of 'that's it perfect name greeted me ' from the other room. Crap - a Cat called Biscuit & I was getting the blame ....what was worse - it stuck.
Well she's Delilah in my head anyway.

The young Bizkit was rather an unbalanced cat - one second perfectly poised as she walks along a narrow branch & the next clinging for dear life from the same one while all body parts are freely dangling in mid air. Of course we have never managed to capture some of the hilarity on camera .... & of course as soon as he has managed to recover herself she will sit perfectly poised as if to say "Wasn't me!"

Out of deference to her feelings I shan't mention the time she caused me to be locked out of the house with nothing but a bath robe on whilst trying to keep her in, or the time that as a very small kitten she sat perched on the edge of the upper story windowsill 20' above mewling pathetically down at me while I hung the washing out before taking a 50 yard sprint around & through the house & up the stairs & back across the expanse of that huge old place to rescue her!

I'll say this the juvenile Bizkit had character (still wasn't a Bengal though!)

She did show us that she could keep herself clean...

She even showed early signs that she should have been called Delilah - or even Bast .....anything BUT Bizkit!

And absolute hedonist, as cats are, she displayed an ongoing penchant for enjoying extended lunch breaks.......

(although how one can be comfortable chilled out atop a soft chiller lunch pack is beyond me).

There were early hints of her desire to pursue a future in interior decor, where she felt she'd be a valuable decorative asset in any setting.

She is even environmentally friendly.

Now as Bizkit grew she developed her own personality - with heaps more character. Aside from being the only cat the vet had ever encountered that purred after she came out of the anesthetic when we had her fixed, she had a favorite early morning game - "Let's pounce, cling & bite bare feet".

No one, & I do mean no one, was exempt from an attack by Psycho cat. She was capable of sitting there looking totally disinterested as you passed by still half asleep on the way to the loo... but the second you thought you were safe .....OUCH!! Fortunately at almost 4 - she has now almost grown out of that & we only have the occasional attack of the fanged foot fiend!

She's given us her share of sacrifices - both at the front door, when I was once had a fleeting though of someone attempting to place a curse of some sort or give me a warning by leaving a rather large black bird perfectly positioned in the middle of the front door mat ...well until I turned & saw the feathers around her mouth - & the odd mouse has been left at the foot of the stairs. Smaller birds have been found in assorted places - but we wont go there.

To be fair she had an advantage at the old house - it was huge, old & sprawling with a tiled roof & surrounded by tree's - all she needed to do was step out of one of the many, always open, upstairs windows & the birds were an easy target.

I know she misses that at this house - we haven't had any bird or mouse offerings.
What a shame :o)

Instead of becoming the great huntress she desired to be - she has furthered her career in interior design & decor.

If she's not getting the attention she feels she deserves for her efforts - she makes sure you can't ignore her.

She sees herself as an interesting filler to otherwise "uninteresting" wire baskets

(now that can't be comfortable)

She's capable of doing quite a good impression of a snake (with front paws tucked straight back under her body) should she feel like you are going to notice her & move her.

(that can't be comfortable either)