What makes Hope so mean?

Hope is a slightly reformed mean kitty who sometimes lets the meanness seep back through.  When I first got her as a kitten, Hope immediately attempted to break everything of value to me.  One of her favorite hobbies at the time was to climb on top of 6' bookcase and bat anything breakable across the room.  The sound of anything breaking was music to her ears.  She delighted in knocking plants from the windowsill of our 3rd floor apartment and yowled quite loudly at the resulting crashes. 

Later, when we moved into a house with roommates, Hope became quite adept at "roommate stalking," quickly elevating it to the level of Olympic sport.  She would hide around corners, just waiting for a roommate to walk past, then leap with a deafening yowl onto their legs and attempt to climb.  At other times, she would pretend to be sweet and innocent, weaving between their legs, then tripping them expertly.  Still, her favorite sport was ambush.  We had a breakfast bar in the middle of the kitchen, covered with a table cloth, under which were two stools.  Hope would climb on top of the stools, completely hidden by the tablecloth, and then leap out screeching as a roommate walked past.  More than once I came running to the kitchen to find out why my roommates were screaming and traumatized.

Hope has since calmed down, she gets along quite well with my new roommates, and my former roommates are finally out of therapy.  Still, Hope's mean kitty days will forever be memorialized by the bowl bought for her by a well-meaning friend, inscribed on the side with the words "Psycho Kitty."

Photos submitted by: Zarrin Reynolds
Date last updated: 10/25/05