Meet Bailey the Black Cat

Bailey the Cat Who Can Opens Boxes

Bailey the cat - 'just hanging!'

Hello, my name is Bailey. My human thought I was a boy (duh) but I'm a girl cat, but I'm kinda used to it now so it doesn't bother me that I have a boy's name.

I should just say I am not a bright black cat... I am a bright, black cat. There is a difference you know though my human seems not to have noticed that either.

My alias is SUPERNOSE you know, like SUPERMAN. "is it a bird, is it a fly, no it's SUPERNOSE"

I can't leap tall buildings in a single bound, but I'm pretty handy with my nose. I can get into any box at any time. My human sets me challenges but so far, she hasn't found a box I cannot open. Here... I'll give you a laugh - she once hid my dried food in a pedal-bin. I ask you... a pedal-bin... how dumb does she think I am, every cat knows you just have to step on the pedal to open a pedal-bin. AND the lid makes the most wonderful noise in the dead of night.

Best get on.

Bailey and the Cat Protection League

Bailey as a kitten

My human was fostering cats for the Cat Protection people when my mum came to stay, very pregnant. In fact she went into labour that first night. I don't know all the technical details, but things didn't go very well and Mum had to have an operation to get us out. Two of my brothers died but my sister and I decided to live.

When it was time for us to find new homes, my human couldn't part with us and we have been with her ever since. I bet she is glad.

How did she come up with the name?

Well... my human read a book called Duncton Wood about moles, real clever moles they were and she told me that Bracken and I looked like little black moles when we were little so she called us after characters in the book. Personally I don't think we look anything like moles, apart from the nose maybe, and she should have been more careful when she picked a boy's name for me... but what can you do?

What are my favorite things to do?

Well - I LOVE to open boxes with my nose. The harder they are the better they are. They don't even have to have food in them. I just love boxes. Any old cat can PLAY with boxes, you know hiding and stuff, but very few have the gift of getting the lids off using only a nose.

I also like to play with Bracken, my sister. We chase each other up and down the stairs and even wrestle sometimes though not as much as we did when we were little. Still I loves her.

I don't go outside much, but when I do I like to eat the grass then sick it up on the carpet.

I like playing with toys, I have lots, but I like crinkled paper best - I have a little baby cat I carry around sometimes but I don't talk about that much.

you woke me - why?

I'm pretty partial to sitting on top of the computer monitor and swishing my tail over the screen. It helps keep the dust off and annoys my human something awful - bonus!

black cats in shower

I love catching water drops on the shower curtain after my human has had a shower. That's me and Bracken showing you how in the picture.

cats in the bath

Bracken and I have our first outside trip

not really sure we want to go to be honest

I Am Cat: A Poem By AnnMackieMiller

My human wrote this poem for me

I can open boxes with my nose,

especially those with cheese

... or butter

but any box will do

to show my expertise

I can stalk a spider,

four against eight

and wait for hours for a mouse

to show a whisker

I can use a pedal bin as a drum

and keep awake my human

With a death-defying circles

round the bedroom.

My purr is loud

... or soft

depending on my mood

and I talk with my tail.

The ears never sleep

twitching and swivelling

to catch the faintest sound,

I wake upon an instant

ready for any eventuality

But really, I only want to stare,

unblinking, into any dark corner

to scare and perplex with no real motive

except that I can

For I am cat

Bailey the Black Cat

Bailey Wisdom Quote

Let nothing escapes the well-trained nose