Miss Soph, or Sophie as she was first named, is our beautiful thirteen year old Birman cross (at the time of writing this). This blog category wouldn’t make sense if I didn’t introduce our very special girl first, so here we go.
Miss Soph arrived with her siblings as young kittens in a box on the doorstep of my veterinarian aunt’s place of work towards the end of 2008. From there, Sophie’s two siblings were adopted and my aunt took Sophie and her other sister Pippi (who we nicknamed Miss Peep) in.
Found in the family photo album archives! Top: Baby Soph. Bottom: Baby Soph with her sweet sister Pippi
From the beginning, Sophie and Pippi’s personalities were apparent: Sophie would reach through the enclosure every time someone walked past, and Pippi couldn’t care less. Miss Soph is definitely a people cat, while Pippi tended towards aloofness but was very friendly on her own terms.
I began looking after Sophie and Pippi in 2015. I still look after Miss Soph today, but Miss Peep passed away at the end of 2020. We still miss her, but we’ve slowly adjusted to her absence and look after each other.
A few of Miss Soph’s favourite (and not so favourite) things
Miss Soph enjoys sunshine of any kind and has her favourite spots. These include outside on her outdoor armchair (now very old and falling apart), in the entrance room on rug covered boxes where the sun streams in in the afternoons, and any windowsill that’s getting sun.
She loves warmth and curling up in any warm and cosy spot, often my lap. I like to leave the carrier that we transport her to the vet in out for her when it’s not in use, and Sophie often finds that to be a suitable and comfortable place to nap – trying to entice her into the same carrier when we take her to the vet is another matter.
Sophie is an excellent patient when it comes to vet visits (I think so anyway). She doesn’t like getting into her carrier, the car travel there or the actual visit (especially curious dogs and the chirping birds in the reception area, as well as some necessary but uncomfortable medical investigations), but she’s a very good-natured and sweet little cat. Not so little actually, usually weighing upwards of 6kgs, but we’re working on that.
As well as being a people-cat, Miss Soph is certainly a food cat.
Adventure Cat: Miss Soph and the great outdoors
Sophie enjoys her time outdoors in the backyard. Sometimes she just wants to sit on the grass and sniff the air then meow to the world. Or sometimes she prefers to roll around on the pavers before retreating back inside if the weather is too hot or cold to stay out for long.
She loves her brushings and we try to give her these daily. We don’t think her grass addiction is helping her digestive upsets, but she loves her grass and it’s difficult to deter her.
When she’s outside during the day she likes someone to sit out there with her or while she explores. She meows very loudly if she’s out there on her own to let everyone in the neighbourhood know that she’d like company outdoors.
Our backyard is often visited by spotted doves which Sophie watches intently. We also have lizard visitations like shinglebacks and blue-tongues, as well as geckos scurrying in the retaining wall and creating a home for themselves in our small garden shed.
In the evenings when the weather permits, usually in spring and summer, Sophie can be found sitting very still near our nectarine tree staring at the retaining wall.
Miss Soph staring at the wall in her ‘little denim dress’, worn to protect her skin from a bout of over-grooming.
Before this she makes sure that we feed her so she has enough energy for her vigorous hunting routine (sitting and staring at the wall), and comes in meowing every so often to give us updates about the hunt. Sometimes she sits out there for hours.
While her back legs aren’t too strong, she makes up for it in upper body strength in her front legs. To get to the upper level on top of the retaining wall in front of the back fence, she jumps up, grabs onto the top of the wooden wall and hoists herself up (as you can see in the image above!).
Miss Soph balances her outdoor time with lots of indoor relaxation time
When she’s not adventuring outdoors, Miss Soph enjoys her down time, which often involves a warm lap or other comfortable area. Sophie is definitely a people person, even more so now that Pippi is no longer with us. She loves company, but we don’t know how she would cope with another cat at this stage and whether it would be too much for her. At the moment she seems to be content with her humans for company.
Miss Soph is easily unsettled by things. For example when it rains she’ll often hide under the bed. When there are unfamiliar people around or other goings on that she finds disturbing, she’ll crawl into bed under the covers. Any knocks on the door and her reaction is the same.
We both don’t like the summer heat, loud noises or knocks on the door. Unfortunately, when the latter happens, as a human I’m expected to answer the door rather than taking Sophie’s approach, which I’d honestly prefer to do most times.
Miss Soph is a cat of many names
As well as Miss Soph, Sophie has been called many things by me and others over the years.
Her name repertoire currently consists of Mrs Soph, Little Cinnamon Bun, Soph the loaf (especially when she sits in the loaf position), Pudding (or shortened to Little Pud), Little Miss, and at the vet clinic she has also been called a “snow cat”, a “big lady” and “sausage” at various times.
I’m not sure what she thinks of these names, but she seems to respond to them well in any case.
Related Reads
- 3 Essentials to Keep Your Senior Cat Warm in Winter
- Introducing Sapphy!
- Introducing Sylvie!
- How to Keep Your Senior Cats Cool in Summer
Now that I’ve had a chance to introduce you to my beautiful cat Sophie, I’d love to meet the special animals in your lives!
Feel free to comment below or email me at [email protected].
Looking forward to meeting your animals soon and hearing all about them!
Much love to you and your animals,
Melissa and Miss Soph x
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