PIXIE

Pixie was found starving and crying in the woods when we were out walking Sasha. She came up to right up to Sasha. Pixie followed Sasha home and has been following her ever since. When no one claimed Pixie and the shelter did not know of any lost cats of her description she became our cat.

Any time we are in the kitchen or she is hungry she will stand and scream. Of all the pets we have she is the most vocal. Preparing dinner with her is always an experience. She hollers even after you have filled her dish. If she does not get the same food as the dogs she frequently walks off in a huff. Unfortunately because she developed severe food allergies a couple of years ago she does not often get the same food as the dogs.

Pixie loves poodles. She truly loved Sasha and seemed to think we got Gidgett just for her. When she was younger Pixie followed Sasha on our walks to the end of her territory and then waited for our return. They were best buddies. We say that when we got Gidgett she was a present for Pixie. If another breed of dog comes to our house, Pixie either tries to chase it away or she hides unless the dog is a poodle. She will walk right up to other poodles regardless of their color, size, or hair cut.

While we have a pet door Pixie prefers a litter box. Strangely enough she won't use it during the day while we are at work. She waits until we come home and open the dog door. Then she runs in the bathroom where her litter box is to do her business. Jeff thinks she does it just to annoy him. We started training her to actually use the toilet but gave up when she kept demanding that we flush when she finished. Unfortunately it seems that she uses the potty around 3:00 AM. When we had an addition built on the rear of the house, Pixie decided she needed a second litter box in it. She seemed very confused about where our old screened porch went with it's original dog door.

With age she has learned to ignore strangers. As long as she can lay on the arm of Jeff's chair, she is happy. She loves being petted or brushed so if visitors oblige her, so much the better.

Obedience school did not go over well with Pixie. She was frightened of th dogs. She did demonstrate that she knows what jump means. She will jump over a poodle or a bunny or a normal obedience jump or through a hoop. She also knows the hand signal for sitting up and begging.

Visiting one of the local nursing homes used to be something that she enjoyed. She loved all of the attention she got. It used to be hard getting her back from the residents because they want to keep her and she wants to stay with them. Now she is retired.

Small wild animals used to be fair game to Pixie. She brought home snakes, large bugs, lizards, mice, rats, birds, frogs, etc. Being a proper kitty she took them all into the dining room to enjoy them at her leisure. Now that she is an older lady we get fewer "gifts".

Pixie's greatest trick is that she gets along with all of my other pets. When we got Pixie our rat BK (RIP) was still alive. She learned very quickly through the use of a squirt bottle never to bother the bunnies. This knowledge surprisingly enough carried through to BK. He could walk up to her, stand on his hind legs and stick his whiskers in her face. She would get an expression of disgust on her face but she never attempted to hurt him or any of his predecessors.

In August of 2004 we gave Pixie her greatest challenge. We brought home Zippy the American parakeet. Not harming Zippy when he was flitting around our house was something that only a very special cat was able to do. Pixie is one cool kitty.

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