Love And A Maine Coon Cat!

With apologies to Elizabeth Barrett Browning – How does my cat Jay love me? Let me count the ways.

My recent blogs have been of the more serious kind so I thought this month I would do the one I intended to do in February for Valentine’s Day – Love and Jay. The subject of love is always a slippery slope because it means something different to everyone. There are so many different kinds of love – for a partner, lover, friend, child, sibling, and parent, among others. And then there is love for a cat!

Although I could not have foreseen it when I got him as a rescue cat at seven weeks and 1.6 lbs, Jay has grown to be 17 lbs and 42 inches from the end of his front paw to his back. He is a mostly Maine Coon cat. I tell him I love him more than anyone in the whole world and, yes, I actually mean it. I know statistically I am going to lose him before almost anyone else close to me but I still want to believe that Jay and I will grow old together. Given that I am no spring chicken and he is, that is possible.

If you want to know more about how I found Jay go to his page, My Muse Jay, in the Menu to the left.

It is not earth-shattering news that animals give us unconditional love. Anyone owned by a pet knows this. It has always been so. I have never managed this kind of love with a human but it is easy with Jay. Of course he is not human but in my mind this is not a bad thing! Cat’s (dogs too) ability to love regardless of how they have been treated truly overwhelms me sometimes. I have a friend who volunteers two half days a week at two separate no kill animal shelters in New York City. I have seen numerous videos of her interacting with the cats there, many of whom have been ill-treated or abandoned and they still come to her for love. What she gives them, and what they give her back, is as close to unconditional love as one can get.

I believe Jay gives me that type of love even as he patiently (sometimes not so much!) tells me when he wants food, a treat from a drawer, his daily walk and even a cuddle. I think he would still love me anyway even if he got none of those things. The bond between us is palpable. So how can I be sure he loves me? Here are the ways:

 

#8 Somehow Jay always knows when I need an afternoon nap and will go and lie seductively on the bed tempting me to join him.

 

 

#7 He made a special effort to go out and buy me a present for my birthday. I try not to read too much into the fact he bought me a book called How to tell if your Cat is plotting to Kill You!

#6 I used to do income taxes and during tax season Jay helped me whenever he could, especially with adding all the receipts.  He still helps me with my own and here is a photo of just how much!

 

 

#5 When I get writer’s block he sits on the bed and stares at me until I start writing again just so he will stop looking at me like that.

 

 

#4 Jay loves to help with the gardening. And before anyone asks, no cat was hurt in the filming of this video. Jay LOVED every second of it. For a long time when he was little and I walked him in a friend’s garden he would just flop down on his side because he wanted to be pulled along like this.

 

 

#3 Jay knows that I don’t like ironing. Once the laundry is folded he immediately jumps into the basket, knowing that his heavy weight will take all the wrinkles out of my clothes. And of course he adds tons of hair to my clothes too so that I will always have him with me. He is thoughtful like that.

 

 

#2 He shares my passion for baseball. The day after Jay came to live with me he still did not have a name. Driving him to his first appointment with the vet I realized I could not continue to call him “little guy”! Suddenly it hit me. I am a HUGE Toronto Blue Jays baseball fan (not easy at the moment!). I did not want to call him Blue but Jay was perfect and so he was named. And it turned out he is as passionate about baseball as I am. I watch every game and once one has started, Jay sits on the table patiently waiting for me to come, and then he watches every moment of the game with me!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

#1 But the one way I know for sure Jay loves me is what happens most mornings and evenings. Jay comes to the bed and crawls under the sheets. I lie on my side with my legs bent when I sleep. Jay spoons himself into my abdomen and I put my hand over him. Sometimes he reaches his front leg up and puts it over my arm. He stays there for 15-20 minutes purring so loudly the walls almost shake. After that he goes off or sleeps near me on the bed. It’s the best way he tells me every day that he loves me. He always looks into my eyes with such love it takes my breath away.

 

Of course Jay is still a cat so his love sessions always seem to happen half an hour after I have fallen asleep or an hour before I wake up in the morning – but who’s complaining.