Ying wasn’t the most nervous cat I’ve known. That’d be Twitches, a cat my oldest daughter had, some years back now. She tells me Twitches was even twitchy in her sleep.
My folks got Ying at the pound in Fargo. This was many decades back now.
We’d decided that we wouldn’t get a male cat, since they’re even more prone to kidney problems than their female counterparts. We wouldn’t get a Siamese, given that breed’s reputation for being loud. And we wouldn’t get a longhair because of all the shedding.
That’s the day we got Lady: a big, quiet, calico cat. She’d been at the very back of her compartment, tucked into a catloaf. We might not have seen her, if she hadn’t been so large and had so much long white fur. As it was, I could only tell which end was her head— because that end had a nose.
We also got Ying: a male Siamese. He had a crew cut, the last bit of his kitten coat — and was at the very front of his compartment, reaching out to us through the mesh. He was exactly the sort of cat we’d decided we wouldn’t get.
What can I say? My mother was the most cat-aligned member of the household, but my father and I also liked the critters. And we’re all quite sentimental.
Once we got them home, Lady calmly set about making herself familiar with the house, while Ying — no, I’ll leave that for another time.
A Siamese Skedaddle, a Petrified Pooch, and a Musical CLANG!!
Time passed. I had Ying out, wearing his harness and leash. I wasn’t so much taking him for a walk, as accompanying him on an inspection of the front yard. We were at 1010 by that time, and my folks had decided that letting cats out unattended wasn’t a good idea.
At any rate, I was out by the shrubs at the front of 1010. Ying was a catloaf, facing north, parallel to the street, and — for Ying — quite calm.
I don’t know what happened.
Maybe a blade of grass rustled more loudly than was its wont, maybe an insect in the shrubs took flight.
Whatever the instigating event, Ying’s leash whisked its handle off from around my wrist and followed the high-velocity cat around the corner of the house.
I pounded after the leash, and Ying.
I’d reached the back corner of the next house when Ying’s clarion “RYA!!!” confirmed my guess that he’d been running across the neighborhood’s back yards.
Ying made a sharp right past me and back toward the street. Several yards north, I saw a medium-size stiff-legged dog standing like a small furry sawhorse, facing the now-vanished cat.
By the time I made it back across our front yard, Ying was tearing toward me again, crossing the back yard of our next-door-south neighbors.
A slightly-musical CLANG-RATTLE, heard as I was crossing our front yard, accounted for his change of course. A chain-link fence marked the back of our neighbors’ yard.
Judging from the sound, Ying ran into the fence at full speed. He probably hadn’t noticed it until his head stopped moving. Much of Ying’s behavior makes sense, given the assumption that his eyesight was very sub-par.
A Slightly-Twitchy Tranquility Restored
I finally caught up with Ying. Or, maybe more accurately, Ying finally decided that the crisis was over. At any rate, at some point I managed to match my position with his.
That was good news.
More good news: Ying was being, for him, fairly calm when I approached. I somehow got hold of the leash again, and — eventually — brought the two of us back inside.
I’ll take some credit for getting Ying back. I had the good sense to approach slowly and from the side.
In any case, being human, I probably made so much noise that he had no trouble hearing me coming. Plus, I figure Ying was at least as good as I am at identifying individuals by the sound of their walks. And I was talking to him. Calmly.
A Pedigree Cat: in a Pound??
Something that occurred to me while writing this was that finding a Siamese cat in a pound doesn’t make sense. But we did.
I haven’t priced Siamese cats, but my guess is that we’d have paid a fair amount of money for a ‘breed’ cat. Maybe Ying got away from an owner who hadn’t thought of checking the pound: or, more likely, he wasn’t ‘really’ Siamese. Not at the time.
Ying’s face didn’t have that stretched look that Siamese cats were supposed to have, and the rest of him wasn’t particularly gangly.
These days, I gather that some cat fanciers have decided that Applehead Siamese — aka Thai cats — are okay, too.
Makes sense to me, since that’s apparently what Siamese cats in this country looked like, before someone decided that making them resemble Twiggy-era fashion models was a good idea.1
That’s another topic or two.
I’ll wrap this up with a very quick look at why I don’t have a problem with ‘loving animals’, within reason, and what I think our “dominion” over this world involves.
The Importance of Acting Like Humans
Impressive, effective in the short run, and emphatically not a good idea.
