Orally Fixated Kitten

Orally Fixated Kitten

Ok so she isn’t a kitten anymore. Willow will be three in August, but she’s my youngest cat so it’s hard to think of her any other way. We rescued Willow, and she’s been a conundrum right from the start. From her crossed eyes, to her odd markings, and her, well… psychological issues, she’s always been my wicked little mystery.

It started with the trick she played on me when we first met. I was walking up some concrete steps to the building where I worked. I used to work in construction so we started early and it was still dark. There was this tiny, cream colored kitten huddled at the top of the steps. I went to pick her up and she limped away, just out of reach. We played this game, me taking a few steps toward her, and her limping away, for about five minutes until some co-workers showed up and helped me trap her. I drove her home and set her up with a bed and food (which she devoured) in the bathroom. Willow and my husband bonded at the vet’s office later, when I told the vet she’d been limping and the vet told me there was nothing wrong with her leg. My husband grinned.

“Little punk. She played you.” He couldn’t stop laughing and they’ve been best buddies ever since.

Of course she had worms, every cat I’ve rescued has had worms, but even after the worms were gone, a ravenous appetite remained. The infamous Dr. Stuart joked that she’d gone ahead and given Willow the tummy tuck/spay package because she was already rolly polly at six months and that was just simply embarrassing for a young kitten.

I started calling her Yum Yum Willow because she purrs when she eats and that is the ONLY time she purrs…. Sounds like she’s saying ‘yum yum yum yum’.

Which brings me to the crux of the problem, biting. Freud said that early weaning can lead to an obsessive desire to fulfill oral gratification. I wasn’t present for most of Willow’s kitten hood, but I’d guess from the enjoyment she gets out of gnawing on human flesh that something went awfully wrong there.

When I greet my cats I typically offer them a hand, they’ll sniff and then rub and get all happy. Willow will sniff, then lick, then nibble, then gnaw until she breaks the skin if you don’t get away fast enough. She loves fingers and toes and the fleshy under parts of your arms. But if breakfast is late, the perky tip of my nose is her favorite treat. And it isn’t just me (although it mostly is, what did Freud say about adoptive mothers?) she bites the dog too. Anyone who says Pit Bulls snap and lose their cool has never met the longsuffering Lucius. He’s been bitten and nibbled and gnawed on almost constantly for the better part of his two years on Earth and still loves to cuddle with the vicious Yum Yum. They’d make a great team should anyone ever decided to break into our house (which is probably only a matter of time).

So I tend to regard Willow as an attraction on a safari. She’s fascinating to watch (lolling about, nibbling the dog’s legs, trying to clean her ass), but you really don’t want to get too close.

P.S. So no one thinks I’m abusive, Willow is on a low fat food and diet… we’re all wearing chain mail around the house now.