Happy Caturday: orange cats’ funny ways of getting high.

I recently bought a paper tray for my cats to sharpen their nails. In the package I got a small bag of catnip. I was so glad that I could let my cats go high with the dried catnip. But to my surprise, both orange cats didn’t react to the small pieces of dried catnip. They just ignored the catnip. So, I ordered some catnip seeds to be planted in my garden. I ought to find the time and place to plant these seeds. I have seen how temple cats enjoyed themselves chewing the roots of catnip plants which a lady brought to entertain these cats long time ago.

My cats couldn’t be said to be normal cats as they behaved very differently from the usual cats’ norms. They didn’t make any biscuits! I wondered why they didn’t know how to make biscuits like other normal cats. I wondered whether their mother cat never taught them about kneading flour or making biscuits. Although the smaller cat, Kwan liked to sharpen her nails on thick roots, the bigger cat (Joan) rarely did that. Their behaviours puzzled me sometimes.

The female cat,Kwan, seemed to be housebound as she would disappear into the nearby fields and bamboo groves for days. She would find her secret hiding spots in the garden to stay safe from stray dogs that crept through the wired fence. On the other hand, her brother cat liked to go on trips around the fields and visited my neighbours’ house. He seemed to know his way through the woods and bamboo groves very well. His instincts made him walking the fields at night hunting for some field mice. He wasn’t very successful as villagers also set traps for fat field mice. So, he often came back looking very famished and skinny. Kwan really needed to be in a diet as she just stayed home all day long and didn’t go out for long walks.

I was always very worried about Joan whenever he disappeared for a long time. I had to cycle to my neighbours’ house to enquire if Joan was staying at their house. My neighbours often gave him steamed mackerel so he was more inclined to stay at that house for days. When my neighbours went away for several days, Joan would come back to see his sister
and have his meals. I tried to make sure he was healthy and without any wounds from fighting with stray cats. There were two stray cats dropping by at my neighbours’ house quite frequently. I hoped Joan would never get into a fight with other cats.

These orange cats have found their favourite spots for taking long naps. They no longer snuggled together as they used to do two years ago. How things have changed with time! I guessed they got older and developed their own personalities with more emotional independence. I liked my cats to be strong mentally and physically so that I didn’t have to be anxious about their well being. Lately I found that each cat had a spot where they could get high and looked very ‘intoxicated’ with some invisible vibes or scents.

One day, I was yelling out for Joan to come back for his meal. I knew he was downstairs somewhere but he refused to answer my calls. My gardener told me he was sleeping on the wall. So, I went to see why he’s sleeping there. To my surprise, Joan looked as if he’s drunk or high on catnip. He was behaving as if he’s having a very good time rubbing his chin on the wall. He wouldn’t pay attention to me even when I stood near him, asking him why he’s sleeping there. I was afraid he might accidentally fall down and injure his back.

He didn’t seem very concerned about his meal either. I watched me turning his head and rubbing his face on the wall. I wondered if someone rubbed some catnip roots on the wall. I watched him being high for a while, then I decided to carry him back to the house to have his dinner. If Joan continued to be high like that, other stray cat or dog could easily catch him off guard. So, I had to bring him inside the house.

On the other hand, I found out that Kwan also had her special place to get ‘high’. As I walked towards the front gate, Kwan followed me to the front yard. But she didn’t follow me to the other side of the dirt road. Kwan lay on the ground by the post at the gate. It seemed some animal has made a scent at that spot. Kwan was sniffing a lot and suddenly threw herself down and rubbed herself against the post. That surprised me greatly as I couldn’t guess what kind of scent could be so attractive for this cat and not her brother. She seemed so high that she couldn’t hear my voice, she was lost in her own psychedelic trip. It was as if she was high on cannabis.

Kwan’s behaviour was quite amazing. She was rubbing her body against the pole with close eyes and smile on her face. She was drunk and high with some mysterious scent an animal left on the post. I had to take her photos to record this moment. I hoped she would realise that she had lost her conscious mind for a long duration. I tried to warn her to be cautious of stray dogs that came running along the dirt road several times a day. Kwan’s eyes were still closing in deep intoxication. I wondered why Joan didn’t react to the scent at this spot while Kwan just went crazy and wouldn’t move away.

After a while, I had to carry Kwan back to the house as I couldn’t watch out for her any longer. She was very reluctant to get back inside the house. But she soon regained her ‘rationality’ soon after eating her meal. I wished I could find out why Kwan went high on the scent by the post and who left that strange scent there. It couldn’t have been stray dogs’ scents, as they were very hostile and aggressive towards my cats. They had come inside the garden to chase my cats around the place several times. So, Kwan shouldn’t like these dogs’ scents naturally. So, the causes which made my Orange cats feeling high or intoxicated remained a mystery to me!

Wishing you peace, good health and prosperity.

Stay strong and cheerful.