Wednesday, February 11, 2009

To cheer myself up....

I'm sick of dwelling on the insanity of our respective siblings for now, so instead of anything of substance I'm just going to post some pics of our kitty boys that make me happy.

This is our cat Digger shortly after we got him last year. I've never met a one-person cat before, but this kitty is all mine & I love it. He's lying next to me as I type, & will be here until I leave the couch (which, since I'm on bedrest, rarely happens.) He's a CH kitty, meaning he has cerebellar hypoplaysia, which affects his balance & motor skills. Its passed to kittens by mothers who've never been vaccinated for distemper, so it usually only affects strays (like Digger & his mom). He was in a shelter in OH & was scheduled to be put down. He couldn't walk since he'd been kept caged since he was born & they thought no one would want him. A very nice lady who worked for a cat rescue stepped in to foster him, & we found him a few months later at a local adoption fair in Ann Arbor. I fell in love at first sight, but N thought we had enough animals & was hesitant. He finally convinced me to put Digger (formerly "Corky") back in his cage, & we were standing there while I plead my case. He was (& is) a very cute kitten, so a crowd had gathered behind him to oo & aw over the cute kittens, & Digger chose that moment to take a massive dump & then proceeded to kick it all over the cooing bystanders behind him. Everyone ran for cover & no one thought he was very cute any more, except for yours truly. N looked at me & said "We don't need another cat" & my response was "But he needs us." After all, who wants a poop-throwing kitty? Except us, of course. I tease N all the time that it was the poop incident that sold him on Digger, & for all his tough guy attitude, I know that's what finally got him. :) So we adopted the little guy & with a few special adjustments to his litter box, the poop throwing stopped, & I am proud to say that Digs RUNS up & down stairs & can make the jump to our couch like its nothing. The little guy just needed a chance to run & be a normal cat. His balance is still a bit wonky, but he is an awesome kitty & wonderful company to this lonely girl stuck on bedrest!

This is N & Rafter (aka Chunk). He picked up Chunky in Grand Rapids when he was looking for company to take with him to Ypsi after the academy, & chose Chunk because he was yowling & clearly miserable in the shelter (& older cats rarely gets adopted... everyone wants a kitten.) Once they got home, it took Chunk 3 days to come out from under N's bed, but as soon as he figured out he was safe, he turned into the biggest lover I've ever met. He's more dog than cat & completely spoiled. My mom is a huge contributor to this, as she seems convinced that no one can possibly hold him or carry him or feed him as well as she can. & Chunk works it-- his special talent is finding the biggest sucker in the room & moving in for some love. He's also quite fat (hence the nickname Chunk), & the cat who taught me to like cats. I'm actually allergic to them, but fell so in love with N's boys that instead of getting rid of the cats, we (or N, actually) gives them baths every week.
You can see how much they LOOOVE the baths here. This is my favorite ever pic of our 3rd kitty, Felon. Right after I took it, he made a run for it across the counter of our old apartment, drenching N. So funny!! Felon was also out of the Grand Rapids shelter, & was one of a group of barn cats that came in & would likely have been put down if N hadn't been looking for a friend for Chunk. So Felon (aka "the Fatness") joined Chunk & N in their bachelor pad until I moved in with my crazy birds & we moved the whole crew to a much nicer house. Fats is the only cat we have who isn't 100% about getting pets. Felon snuggles only on his own terms, & usually prefers a "proximity" snug (laying near you without touching you). At night, he turns unto a cuddler however, & oozes his way into your lap without you noticing until he's already ensconced & purring.
I'm sure this post has been totally tedious for anyone who's not in love with my cats, but I feel cheerier. I'll save the birds' sagas for the next time I'm feeling especially blue. :)

2 comments:

  1. Cute kitties totally love the bath pic!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I loved this post!! I was just like you and allergic. DH has always been a cat person. His best friend until he was like 15 was his cat. I hated him for moving me across the country and told him he had to get me a dog. We were living in a 3rd floor apt and I realized that would not be fair to a dog, so we ended up with our first cat. A month later I felt bad for her and felt she needed to hang out with someone during the day so we got a second. DH started volunteering at the shelter we got the first 2 from and called me from there almost in tears because our 2nd cat still had one sibling left and he felt so awful that no one took him yet! So we now have 3 and mine, like yours, all have their own personalities. Yay for furbabies!

    ReplyDelete