Category: Cats

Kuro and Kogu

Our outside cats have increased since early October: now our house has indeed become a ‘cat mansion’ – even though we can hardly call our house a ‘mansion’. (Please see the ‘Autumn cats’ page for some history.) There are often five or six cats in our small yard, including Ryo and Shiro, for the morning and evening feeding times. Sometimes unknown cats also appear to get leftover food. Even at a cat-friendly house, we can’t say that any old cat is free to come by; so, we feel sorry, but we ask them to leave…

These days, although we don’t know where they come from, Kuro (male) and Kogu (also male) suddenly appear from somewhere whenever we go out the front door. They try very hard to draw near Chris for food, and that makes him very happy.

The black cat, Kuro, probably spends most of the day around our house, so we can call him garden cat number one. We who are used to seeing Kyoku’s face feel that Kuro’s nose is long. His hair is pure black, so it’s hard to read the expression on his face. He recently started to lick Chris’ finger when he points at him. It seems his teeth are very sharp. Even though he doesn’t run away, he miaows and hisses alternately. I’ve been leaving dried-out plants in flower pots, and the hard balls of soil become his toys before we know it. Thanks to him, our back yard became a mess of pots and dead plants from this year’s hot summer. (Of course, we can clean up, but we just haven’t done it yet.)

Our garden cat number two is grey striped Kogu. Kogu has a round body. For a kitten, he has a big tummy. Therefore, his other names are O-sumo-san and Muso. (Of course Chris is thinking about Musoyama, who retired last year.) We can easily imagine that this kitten will become a huge cat in a year’s time. Kogu seems to dislike being touched. But he shows his tummy and rubs his back on the ground. We are not sure what he means, but we imagine he may be happy.

Before we knew what they were up to, on the veranda, they made a planter we got as a wedding present to be their day time nap bed . We still have a mind to use it as a planter because it came across the Pacific Ocean with us; however, we feel like saying ‘Oh, never mind’ when we see their cute recumbent figures.

But there is a guy who doesn’t feel happy to see it: it’s our house cat Kyoku. From his position on top of a shelf, which he uses to watch over the yard, he stretches his long body to see them, and voices his complaints.

–YS, 29 November 2005

29 November 2005