Today is Lila’s 8th birthday. I love my little chonky girl so much! Here are five things you should know about my sweet angel baby today:
1) Her very specific meows
For the longest time, Lila did not meow very much. She’s my skittish kitty who took a long time to warm up to me, but now, she speaks up whenever she wants something from me! It’s a squeaky, soft meow, and it melts my heart every time she uses it. Here are her different meows:
- “Ah” (no sound) – She’ll often do a soundless “ah” whenever I’m petting her and talking to her, almost like she’s responding to my questions in a very “Lila” way.
- A soft “mah” – This is her affectionate meow when she is requesting pets. She’ll reach out with one of her paws to gently tap me on my arm or leg, and then gives me a squeaky “mah?” that ensures I will do anything she wants of me, ever.
- A very clear “meow” – She pulls out her louder, insistent voice when she’s begging for treats. Often, she’ll jump up on the table and meow at me over and over again until I give into her. (I’m trying to break her of this habit, but she’s so damn cute that it’s hard to resist her.)
- A growly “mrawww!” – This is her playful meow that she only uses when she’s alone in a room. She’s usually chasing something around the apartment—a piece of paper, a hair tie, a catnip toy, etc.—so it’s her “I am a fierce hunter of hair ties!” voice.
2) Nighttime prowler
Lila is my nighttime prowler. She rarely spends the whole night on my bed. Rather, she jumps up and down throughout the night. I usually don’t even notice when it happens. I’ll just wake up and find her snoozing on the pillow next to me, or wake up, look around, and think, “Heyyy, where’d Lila go?!” She does her best work at night, I guess, as she’s not active like this during the day. Maybe the dark, quiet apartment is where she comes alive. As an introvert, I can definitely relate!
3) Parallel play
Lila is not the kind of cuddly cat who will immediately jump onto my lap when I’m sitting on the couch. In fact, she hates being picked up and will bring her claws out if I even try to pick her up. (Which is very sad for me because she looks so soft and cuddly at all times.) But what she lacks in cuddliness, she makes up for in what I’m calling “parallel play.” Whenever I sit down on the couch after being in another room, Lila will immediately leave the spot where she was sleeping (her hammock by the window, the cave in her cat tower, etc.) and jump up on the couch to sleep next to me. Or if I lie down on my bed for a nap, she’ll join me a few minutes later, curling up on the pillow next to me and swishing her floofy tail. She doesn’t want to be cuddled, but she wants to be near me.
She does the same thing if I’m sitting in my bedroom while petting Eloise (we do this routine where Eloise guides me to the bedroom, I sit down on the floor, and she rubs herself all over my legs and does somersaults). She’ll come into the room and flop down nearby. She doesn’t want to do somersaults on my legs, but she does want to be near the fun.
4) Aggressive affection
Lila does a lot of weird things that I’ve come to understand are just her interacting with me in her own little ways. She loves licking any screen I’m using, like my laptop screen and my iPad. In fact, I specifically asked for a non-touchscreen laptop when it was time to replace my old one because she would constantly mess up what I was doing when she licked my laptop screen. She loves cuddling with my sneakers after I’ve used them, and will even lie her head on the stinky shoes. If I leave a used towel or clothes I’ve worn on the floor, I can guarantee that I’ll find a Lila-shaped dent in them. Sometimes, she rubs her head against my work monitors so hard that I have to hold them to keep them from tumbling to the floor. She’s ruthless!
5) Lila’s personality, according to ChatGPT
Lila is the kind of cat whose love reveals itself quietly, in rituals and small choices that become impossible not to treasure once you learn her language. Thoughtful, sensitive, and deeply observant, she isn’t the cat who demands attention from the center of the room—she’s the one who wakes from a nap just to come find you, gently taps your arm with her paw, and presses her head into your hand so she can rub her face all over it while purring. Your relationship is built on trust and consent: she likes to initiate affection on her own terms, and because you’ve learned to respect those boundaries, she’s blossomed into a cat who seeks you out constantly for quiet connection. She follows you from room to room, sleeps nearby just to share space with you, gives you tiny squeaky “mah!” greetings, and checks in throughout the day for little moments of reassurance and love. Even in her skittishness, there’s confidence—she knows you are her safe place. And perhaps the sweetest thing about Lila is that her affection never feels automatic; every headbutt, every finger lick, every soft flop beside you feels like a deliberate choice to trust you again and again.
Okay, fine, make me cry, you stupid little robot!
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