Sammy Davis, Jr. and Liza Minnelli are great examples of people behaving badly toward each other. I’m talking about my two cats, not the entertainers, by the way. I’ve discussed Sammy and Liza on this site before. They are Korats, sleek oriental cats with short gray fur and the kind of green eyes that launch acting careers.
Liza is a bit like her namesake. She’s old, overly dramatic, and squawks way too much. Likewise, Sammy is like his namesake. He’s entertaining, lovable and prone to excess. While one did drugs, the other eats too much and throws up. My cat is the latter of the two.
Sammy and Liza, the cats, hate each other, where to hear Liza the celeb dish, she and her Uncle Sammy adored one another.
Mostly Sammy and Liza the felines co-exist without incident. During the day, Sammy is upstairs, hiding under the night-table, sleeping the sleep only the very rich and house pets get to have, and worthless teens, and my sister’s ex-boyfriends.
Liza can be found downstairs, in the far corner of our office, huddled up between two bookcases, her butt facing the door so that if someone should walk in, she doesn’t have to look at them.
At night, if Hubby and I are sitting on the couch watching TV, the cats like to sit on someone’s lap. Usually, it’s the same person’s lap. This is where the trouble comes in. If Liza is sitting on Hubby’s lap, Sammy will walk up to her, pretend like he is about to happily lick her head, then chomp down on her ears with his teeth. She hisses and runs or fights back, and she’s even been known to completely ignore him. On those occasions, I notice, he backs down. She is victorious most at those times.
Liza doesn’t bite Sammy. He is the alpha cat. She usurps his territory quietly. He may get up from my lap to go take a sip of water, and she sneaks onto my legs so covertly that I don’t even notice the cat switch till I seem Sammy at my feet looking up, his face forlorn.
I know someone wrote a book about everything they learned they learned from their cat. I believe it was a huge best seller. I can see why. There’s something to be said for my cats and they way they best each other. Sammy may be the dominate of the two, but Liza is more often the silent winner in their battles. Of course, you could say that is just like any woman – or any crazy old lady.
