I live with a cat. Her name is Reno. She is one of the sweetest cats I’ve ever had the pleasure to be owned by….but still aloof (she is a cat, after all!) She’s also a klutz and scared of her own shadow. I have never heard her hiss. I’ve never seen her puff her fur to look intimidating. I’ve never heard her growl. She is 15 years old, and I’ve been owned by her for 14years and 3 months.
Well, this morning, I’m reading my usual line-up of blogs & websites as I eat my breakfast. I hear a thump on the deck. I wander over, munching my toast, to take a look and see…..nothing. So, I figure it was another crow recovering the cherry it stole from my neighbours tree and then dropped on my deck….happens alot this time of year. Back to my reading I go. Reno stops by for a quick thank-you leg rub for the wonderful breakfast she’d just inhaled and heads over to her favourite sunning/bathing spot in front of the sliding-glass door out to the deck.
I’m expecting a complaint ‘mrwewp’ over the fact that I’ve closed the screen door, but instead I hear a hiss. A hiss!?! from Reno?!? I jump up and see her all puffed up, and now growling….what the….?!?! Who’s taken possesion of my cat! 
To give you a bit more context….this is the cat that ran as fast as possible, with her belly as low as possible from a chickadee that flew in one day. The same cat, that let out pitiful howls of terror when two Stellar Jays ‘trapped’ her on the deck by sitting on the railing, one at each end, and needed me to ’save’ her…..and here she was all puffed out, standing up, hissing and growling! Granted, she had a screen door between her and whatever meanancing thing this was out on the deck, so that may have given her some false courage.
What was out there? Another cat! Still not sure where it came from, or how exactly it got on the deck (this deck has no stairs, so no ground access)….and it was cowering at the far wall, seemingly terrified of Reno.
I reached to open the screen, figuring that Reno would bolt the other way, but no….she’s right there, ready to charge. So I grab Reno, taking her into the living room so I can go out and get the other cat without having to break up a fight. As I’m coming back, I hear scrambling claws, mournful howls….what is going on now! And where is the other cat! I can’t see him anywhere.
Just as step out onto the deck, Reno is back, trying to force her way out….I push her back in as I close the door….catching a whisker or two, I think. I turn to look for the other cat, thinking it’s crawled under my lounge chair….but no! It’s hanging of the edge of the deck about to fall. I’m only able to take one step before he falls…into the ornamental tree just off to the side of my deck. He slides through the tree, and hits the ground, running at top speed.
He stops two yards over and looks back at me with that accusing look that only a cat can give that it was my fault he made such an undignified exit from the deck….and then he takes off at full speed.
As I go back inside, Reno insists on going out, so I let her. Once she’s determined that her deck/territory is all clear, she comes back and tells me all about how she stood up to that interloper….she’s a very chatty cat 
…..and that some treats are in order for how bravely she protected me. Good try, sweetheart…..I’m not buying!
