Miss Conduct

Exhibit A: the Frontline cat model (photo by Gary):

Exhibit B: Our cat, Amanda, sometimes known as Miss Conduct (named after a Roller Girl) due to her, shall we say, feisty personality (photo by Gary):

Doesn't she look exactly like the Frontline cat?  Maybe the only difference is the tiny patch of white that Amanda has on her chest.

Although Amanda here has assumed the classic house cat pose, she can be a handful.  We bottle-raised her as an orphan, so you'd assume she would enjoy human handling, or if not enjoy it, at least tolerate it better. 

Not true!  In fact, when I apply the Frontline flea meds monthly, I've pretty much given up on holding her during the process--I've lost that particular cat fight too many times.  Now I wait till she's eating and ambush her with the drops to the back of her neck.  She doesn't move a muscle.  Go figure.

I tried this technique with one of our other cats, De Beere, who flew straight up into the air, extended all four paws laterally out like a cartoon cat, and high-tailed it for the basement for a couple hours.

Amanda decides when she'll be a lap cat.  You can't pick her up and expect her to settle down on your lap and stay.  But I can pick her up and love her up for several minutes--after ignoring the immediate hiss.  I flip her onto her back, and cradling her like a baby, with my left hand working her neck, and my right hand working her lower back.  Amanda's eyes close and she purrs violently.  Then I put her down before she decides it's time to get down.

Cats are indeed strange and wonderful critters.