Capo’s tale

Introducing Capo🐈 

Dear readers,

I am writing this to tell the story of my feline love, Capo, because some people don’t know his story. Sooooo, I can tell you this: Capo’s tail is gray with black stripes…

Oh wait, I have to tell that tale right. Well, where were we? The tale of who Capo is and how he came to join the Exodus crew:

Watching from the shadows

For many weeks there was a white with dark gray spotted cat who watched us from the bush. Every now and then we would catch a glimpse of this furtive creature. Sometimes this spotty ghost would be sitting on the jungle path or on the neighbours property. I sometimes mistook him for a shy dog, but let’s not tell him, or he’ll be gravely insulted.

Now, I always fancied the idea of an animal friend, but sadly most of the time when we met a potential pet friend, they were injured or ended up dying. So my wish never came true. Until one day…

Out into the light

One of the first weekends in May 2023, I was at my best friend’s house for a sleepover when one night the cat came onto the veranda while my parents were eating dinner (puttanesca to be exact), meowing hungrily and pacing around the table.

Eventually my parents gave in and offered him some puttanesca. He looked like he was starving, which swayed my parents, both of them not up to letting an animal die of hunger.

Unfortunately for them, the cat climbed under the house and started meowing his heart out for most of the night, to get more food. The next day they went and bought some cat food. As you might guess, I was bursting with happiness when I came home and after dinner I was allowed to feed him. I think he had been secretly observing our family from weeks, and had made up his mind that humans who braai once a week can’t be too bad.

Mom and Dad advertised the lost cat, but nobody responded, so yay! Operation domestication started!

Process of making a house cat

We named the cat Capo di tutti capi. Awfully long name, but it translates to ‘boss of all bosses’. I guess you could say ‘supreme boss’. It comes from the Italian maffia, and is discussed in the famous ‘Godfather’ movie (which I haven’t seen yet). Reason being that the cat acts like he owns the place and nobody will tell him off. And he annihilates those who oppose his rule.

We had to remove our hummingbird feeder as we noticed him licking his lips when watching incoming feeders and their territorial disputes. We also took out our Mozquito light after seeing him take down a fruit bat at night. Our lizard and gecko population took a big knock. 

Now I was the one that made him into something like a house cat or as close as you can get to making a wild cat into one. I would feed him, made him several houses, would go pet him, play games with him. This earned his trust and I was the only one who could carry him around.

At first mom forbade him from coming inside as he had to be dewormed and debugged. Sure mom, like that worked, because somehow he figured out how to open the mosquito net sliding door and create havoc in the house as soon as the lights went off. Mom would catch him in the act of overturning the trash can or scratching open the newly bought cat biscuits or throwing them down from the top of the fridge.

Dad got very cross when Capo made his own ‘door’ in the mosquito netting and he threatened to dig a hole destined for cat burial if we didn’t fix the problem.

Capo even tried to climb under my door (this  could have been an attempt to sharpen claws) or through my window one night.

But after a while things settled. Probably the same time his tummy and body started to fill out.

Feline competition

But then we had a kitten who wanted to adopt us too. We had to keep Capo, so the kitten didn’t stay long. He got new owners. I don’t know if they are good owners, but what choice did I have. Mom and dad said one cat was enough.

But while the kitten was around we had to feed Capo inside because Capo wouldn’t protect his food from the kitten. This was very unlike him, because we heard him fighting off many feline intruders as soon as he became Capo di tutti veranda (the outside porch). We even called Tuesdays “fight night”.

But, from then on he was allowed more in the house.

Once the kitten was gone, we moved his food out again but had an opossum snack on it and leave filthy prints all over the veranda. So the food moved inside again and so did sneaky Capo. The opossum later paid with his life for daring to eat Mr Capo’s food.

We got into a routine where Capo was allowed some time on the couch with me on his blanky, after breakfast and dinner. He liked the soft couches and cushions and started purring, pawing, making biscuits like an ordinary house cat. Step one completed!

Marine trials

Then we took him for christmas on the boat and he was a different cat, he was allowed to go on the beds, during the night who knows what he got up to. But each time I went to bed we would spoon or snuggle together (it was a dream to me, I loved it).

Then when we came back from the boat he was allowed to come in and out of the house at will. Every night me and Capo went to bed together. Every morning he would be on my parents bed.

Travel preparations – Catnipped

We had to take poor Capo to the vet because he needed a Health Certificate for travelling. 

Catching him was a mission. We used tuna to get him in his travel box. Trust me, Capo didn’t go willingly. He left me bleeding. We had asked a friend to pick us up, but we started walking because Capo wasn’t happy and was meowing his heart out. On the way we met our neighbours’ dogs (boxers) and one of them was trying to see Capo. But let me tell you, Capo told them who was boss. He let out a deep warning growl and the dog backed away immediately. 

When we arrived at Dr Gloria we didn’t have to wait long, but there was some confusion when we had to fill in the forms. Mom and I thought Capo was a girl because of nothing obvious to tell us otherwise. And Capo wasn’t that trusting that he allowed inspection of those private matters. The vet’s assistant agreed, but Dr Gloria gave him a good dose of catnip spray and resolved the gender question. Capo was a boy that had been fixed so he can’t make babies!

