Nov 13th, 2024 Wednesday Cloudy
It is a truth universally acknowledged that every cat, however ‘normal’ or ‘average’ they seem to be, must have their own quirks.
For some cats, their quirks are quite obvious, easily noticed within a couple of days. They may have a unique way of meowing, show a strong preference for a specific toy, or move around in a stylish way. As cat parents, we find these quirks adorable, and usually do not try to discourage them (in many cases, discouragement will certainly prove unsuccessful any way).
For other cats, like Sesame, it takes a while to discover their eccentricity.
At first, Sesame seemed perfectly well-behaved. Gentle towards us, comfortable about being handled or picked up in any possible way, eating eagerly without any particular pickiness of food (although his obsessiveness about leafy veggies such as cabbage and lettuce is rather puzzling), and napping readily. While we expected to find a boy kitten being naughty and causing trouble often, Sesame appears to be as easy-going as one could imagine.
In fact, my husband voiced the concern that Sesame might be too calm for his age. Compared to his sister Yuuki, who would chase ringing balls, stringy fish, or our hands nonstop until she exhausts herself, Sesame would lie on the floor in the most relaxed pose, watching all the play around him with interest but no desire to participate, and only move his paws towards a toy if it happens to get close enough for him to catch without standing up on his legs. If this is how he hunts in the wild, I cannot apprehend how he manages to feed himself.
My husband’s worry soon turned out to be unnecessary, for Sesame has become fascinated with a new game – slipping through an opening door.
Although we are happy to share the whole house with our two kitties, we have set up some rules to protect certain areas. Bedrooms are off the limit because of my husband’s allergy. No felines are allowed in the office or the basement due to too many delicate things there (i.e. miniatures in the office, young plants in the basement), not to mention the countless nooks and crannies in the basement that cats can sneak into, making it impossible to bring them out. All these spaces have doors guarding them, some even with a cat-proof handle.
Nevertheless, Sesame finds his way in. Whenever there is a chance.
In the beginning, I thought it a natural curiosity in kitties that they want to see what is behind this barrier that they cannot overcome themselves. So when Sesame ran into the master bedroom the first time, I let him explore for a while, then carried him out.
But then it happened again. And again. And again. By now Sesame has invaded the restricted zone hundreds of times, pretty much on a daily basis, and any behavior technique we have attempted to deter him has not been fruitful. He is surprisingly fast (despite a lazy look, he is definitely a better runner than Yuuki if they were to run a race), and he can dash into the door so quickly that we sometimes do not even realize it until we close the door to see a triumphant furry blob in the center of the room, especially since the moment we are about to turn the door knob, Sesame was nowhere near us!
It is even more bewildering that most of the time, Sesame has no objection of being kicked out (after he made in), and is not keen on hiding or checking out the room while inside. Why does he want to go in then?
It just occurred to me that, perhaps for Sesame, the process of entering the door itself is a fun game, possibly a challenge? The success being the reward, once the action of entrance is completed, the game is over. He just needs to wait for the next opportunity to play it again.
I wish I could enjoy more activities with intrinsic motivation like Sesame does.