What Is It?

When I was thirteen, my family lost our first cat. A few months later, we decided to get another. We had two cats at that point, and the younger of the two liked to play, while the much older one did not. So we thought we’d adopt another young cat to keep the younger one company. This way she would have someone to play with and leave the older cat alone (she did not appreciate attempts to play). That’s how we got Molly, a three year old, timid tabby.

It didn’t work out as we’d hoped, Molly was too timid and just got bullied by the other cat. She spent most of her first year with us living in our basement.

About a year and a half after the first cat passed, our next oldest cat also passed away. Now we were back down to two cats, Molly, and our other cat Diamond, who liked to bully her. They came to a sort of understanding, and could tolerate each other, but they weren’t really friends.

Nine months, and Diamond passed away as well. She was only nine years old. She had been a gift from my uncle, who had barn cats. She was polydactyl and we’re pretty sure her father was probably also a half brother. This caused her to have kidney problems, which came on very suddenly. Now we only had Molly.

At first this was great. Molly finally started to come out of her shell. She would spend more time with us, and became more confident roaming the whole house. She was the queen of the castle now. No one to bully her, and all of our attention was focused on her.

Then we went on vacation. My family usually took two long holidays a year, staying away for about a week. My grandfather would stop by the house to visit with the cats, and make sure they had plenty of food/water etc. Until now, it hadn’t been a problem. This time, it was. We came back, and Molly was in a state. She thought we had abandoned her. For a week after we got back, she sat on my mother’s chest all night.

This made us very concerned. How could we possibly ever go on another vacation, if Molly thought we were abandoning her every time? Eventually, we realized she needed company while we were gone. While she and Diamond had never been friends, when we’d gone away in the past, her reaction had never been this bad. She would be a little standoffish for a few days, but then she would go back to normal.

So it was decided, we would get her a companion. We decided to get a kitten, as we figured a younger cat would pose less of a threat. That’s where Sophie comes in.

At first, Molly had no idea what to do with this small, squeaky furball. She would hiss at Sophie and run away. As we learned quite quickly, kittens are curious and determined, and don’t give up easily. Sophie wanted to be friends, so she just wore Molly down. First, she would sit at the opposite side of a room, or the other end of a couch. Molly would watch her constantly, waiting to see what she would do. Over time, they got closer and closer. Molly became less wary of Sophie, until she just decided to ignore/tolerate her.

Within a year or so, they were best friends. They’d curl up next to each other and cuddle, they’d even groom each other. Our problem was solved, Molly now had a friend to keep her company any time we went away.

A funny aside to this story, about three years after we got Sophie, my family decided to get another cat. While they loved to cuddle, Sophie loved to play, and Molly did not. There was also a five year age difference, and we thought it might be nice for Sophie to have a companion closer to her age who would play with her.

We decided to go the same route of getting a kitten who would just wear them down until they were accepted. This is how we ended up adopting Hazel. The funny part is, that when the small squeaky furball came home this time, Molly didn’t bat an eye. She was just like, “Oh, you got another one.” And she walked away. Sophie was the one hissing and freaking out at the new addition to the household. But just as she had done to Molly three years prior, Hazel eventually wore her down.

Sadly, Molly passed away about a year and a half ago. Both Sophie and Hazel were saddened and confused by this change. This cat who had been around for as long as they had both been part of our family, was gone. The two of them are great friends, they cuddle, give each other baths, and wrestle. Sophie is now the queen of the house, and will occasionally kick Hazel off a bed or stool.

So funny that they’re best buds when they have such different personalities. Sophie is a lovable, lazy lump who will purr and ask for pats from anyone. While Hazel is hyper active and very particular about when and where she will accept attention.