Big Biff

Biff is shy but he's also super affectionate

                Biff, the patriarch of the clowder, hasn’t received much blogtime—probably because he is a quiet, dignified soul and less susceptible to the predicaments the others fall victim to.

                He came to us as a feisty street-smart girl.  Yes, you read that right—we thought Biff was a girl and the vet agreed until we had Biff fixed and the vet ended up dealing with “boy parts.”  Nowadays, Biff, a gray tabby with a white belly, is as solid as a brick wall and as big as a foot stool. 

                Biff kept his spirited personality until we had young house guests stay for a week.  These youngsters loved cats…exuberantly so!  The overabundance of attention was too much for Biff.  He went into a five-year seclusion allowing only my husband, daughter, and I to see him.  To us he was super affectionate but to the rest of the world he was a ghost, seen only in brief glimpses as he sprinted from the room upon their arrival.  Last week Biff finally decided to re-join the public world.  He moved out of our bedroom and onto the living room sofa for nap time—right out where the piano kids pass by and can pet him.

                Biff’s mothering instinct came up in the earlier blog about hunting outside.  Indoors, he steals felted wool scraps to use as surrogate kittens.  These “woolies” are treated to time in the food dish, transferred to the water dish, then finally rescued for a tongue bath and a nap curled up next to Biff.  I must admit my daughter and I tear up at the poignant sight of him mothering his woolies.

                So Biff is living out his life as a gentle giant, watching over the clowder and keeping them in line. When Frank is being too rough with Finny, Biff flattens him as a warning to shape up.  Like a lion protecting his pride, Biff (usually too chicken to venture outdoors) will go out when there's a strange cat in the yard.  At a 30 mph sprint, he'll level the outsider so it never darkens his territory again.  That done, he slips right back into his shy, sedentary existence.

                It just goes to prove that no two cats are alike!