April 7: Neurotic cat

Our cat was a stray before we adopted her, so we have no idea what her past history is except that she's spayed and de-clawed. And someone at some point taught her that snapping fingers mean "get off the kitchen counters!" She has her little feline neuroses, some undoubtedly resulting from her having been a starving stray last winter. She's obsessive about her food, meowing insistently if anyone goes remotely near her dish, even though she's now a normal weight and has been on the same feeding regimen for three months. And she has a spot on her right hind leg, perhaps the site of an old injury, that she licks repeatedly. My husband and I joke that we've taught her one trick; when she curls up next to us, one of us will say, "Flop down and lick your leg." And she does. It seems to be her method of relaxing--suddenly collapsing alongside one of us and licking that darn leg. But it apparently soothes her.

It may drive us nuts,
but who are we to judge what
brings calm to others?