Chasing Pussy

There's this weird cat in my neighbor. No idea who it belongs to, if anyone. Big, black, with an odd square-shaped bushy tail, it has an unhealthy fascination with my dog.

We first ran into it next week. We were out for our nightly walk when I heard a meow behind us. Turning around, it was about 40 feet away, staring at Fred. Then it slowly came towards us. I stood there a moment, thinking it would veer off at any second. But it didn't. It was making a slow beeline for Fred. And Fred was just staring at it, as if also confused by its behaviour. When it got about 15 feet away, I pulled on Fred's leash and we walked away. And over shoulder, I could see the cat changing direction to follow us.
The morning on the next day, Fred and I were walking again and there it was! We stopped and I stood there to see what would happen. The cat slowly went all the way up to Fred- making no sound, no arching its back, nothing. And Fred was strangely inactive- no sound either, no wagging, just a sort of "WTF" look in her eyes. After several seconds, Fred made for an exploratory sniff.

FURRY FISTS OF FURY!!!!!

The action was so quick I couldn't make out the individual movements. Just a blur of black fur and a sharp YIPE from Fred. The next second Fred was cowering behind my leg and the cat was charging Fred then backing off, as if just then noticing I was between them. Again and again, the cat tried to dive-bomb Fred as we made our way back home.

We now see this cat almost EVERY time we go out. Sometimes it's just sitting there watching us, sometimes it slowly follows us, sometimes it chases us when we are jogging. I've noted that sometimes it tries to hide and spy on us- quickly dodging behind trash cans or trees when I turn around.


Beware the Stalker-Kitty!!!