Basically, I think humans are people, animals aren’t,2 and that mistreating animals is a bad idea.
More to the point, that’s what the Church has been saying:
“…2415 The seventh commandment enjoins respect for the integrity of creation. Animals, like plants and inanimate beings, are by nature destined for the common good of past, present, and future humanity. Use of the mineral, vegetable, and animal resources of the universe cannot be divorced from respect for moral imperatives. Man’s dominion over inanimate and other living beings granted by the Creator is not absolute; it is limited by concern for the quality of life of his neighbor, including generations to come; it requires a religious respect for the integrity of creation.
“2416 Animals are God’s creatures. He surrounds them with his providential care. By their mere existence they bless him and give him glory. Thus men owe them kindness. We should recall the gentleness with which saints like St. Francis of Assisi or St. Philip Neri treated animals.
“2417 God entrusted animals to the stewardship of those whom he created in his own image. Hence it is legitimate to use animals for food and clothing. They may be domesticated to help man in his work and leisure. Medical and scientific experimentation on animals is a morally acceptable practice if it remains within reasonable limits and contributes to caring for or saving human lives.
“2418 It is contrary to human dignity to cause animals to suffer or die needlessly. It is likewise unworthy to spend money on them that should as a priority go to the relief of human misery. One can love animals; one should not direct to them the affection due only to persons.…”
(Catechism of the Catholic Church) [emphasis mine]
We’re pretty hot stuff, “little less than a god”, as Psalm 8 says. But “little less than a god” isn’t God, putting it mildly, and one of the bottom lines is that our power and authority comes with scary responsibilities.
I’ve talked about animals, being human, and making sense — even when cultural norms don’t — before:
- “The Grand Canyon, the Petrified Forest, and the Big Picture”
(March 22, 2025) - “A Dog Named Ulysses”
(January 4, 2025) - “Animals, Consciousness, and Conscience”
(June 29, 2024) - “Green Sahara, Environmental and Climate News”
(July 30, 2022) - “Where Have All the People Gone?”
(November 23, 2018)
1 Siamese cats, original and stretch models, and someone who has thin genes:
- Wikipedia
- Thai cat (“This article needs additional citations for verification….”)
- Siamese cat
- Twiggy
2 Another snippet from what the Catechism says about being human:
“…356 Of all visible creatures only man is ‘able to know and love his creator’. He is ‘the only creature on earth that God has willed for its own sake’, and he alone is called to share, by knowledge and love, in God’s own life. It was for this end that he was created, and this is the fundamental reason for his dignity:
“‘What made you establish man in so great a dignity? Certainly the incalculable love by which you have looked on your creature in yourself! You are taken with love for her; for by love indeed you created her, by love you have given her a being capable of tasting your eternal Good.‘
[St. Catherine of Siena’s “Dialogue”, 4,13 “On Divine Providence”]“357 Being in the image of God the human individual possesses the dignity of a person, who is not just something, but someone. He is capable of self-knowledge, of self-possession and of freely giving himself and entering into communion with other persons. And he is called by grace to a covenant with his Creator, to offer him a response of faith and love that no other creature can give in his stead….”
(Catechism of the Catholic Church) [emphasis mine]
As far as I’ve known Siamese cats, with an also ragdoll one being my family’s sole living pet cat right now, I don’t think they’ve sounded quite loud to me. Frequent and audible about asking for touches, food and water, and movement, sure, but not loud. I have, however, quite the memories of them bolting around, and I suppose that lines up with your story here, Mr. Gill? In any case, I’m glad to know that we both have experience with and appreciation for Siamese cats!
🙂 – Yeah. I’m not sure how well-deserved that reputation was, for being loud. Ying wasn’t outstanding that way – ‘nervous as a cat’, yes. But – as you said. This was upwards of a half-century back. Expectations and ‘what everybody knows’ changes: and that’s another topic.
And – yes – bolting around **does** match Ying’s behavior – although he was generally bolting away from something. With an exception that I’m saving for another post.
Finally – 🙂 – yes, I do appreciate Siamese cats: and cats in general. Thanks for responding.
Oh, is that so? Perhaps there was a change of habit in that time? I mean, a lot can change even in a short time, so yeah. And bolting away, huh? In any case, you’re very welcome, Mr. Gill!