Queen Paggie

QUEEN
PAGGIE

September 1987, I brought Pagos and her adoptive sister Peaches home to live with me. I've always had a fondness for calico or tortoise shell cats, but the pet store did not have any kittens of that coloring. However, they did have a very curious little fuzz-ball black tiger striped kitten, with rusty brown under coloring. A close look at her fur strands shows three colors, black, white and brown, striped on many of the hairs. We immediately hit it off, and Pagos became part of the family. Because of the varied coloring, I was going to call her Galapagos (for the Islands), but this was way too much of mouthful when calling her, so I shortened it to "Pagos", and affectionately to "Paggie".

As a kitten, she enjoyed the typical "kitten" activities like playing with toys, mommies' toes, her sister's tail, and sleeping. A favorite toy was a discarded knee-high nylon stocking, knotted up on itself. (We had lots of discarded socks floating around the apartment!) Paggie learned to "fetch" the sock. I would toss it and she would chase it, then carry it back to me for another toss. It was years before she grew tired of this play.

On moving in with my sister and her cats, Paggie was the first to venture up the stairs on our first night, looking for mommie. For about a year afterwards, she would hiss at anyone, human or feline, who would dare to approach her. Eventually, she settled into the routine.

As she got older, the play and games lost their appeal, and snoozing in my chair or on my bed was much more attractive.

When we lost her sister, Peaches, Paggie seemed to be at a loss for a few weeks, even getting up on the recliner where Peaches usually slept during the day. Eventually she seemed to understand the Peaches was not coming back, and became accustomed to running the household.

In the spring of 2007, when we started feeding strays on our deck, Paggie would get really agitated whenever she saw them. It became her habit to 'check out the deck' through the sliding doors every time she ventured into the kitchen/dining room. In this picture, she jumped up on the chair that I had been sitting on while trying to snap some pictures of the kittens. My sister thought it was hilarious that both my cat and myself were exhibiting the same behavior.

Since rescuing the kittens, Paggie has not been very happy. She tends to stay mostly in my bedroom and computer room, where I try to give her as much attention as I can. At 20 years old, she sleeps a lot. I'm pretty sure she has lost most of her hearing, as she can sleep through people walking through the room making noise that previously woke her up instantly. This is probably a good thing, as she doesn't hear the kittens. But whenever she sees one of them, she hisses at them if they are too close. Sometimes she just tenses and stares at them. I hope she adjusts to their presence. If not, I hope the stress is not too much for her. Keeping my fingers crossed!

Now after 2 1/2 months, I think Paggie is coming to terms with the kittens. She still hisses at them, but sometimes, she just seems to shrug her shoulders and moves on.

I take extra steps to be sure Paggie gets fed. She is used to eating a little at a time, and unless I'm careful, the kittens will gobble down both their food and Paggie's at feeding times. I also only let the kittens in my bedroom overnight on rare occasions. The first time I tired it, poor Paggie paced around the perimiter of the bed, hissing at anything that moved. That, besides the freight train that moved from the hall, to under the bed, to the bathroom, back to the bed until at least 12:30 PM was enough to limit "overnight" visits. So now, Paggie spends the night alone with me which gives her some ease, at least I think so. In this picture from late September 2007, I think she is giving one or more of the kittens the "evil eye" as she leaves one of her favorite sleeping spots (which she reclaimed), the file cabinet next to my desk. (Covered with the light blue towel.)