Each time Capo wasn’t needed, he would run off and hide under something. During his checkup he got some vaccinations and I discussed his litter box problems with the vet. Turns out he had urine crystals in his bladder that made him very sore. Dr Gloria helped some out and prescribed some very expensive special Pipi biscuits. Capo by that time had been catnipped so many times he couldn’t care less and let it all run. We took home a very confused cat.

One week later we had to repeat the fun of catching an unwilling Capo and visit Pappa Gato for a tummy scan. This time Capo got back to the house catnipped, with a naked tummy (because of the tummy scan). Horrible thing was that his travel bag broke so I tried carrying him. He escaped leaving me bloody again.

Run away

There would be people staying in the house while we were at San Blas. And we had to catch Capo before they came. But dad said it would still be awhile before they came, so me and mom weren’t bothered. But then before we knew it, the people arrived and Capo ran off under the house. We tried to tempt him with sardines. He wasn’t very interested. We asked the people to go away for a few minutes. Then mom made a grab for him, but when she tried to carry him upstairs he was scratching and biting her like mad. She got him inside but the problem was that I was coming inside when she dropped him and he has an official cat door. So you might guess: he escaped never to return.

Forceful removal – Catnapped

Me and mom visited the house a lot trying to find Capo or to tempt him with cat food. For more than a week he didn’t turn up. We left food and water out, which was eaten every time we checked, so we hoped that was Capo. But no amount of calling would convince him to even show a tip of his ears. 

I started to lose hope (not to mention I had a cold) so then I decided to stay behind on Exodus. Guess what, he turned up, with only mom there to try and lure him and catnap him. She eventually managed to tempt him into his cat bag by building a trail of tuna balls, and once he had his head in the cat carrier, tilting it over so she could quickly zip it up, while Capo was tumbled upside down……. If Capo had not been hungry and tired, she simply would not have managed.

She made her way back to the dock and dad went to pick her up. When Capo saw the boat he started to meow desperately. People, I was the happiest person on the face of the earth.

Adjusting to the new habitat ( boat)

In the past weeks you’ve heard me talk about Capo and his adjustment to his new boat habitat a lot. I won’t repeat everything, but I’ve split it up in several stages:

Stage 1. Hiding in Gitane’s room

There he was, the supreme boss: catnapped, skinny, with a naked tummy, fallen for the tuna trick yet again and abducted to this floating house with salty water all around. Obviously, he felt very fragile and sensitive. Wandering how this all happened. Why did he not read the fine print in the contract? He thought he had it all figured out (nice food, soft blanket, served and loved) and now this?

Everything around him moving, not a sound or smell to recognize, except the sweat of his own small human… This better be worth it!

Stage 2. From pretend sleeper to careful night prowler – Venturing out of G’s room at night

At first Capo would run off to my room and hide in a corner or behind the door at any strange sound. But after a lot of cuddles and comforting he started to relax a bit. He would pretend to go to bed with me at night, but would disappear for longer and longer. Before daybreak he sneaked back into the room, pretending he never left.

There is little evidence of what Capo got up to during the night except:

– Scratch marks on lounge cushions

– Bite marks on electrical wires

-And mom swears she heard him get up to his old nightly shenanigans: jumping on the counter to lick pots, trying to raid his biscuit container and sitting on top of our freshly repotted aloe Vera plants.

Stage 3. Cats that stare at Oceans

After a thorough nightly exploration of the inside of the boat, Capo got curious about the outside. But he was on high alert, a stealth fighter, slinking up the stairs, peeping out of the companionway. He started to sit in the companionway and stare at his surroundings and if you would go and stand in the lounge and look outside, you would most likely be staring at a cat silhouette.

Stage 4. Confined outdoor explorations

As the nightly explorations improved, he also started taking up more space on the inside during the day. Favorite positions: upside down, belly and all paws up, curled up in a neat ball, or stretched out to full capacity.

Cats that stare at bowls: Capo would take up a depressed look when we would eat lunch or dinner. He tried different tricks on us: he sucks in his cheeks and tummy skin and stares mournfully at the inconsiderate eaters. Or he would make himself as cute as possible during breakfast. If we take too long to finish he stares sulkily into his food bowl.

In Portobello he ventured outside in the cockpit, and would keep mom and dad company on the Captain’s seat if they sat outside during the night. He started staring at the growling Diabolo Rojo buses at that time.

Occasionally he would slink to the foredeck and back. It looked more like the ‘don’t touch the grass’ game, as he would slink around the dodger, to the centre of the deck, staying far away from the unreliably swirling salty water down below. Gunnels could not be trusted as you never know if a wave or sea creature can come haul you off …

Stage 5. Hatches are made to jump through

Since we arrived in San Blas Capo has been exploring the outside of Exodus at night. We can hear him gallop at night at the gunnels. Now Capo entertains himself by playing with ropes, jumping through mom and dad’s top hatches (several times after one another, like a toddler discovering the slide, wheeeeee), lying on the kayak (we’ve already found a cat claw hole in it), on the shade/rain covers and on the solar panel.

I suppose he has discovered his inner sailor!

Each night as soon as he has finished his crunchies, he goes outside to conduct superbowl, and runs off to begin his nightly adventures. But after a few hours, I haul him off to bed (he comes very reluctantly).

We have discovered that he is still scratching the ledge of his superbowl. At further inspection, he does it absentmindedly, so no worries. I’ve been trying to contain all the sand with carpets, cloths and rags, but somehow he always finds a way to avoid them (well I guess that means weekly sand clean up😐).