Enzo has become known as "The Amazing Enzo: Acrobat to the Stars". He acquired this name because he has a weird attraction to being jostled and manhandled, and thrown about. Pat or I can do pretty much whatever we want to him (except give a pill) and he will come back for more.

A few years ago I posted about one of his favourite weird activities. I had received a sweater from my mom through the mail, it was wrapped in a rather large cardboard tube. I had placed the empty tube on the counter and turned away. Enzo was up and in the tube in no time, and when I turned around to see the commotion I noticed the tube was rolling towards the edge of the counter.... with him in it! I dove to catch it but missed him entirely. Fearing the worst I started to panic, thinking he would have surely hurt himself in that fall inside a tube. He could have landed on his back, or knocked his head on something....Next thing I knew he had run out of the tube and started doing his patented "Wow, that was fun, do it again" meow and looking up at me expectantly. I figured he could do it if he wanted, but he wasn't rolling off the counter anymore. I put the tube on the bed, much lower than the counter, and placed some pillows on the floor under where he would roll off. Without hesitation he jumped into the tube and started it rolling. He *loved* this new game! To the point where I had to ignore him or I would end up putting that tube back up on the bed forever. Do you need anymore proof that this is a weird cat?

His other favourite acrobatic feat is to be flipped upside down by his daddy. I don't know how it's done, but with fast hands Pat can make Enzo do a back flip. Pat has a firm grip on him the whole time, and Enzo is never thrown or let go of, but he goes from being held out low to the ground with his belly facing the ground, to on his back with his belly facing the sky, back to belly down in seconds flat. When he's put back on the ground he does the meow I told you about earlier, and rubs up against Pat until he does it again. It is funny to watch new guests faces as they watch our cat beg to do extreme sports.

Copyright © Rebecca Parkin
October 29, 2000