Maggie

My 9 month old Maggie has a thing for brazil nuts.

Since she was big enough to jump onto the kitchen benches, shes up there regularly, fishing a brazil nut from the bowl of mixt nuts, then taking it off to play with. She puts them behind things, fishes them out with varying degrees of creativity, then puts them back and gets them out a different way, maybe from a different direction.

She puts them in our shoes then tries to retrieve them, but this is a tricky one. Usually she sits there growling and swearing because she cant get them out, till someone comes along and tips them out for her. The other day she put one in an empty tissue box, stuck her head inside, then ran round backwards crashing into everything when her head got stuck. Moving furniture to vacuum usually produces a selection of brazil nuts that I then return to the bowl on the bench, for Mags to collect later in the day.

I have found brazil nuts in my car and in bowls in the kitchen cupboards if a door has been left open. One memorable, stressful day I found one in my handbag while I was out, causing me to smile and think warm kitty thoughts and feel much better! I have found them in my bed in the wee small hours, and once on my computer keyboard, a hint perhaps?

I have never had a cat with such an attachment to anything before. Has anyone else encountered this? It really is the cutest thing to see her off to find a good place to play, brazil nut in her mouth!

Copyright © Ros Grams
July 18, 1998