Zola has been exhibiting some interesting characteristics lately, interesting in the sense that she’s acting very much like Mickey in some ways. We’ve been letting her out lately, first for small amounts of time supervised and now for longer periods unsupervised. I didn’t really want to go that route, but given that she spent the first eight months of her life outside, it was clear that she wasn’t going to be happy strictly being an indoor cat.
What’s funny is that frequently, she’ll go to the door to be let out, and then stand on the outside patiently waiting for me to join her. So, I do, and then we head out to the backyard, where she proceeds to hop up on the bench next to me - just like Mickey used to.
The Boyfriend said that energy can’t be destroyed and that Mickey had a good life and maybe her energy is now part of Zola. It’s an interesting thought, and rather comforting.
Still, Zola has a personality of her own and she’s still very much a kitten at heart. Today, on one of our excursions outside, she immediately spotted something in the flower beds and stalked her way into them. Moments later, she came back over to the bench, carrying something in her mouth. I was relieved to see that it was a dead leaf. I wasn’t quite as thrilled to realize that the leaf had been covering up some kind of insect (I suspect it was a cicada or katydid).
She tormented her prize for a while and at one point, chased it a little too close to me for comfort. I got up and moved closer to the house and talked to my mom who was still inside. A minute or so later, I noticed that Zola had her nose to the ground, looking for the bug. I hadn’t noticed anything getting away, but she had clearly lost it. I walked a little closer to her and asked her where it went. Obviously, she didn’t answer. But she did turn away from me just enough for me to notice her “victim” had managed to attach itself to her collar.
She had no clue.
I had my cell phone with me, so I quick snapped a picture. Between her moving around and my trying to avoid the bug, it’s a bit blurry.
She never did figure out where it was. A few minutes later, she must have thought it was back in the brush, so ran back in. When she came back, she was bug free.
Mickey would have had it. But Zola has plenty of time to fine tune her hunting and gathering skills.