Cats and Basenjis

The following is a description of an incident that occurred when we were trying to find a good home for our Basenji foster Senji. In my mind, it will always be referred to as “THE INCIDENT.”

We were contacted by a very nice family who wondered how Senji liked cats. We had no idea how Senji would react to cats, so a meeting was set up at the couple’s home. The home was gorgeous, right out of Architectural Digest. Given my hillbilly origins, I was very intimidated by this house.

Time to meet cat number one! Cue the theme song from "Jaws." Cat number one walked out of a bedroom and glared at us. The “cat” was either a) A pit bull wearing a cat suit; b) A wildcat who lifted weights and injected lots of steroids; or, c) A genetically engineered creature bred to guard nuclear weapons bunkers. I imagined this evil creature picking its teeth with a bone splinter from the Pit Bull it ate for lunch. My adrenaline level peaked and I began sending urgent telepathic signals to Senji: “Don’t do it Senj, it’s a traaaap!” To his everlasting credit and my relief, Senji and the “whatever it was” just sniffed each other and walked off in different directions.

At this point I relaxed slightly and thought we might get out of this without needing a veterinary trauma unit. Time to meet cat number two! Cat number two was smaller, cute, and appeared to have been born rather than escaped from an underground genetic lab. Cat number two took one look at Senji, freaked out, and hyperspaced. As a cat owner, I know that very frightened cats can bend time and space and seem to disappear. They do not actually bend time and space, they just move so fast it seems like it. Doom on me, Basenjis can do that trick too! The cat and Senji went screaming down the stairs and through the house. The chaser and chasee banked off of walls like an Olympic bobsled. The chase ended in the dining room when the couple’s daughter grabbed the cat and lifted him out of Basenji range. I understand the cat has since developed a drinking problem and undergone extensive treatment for PTSD.

In my case, I developed a drinking problem as soon as I got home :)

Can cats and Basenji co-exist peacefully? Maybe, but not this time.

-Tom and Chris Miles