In the countryside where I lived growing up, there live three cats, Sapphy, Sylvie and Topaz.
You’ve already been introduced to my cat Sapphy in this blog post here, whose birthday it was in October. She’s now a teenager at the time of writing this.
So now let me introduce you to Sylvie, who turns 13 today.
Sylvie: The Cat, The Chonk, The Legend
Adopted from the Animal Welfare League SA at the beginning of 2010, Sylvie is my mum’s cat. While my dad and I took Sapphy home with us, my sister and mum went to the AWL shelter with the intention of my sister adopting a cat of her own.
They ended up coming home with two cats; my sister’s calico tortie cat Topaz, and Mum’s grey tabby cat Sylvie. The story goes that Sylvie was so cute and friendly at the shelter with her take-me-home antics, but as soon as we got her home, she showed her true aloofness and weird colours (not that we loved her any less for this obviously).
Her fur was slightly coarse and in need of some grooming. I remember her stitches from the recent spaying procedure stuck out at an odd angle, and it seemed as though she’d had her fair share of difficulties in her very early life, coming to us a bit dishevelled and nervy.
Early on in the piece, she developed ringworm and had to be bathed, which was no easy task. After that, her coarse fur became soft and has stayed soft and silky ever since.
Baby Sylvie just waking up from a nap. The best photo from the archives I could find.
I’m pretty sure that she’s some kind of fancy cat cross, maybe a British Shorthair or something, because of the way she looks, the way her fur feels slightly different and has that softness to it, and the way she behaves that are all traits so similar to the British Shorthair cats I met when I did some voluntary work at a boarding cattery.
Her levels of activity over the years have decreased, and she’s now mostly a couch potato, but does venture outdoors, particularly when someone else is outside as well. She weighs in at over 6kgs and has been described by a family member as “an absolute unit.”
Sylvie took a particular shine to my brother, who has now moved out but the bond remains when he comes back to visit occasionally.
She also took (and I think still takes) a shine to me, especially at a time when I was at home a lot when other house occupants were out during the day. I think the reason for that is partly due to the fact that when she was a kitten, I didn’t rush her and I respected her boundaries. She didn’t and still doesn’t like being picked up. As most cats do, she shies away from someone being directly in front of her, so I used to sit beside her and build up a respectful rapport in the early stages. I let her come to me when she was ready, rather than trying to force pats and contact. This is really important when it comes to animal care – it’s all about consent and rapport building, not fear-based tactics or pressure because you’re trying to get them to behave in the way that you want them to. Cats will be cats.
So with all that boundary-respecting rapport building (or as I think of it rappaw building) and slow gentle understanding of her needs based on the kind of cat she was and is, while being mindful of her mystery difficult early life prior to the shelter (we often said something about her having a hard life on a farm), we’ve developed a nice bond.
Sylvie gets very vocal, and loves pats, but only when she makes it clear that that’s what she’d like by purring, meowing, and rubbing around legs and outstretched hands.
If you sit with your back against a couch or wall, with your legs up but feet on the floor to create a bridge of sorts, she loves to walk underneath one way, then the other way. My sister’s record so far for number of under-the-leg walks in one sitting is 11, mine is 13.
Throughout her life with us, she hasn’t had any particular adventures of note. Her vet visits have been generally non-eventful, and one year she was referred to as “festively plump.” On the way to the vet she meows. She starts up as soon as she gets put in the carrier. All our cats are generally quiet on the way back home once the ordeal is over. But I don’t think Sylvie makes the vet visits any more enjoyable or tolerable for the other cats with her incessant and desperate meowing. In the car. In the waiting room. In the consult room. Then not so much on the way home again.
At the vet clinic she has to be bundled up in a towel, as getting her worming tablets into her is a two person job – a vet nurse will tentatively but firmly hold her in a towel and describes this method and her as a “hissy burrito” (which Sophie’s vet referred to as a “pussy burrito”, and others have described as a “purrito”). With tablet administration, usually a few attempts need to be made and the tablets have been known to fly around the room and ping off areas I didn’t think they could get to. Having her claws clipped is another struggle, but I feel like last year’s vet team had the right idea by clipping her claws while holding her legs back as you would for a horse’s hooves. Hard to describe, and still a two person job, but it does get the mani-pedi done with minimal fuss and no towel required.
Sylvie’s Likes:
- Food, and lots of it.
- Her elaborate cardboard condos set up for her comfort and convenience.
- Sleeping on her special blanket on the couch, or in her Barbie chair or Bananas in Pyjamas chair.
- Purring around and meowing.
- Sometimes coming for walks around the property – never too far away from the house or food though.
- Playing with string-like toys.
- Tinsel at Christmas time (we’re careful with this).
- Being left alone and undisturbed; she likes a lot of personal space.
- Meditating in a sunny spot inside or sometimes outside.
- Lying on jigsaw puzzles.
- When I was living in the hills and after I had some surgery, she used to come on to my bed and walk over me, almost like a massage before settling down the end of my bed for the night.
Sylvie’s Dislikes:
- Rain and stormy weather.
- Loud noises.
- Being picked up.
- Personal space invaders and having her sleep disturbed.
- Unknown people visiting or builders and other handy-people.
- She’s been known to hiss at Topaz at times, but whether that’s due to poor eyesight or because she’s just in a mood we’re not sure.
- People not paying attention to her when she’s meowing and demanding attention.
Final Thoughts
It’s been my pleasure to introduce you to our chonky girl Sylvie on her birthday. I’m sure there’ll be plenty more stories to share about her in the coming years as she enjoys her senior phase of life.
Connect with me in the comments below or reach out to me at [email protected] and let me know about the special cats in your life!
I’d love to hear from you, from one cat enthusiast to another.
Much love to you and your cats,
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