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| Two Badass Cats |
My nest is empty and it needs filling so instead of going to
the nearest adoption agency (they give away babies on Sundays, right?) or
taking eggs from the refrigerator and sitting on them (splat) I/we have adopted
two kittens. We didn’t wait for the right ones to show up on our doorstep or
wander through junkyards discerning small cats from large rats, but instead went
on the Internet and looked through pictures at various SPCA locations and found
two being fostered at Island Pet Lodge, a short drive over a bridge to Grand
Island where we met our new family members whose humble abode was a two-tiered
cage that they shared because they were tiny and litter mates. We had a brief
discussion before going and swore that we would not take them home unless it
felt right, which within 10 minutes of holding them and watching them climb
around, Greg was off to the ATM to retrieve $280 cash money (yes, they’re
expensive!) so we could take our little charges home.
That was two weeks ago and so
far it’s been going pretty well. The first hurdle we had to get over was naming
them and we got many suggestions from our friends on Facebook. The obvious were
brother and sister acts like “Donny and Marie,” “Charlotte and George,” Jem and
Scout” but my favorites came from my son, Brad, who went with names of basic
objects like “Cup and Lamp” or “Pickle and Sandwich.” An early contender was “Taj”
for the male because of our excitement over “The Taj Grille,” a new Indian
restaurant in Buffalo that we all love. But when we visited there and shared with
our waiter that we would be honoring one of our kittens with the name of the restaurant,
he became very disturbed, offering that the animal would not want to be called
such a stupid name and giving us many Indian alternatives that he thought were
superior. All of his choices had significance, the names of Hindu Gods and lovely
words for things in nature, but in the end we wound up calling them “Eddie and
Anya,” for absolutely no reason other than we like saying them and seeing as
kittens don’t answer to anything, we can keep changing them as often as we
like.
Our last cat died at age 20 so
it’s been awhile since we’ve had young ones around and these guys do some weird
things. Like sucking on us and kneading us with their paws. We looked this up
and read online that it usually happens because they are taken away from their
mothers too soon or are doing it to calm their anxiety. Whatever the reason, it
was more or less disgusting and when I took them to the vet last week for their
“free” appointment (that comes with the fee) she did not buy into the still need to nurse scenario and told us
to nip it in the bud. Walk away, put them down, anything but encourage the
behavior because at 13 weeks that crap should be over. Okay…done!
They’ve also both already had
colds and though Anya got rid of hers on her own, Eddie looked so pathetic that
I wound up getting him an antibiotic ($36, are you adding this up?) to get over
his. Have you ever seen a sneezy little kitten with snot dripping out of his
eyes who’s opening his mouth every 30 seconds so he can breathe? I know the
term is “sick puppy” but sick kitty is pretty pitiful as well. And as soon as
you purchase that $36 bottle of medicine, he starts to look better. You don’t
even have to give it to him, just spend the money and voila! Animal healed.
And now that Eddie’s feeling
better, he’s engaging with his sister in typical kitten-like behavior; climbing
to the top of the outdoor screen, napping in the dishwasher, running and
chasing and hiding in boxes, and occasionally sitting on our laps and purring
like we want them to.
I don’t know why we thought we
needed kittens at this stage in our lives. We like to travel, don’t need the
expense, and neither of us are fond of cleaning litter boxes. But we do like
having animals around, to pet and take care of, and mostly to talk to because
they’re generally good listeners (if you’re not telling them to do something)
and don’t tend to judge you like stupid humans do. And with a twenty year track
record from our previous pets, I’m hoping that they will be keeping us young as we
grow old together.
Yes, I am still a cat person,
and at 58, I am bravely going forward and starting a new family.
Meow!
Meow!
