Mom on Pongo
What comes to mind when I think of Pongo?
Affectionate: He comes running with his black tail held high up whenever I call him. It's not enough for him to rub my leg in the usual cat-way. To greet me, he has to rear up on his hind legs and ram his head against the leg nearest to him. He waits for me to sit down so he can sit on my lap. He thinks nothing to muscle Kailee off my lap to take her place. While purring loudly, he kneads my lap with his razor-sharp claws. Cowboy: You would say Pongo is a muscular cat. When he walks toward you, his white front legs, with disproportionately large 6-toed paws, appear bowed and remind you of an American movie-cowboy striding toward a saloon.
Playful: Always ready for a game to chase a moving rope, leaping high up in the air and finally with claws extended to pin and hold it down. After a good scratch on the head and a hearty rub along each chin line with him pushing his head against your hand, he plops down on the ground and rolls side to side on his back. . Kailee, bigger and heavier, puts up with him chasing her. She will sometime stop on her track and he would stumble over her. As they pick up the chase again, he would arc around to head her off. Pongo and Kailee are always happy to hike the backyard trails with me. They would stop here and there to sniff and explore. Pongo would meow "Where are you?" when he lose track of me. He comes running when I call to him.
Hunter: On most days, Pongo is usually not at the cat-house, a converted club house Kim's Dad built for her, he is somewhere watching quietly under a tree or a bush ready to stalk a bird, a mole, a mouse, a frog or even a young rabbit. His bad habit of eating these wild creatures requires regular medication to rid of tapeworm infestation. His range includes the farm and the pond across the street. His crossing the street worries me, as motor vehicles speed by on the semi-country roads. In the evenings, when dinner sounds, with the spoon hitting a can of cat food, he appears somewhere in the front yard, follows me to the cat- house, jumps on the food table, circling patiently to be served after Kailee, then devours his portion of Friskies.
Dominating: He doesn't like to be picked up, he will swat you with claws extended. However, he is content stretched out on Anybody's lap, even Big John's. If he can't sit on your lap, he will sneak, jump or claw his way up on your shoulders, encircling your neck with his body and put his pink nose to your face, blinking nonchalantly. He has chased Cinders so relentlessly off his that we had to keep Cinders in the garage and make garage off limits to the other two cats.
Intelligent: No other cats I ever owned can do things Pongo does. With his strong front paws, he will calmly open the screen doors or savagely shred the screens to squeeze into the house. When the garage became off limit to Kailee and Pongo, he was smart enough to know not even to try to get into the garage.
The yellow-eyed white cat with a pink nose and Gateway cow-like black patches on his body is always ready to interact with you: runs to greet you, sit on your lap at every opportunity, hike the backyard trails with you, wants so badly to see you that he will leap five feet up and hangs with his claws on the millimeter thin window overhang and pull himself up to look into the kitchen. A sheet of clear Lexan placed in front of the window tricked him and he came sliding down. Thinking he has unlearned the bad habit, I opened the window on a warm day. To us and our guests' surprise and amazement, he came sailing into the kitchen, landing on the counter and sauntered into the house. To satisfy their needs to look into the kitchen, we placed a ladder in front of the window so the cats can clamber up to the top. The two of them could survey the backyard or look into the kitchen at the top two rung. Curiously, Pongo would let Kailee have the top rung.
As a cat, Pongo is classified as an American Shorthair U.S.: A true breed working cat. Muscular, intelligent, hardy, agile, an exceptional hunter, yet has a good temperament. Coat is thick, even and hard in texture. Colors various w. specific eye color.
Kailee 2/6/02
Cinders 1/9/02
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Department of Geophysics Stanford University |
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