02/07/2011 post - revised
OK...I have a problem. Cats. Yep you heard or read right - CATS. They are taking over my life! Mind you - I have only actually gone out in search of one of these cats. Mary George was a baby when we got her from Tony's Aunt. A couple of years later Tara, our daughter moved in with two more and when she moved back out our cat count tripled. We now had Mary George, Thunder and Pookie. For the last eleven years we've all learned to live together in a relatively peaceful household. About seven months ago Tara found a baby kitten in an abandoned house. Jason, her husband says she has radar for strays and I tend to agree. Naturally she rescued him and couldn't find a home for him so in a moment of insanity I agreed to take him since she already has four cats of the her and two dogs. Enter SkippyJon. For the next five months he made it his life's work to attack me around every corner. My legs were more scratched and looked worse than when I was a child. They may never be the same. Thunder, who is now an old man at almost twelve, found his life to be a living hell too and I found myself spending an inordinately ridiculous amount of time refereeing and herding cats. It seemed that a pattern was emerging...Tara - cats - us .... with more cats... but just as I was about to blame my cat explosion on her, a new development shot down that theory. Another tuxedo kitten about SkippyJon's age showed up on our window seal one night a couple of months ago. He was cold and hungry and had no intention of going anywhere ...so what did we do? Let him in and feed him of course! Tony said "If you can't find his owner or a new owner, he can stay only if he is an outside cat." I agreed (ha-ha) knowing that was a silly thing for him to say and for me to agree to. Who did we think we were fooling. For the first two nights I fixed him (the cat - not Tony) a nice soft, warm bed complete with heating pad, in the garage. I told Tony that if the weather got too cold I was going to bring him in and seclude him in the sunroom. He just sort of grunted. I knew that he could see right through my thinly veiled intent and he knew I knew. By the third night he (the cat- not Tony) was IN and had free roam of the house. The other cats all had their panties in a wad and there was a LOT of hissing going on. I started calling him Milton and he responded readily. I am convinced that was already his name when he got here. I called all the vet's offices, the animal shelter, put an add in the paper and posters up. Not one response. NADA. The second week I took him to my vet, sort of half heartedly hoping that he had a chip and I would call his owner and they would be ecstatic and hurry over to get him and ...... well it was a nice fantasy that didn't happen. Noooo, I ended up with a vet bill for initial vaccines and Milton ended up with a medical record on my tab. It's been a little over two months since his arrival and things have settled down remarkably well. Hissing is down to a minimum and Milton and SkippyJon have now become BFFs and partners in crime. Their favorite pastime seems to be wrestling in my bathtub and pretending to be great hunters although the backyard squirrels think they are a real joke. Thunder seems relieved to be getting a break though. A couple of days AFTER Milton's last vaccines and a little "operation", and I think you know what I mean - I had a message on my answering machine from some lady saying that if I had not found a home for him she'd "take him in". He has a home thank you. I erased the message and made the mistake of telling Tony about it. He has reminded me several times that we could have given her both MIlton and SkippyJon along with a hundred bucks and still come out ahead. I know he's blowing smoke and he knows I know. We like to play these little mind games. My friend Susan, is as soft hearted as I am and never turns a stray away. At one time she kept saying that she had four inside cats and three strays outside. One day I told her that she just needed to suck it up and say "My name is Susan and I have seven cats" and just accept the fact. The tables have now turned and she has reminded me of that. If there was a Cats Anonymous, I would certainly be a prime member. All in all things could be worse though. Tony swore we were at our tipping point with four but so far we haven't tipped over with number five. I hope I am a house cat in my next life and that someone will take me in and love and spoil me rotten. Oh wait a minute ... I AM spoiled rotten.
blah blah blah... (go ahead and laugh- I know you want to)
OK...I have a problem. Cats. Yep you heard or read right - CATS. They are taking over my life! Mind you - I have only actually gone out in search of one of these cats. Mary George was a baby when we got her from Tony's Aunt. A couple of years later Tara, our daughter moved in with two more and when she moved back out our cat count tripled. We now had Mary George, Thunder and Pookie. For the last eleven years we've all learned to live together in a relatively peaceful household. About seven months ago Tara found a baby kitten in an abandoned house. Jason, her husband says she has radar for strays and I tend to agree. Naturally she rescued him and couldn't find a home for him so in a moment of insanity I agreed to take him since she already has four cats of the her and two dogs. Enter SkippyJon. For the next five months he made it his life's work to attack me around every corner. My legs were more scratched and looked worse than when I was a child. They may never be the same. Thunder, who is now an old man at almost twelve, found his life to be a living hell too and I found myself spending an inordinately ridiculous amount of time refereeing and herding cats. It seemed that a pattern was emerging...Tara - cats - us .... with more cats... but just as I was about to blame my cat explosion on her, a new development shot down that theory. Another tuxedo kitten about SkippyJon's age showed up on our window seal one night a couple of months ago. He was cold and hungry and had no intention of going anywhere ...so what did we do? Let him in and feed him of course! Tony said "If you can't find his owner or a new owner, he can stay only if he is an outside cat." I agreed (ha-ha) knowing that was a silly thing for him to say and for me to agree to. Who did we think we were fooling. For the first two nights I fixed him (the cat - not Tony) a nice soft, warm bed complete with heating pad, in the garage. I told Tony that if the weather got too cold I was going to bring him in and seclude him in the sunroom. He just sort of grunted. I knew that he could see right through my thinly veiled intent and he knew I knew. By the third night he (the cat- not Tony) was IN and had free roam of the house. The other cats all had their panties in a wad and there was a LOT of hissing going on. I started calling him Milton and he responded readily. I am convinced that was already his name when he got here. I called all the vet's offices, the animal shelter, put an add in the paper and posters up. Not one response. NADA. The second week I took him to my vet, sort of half heartedly hoping that he had a chip and I would call his owner and they would be ecstatic and hurry over to get him and ...... well it was a nice fantasy that didn't happen. Noooo, I ended up with a vet bill for initial vaccines and Milton ended up with a medical record on my tab. It's been a little over two months since his arrival and things have settled down remarkably well. Hissing is down to a minimum and Milton and SkippyJon have now become BFFs and partners in crime. Their favorite pastime seems to be wrestling in my bathtub and pretending to be great hunters although the backyard squirrels think they are a real joke. Thunder seems relieved to be getting a break though. A couple of days AFTER Milton's last vaccines and a little "operation", and I think you know what I mean - I had a message on my answering machine from some lady saying that if I had not found a home for him she'd "take him in". He has a home thank you. I erased the message and made the mistake of telling Tony about it. He has reminded me several times that we could have given her both MIlton and SkippyJon along with a hundred bucks and still come out ahead. I know he's blowing smoke and he knows I know. We like to play these little mind games. My friend Susan, is as soft hearted as I am and never turns a stray away. At one time she kept saying that she had four inside cats and three strays outside. One day I told her that she just needed to suck it up and say "My name is Susan and I have seven cats" and just accept the fact. The tables have now turned and she has reminded me of that. If there was a Cats Anonymous, I would certainly be a prime member. All in all things could be worse though. Tony swore we were at our tipping point with four but so far we haven't tipped over with number five. I hope I am a house cat in my next life and that someone will take me in and love and spoil me rotten. Oh wait a minute ... I AM spoiled rotten.
 |
| Mary George |
 |
| Thunder |
 |
| Pookie |
 |
| SkippyJon |
blah blah blah... (go ahead and laugh- I know you want to)
