Wendy Kiang-Spray and her family submitted this sassy cat's story.
"We found her in rural Howard County just before Halloween 2001, making her
currently 12 years old (wow!). She was alone and under Scott's car and was
TINY. Any smaller and she probably wouldn't have made it. Our older daughter
was 3 at the time and named her Sassy after the cat in the movie Homeward Bound.
Sassy's always been an outdoor/indoor cat, preferring to be outdoors almost all
the time. Now that she's older, we have her stay inside when it's very cold,
but she prefers to be outside, lounging around. When she's hungry, she will
literally head-butt the door HARD, to get our attention It sounds like dull
bangs.
"When we walk the dog, she actually follows us around the block, but always
on the prowl. She'll be about 100 feet behind, duck behind cars, jet across
yards, etc. I've never seed a cat do that. Sassy has also been known to climb
to the top of a maple tree and then shimmy her way down. We've also seen her
climb to the top of a tree (tall silver maple), JUMP to a neighboring tree (like
a squirrel might), and then just hang out a while! She's not your stereotypical
sweet kitty. She rolls around in dirt, and used to pounce on our old golden
retreiver, often leaving her claws in his face. Scamp, our beagle, is scared of
her and gives her plenty of leeway. If she's anywhere near the door and I'm
calling Scamp in, he won't dare cross her path. Cat lovers are always happy to
see her at first - she's quite beautiful - but they quickly realize if she's not
in the mood (and she often isn't) - she's a look-but-dont-touch cat.
"Sometimes the odd neighborhood cat (like this orange cat we call
"brokeback") will come into our yard and pester Sassy. I respect her style.
She'll lay low, size up the situation, and won't do anything rash. But the
moment the other cat decides to be aggressive, Sassy will mess him up.
"All these characteristics make her very, very unique which is why we do
adore her. Sassy is supersmart (looks before she crosses the street),
superstreetwise, and the most tough as nails cat any of us have ever met."
Wendy
Kiang-Spray is a speaker and freelance writer whose articles about gardening
and food have appeared in local and national publications. She loves to
write about growing and cooking the vegetables of other countries. By
day, she is a high school counselor and in her free time, she volunteers as a
DC Master Gardener and blogs about family and garden at www.greenishthumb.net.
