CAT TALES

I've lived with annoying parrots, neurotic dogs, and psychotic lovers. I never lived with three cats until about a year ago. If forced to choose among all the aforementioned evils, I would definitely pick cats. I've always had an intense penchant for feline companionship. It's one of my many idiosyncrasies.

What are you saying, Jon?

I'm saying that I love cats and I'm nuts.


Living with felines isn't always undiluted bliss.
This morning I was attempting to go outside to empty one of the litter boxes (for another litter box story, see my previous post). My back was hurting, as usual, so I temporarily set the litter box down on a bench in the kitchen. Somehow, my cat Scruffy leaped onto the bench and knocked the litter box down.

Cat crap and filthy, wet litter all over the clean kitchen floor. After exhausting my most impressive repertoire of dirty words, I spent over half an hour - in agonizing back pain - cleaning the floor.

All of my cats are indoor cats. I never let them out. A few nights ago my oldest cat Scratch accidentally got loose during a storm. I was busy doing things and didn't notice that she was gone. At 2:00 a.m. I happened to look out the back door and there she was on the porch - soaked to the whiskers and miserable. She must have been outside for at least five hours.

Scratch (Kitzee)

my nearly ten-year-old cat

I never thought I'd have three cats - it just sort of happened.

I got Scratch (also known as Kitzee) at the local shelter in Odessa, TX , in October, 2005. She was three months old. Both of my parents knew her. My Mom always called her Kitzee.
 My father - who generally hated cats - actually loved Kitzee. It was amazing. I never saw him have such affection for an animal. He died two months later.

After my Mother died, in 2009, Scratch (Kitzee) would sleep on her empty bed every night. It was incredibly touching.

 Scratch, cat napping

My two younger cats, Bosco and Scruffy are both a year old. They are the result of an agonizingly long story (I'm notorious for telling agonizingly long stories).

When I lived in Texas my neighbor abandoned twelve cats when she moved. I innocently started feeding them and - - well, it snowballed into a nightmare. I was soon completely overrun with felines and litters. It took several years to find them homes and get things under control. 

Scruffy and Bosco were both born in the spring of 2014 but were from different litters. They were also both so sick that I separated them from the other kittens and kept them indoors.

Scruffy and her four siblings (in Texas)

Scruffy is the smallest one on far right.

Momma Cat is looking at her brood.

All these kittens got good homes 

Scruffy was the runt of the litter. She was alarmingly scrawny and ragged looking, but had such an affectionate and loving personality that I was completely smitten. I had no intention of ever giving her away.

Bosco and his two siblings were only a few weeks old when they were somehow caught in a flood. The rain was torrential and I heard frantic tiny meows in the back yard late one night. I went out with a flashlight and found three kittens nearly drowned. I rescued them, but unfortunately Bosco was the only one who survived.

Bosco (center) and his two siblings

shortly after I rescued them from the Texas flood

For the first few months Bosco was so tiny and fragile that I was positive he'd never grow and very doubtful that he'd survive. It took a lot of TLC to get him on the road to recovery.

Fast Forward - a year later.

Today Scruffy and Bosco are inseparable companions. They both still have some health issues but are doing very well. Scruffy is a wild child - - extremely active and constantly mischievous.

Scruffy as she looks today

one year old

 Bosco is the  sweetest, most gentle cat I've ever seen. Incredibly, he is now as heavy as my ten-year-old cat Scratch (Kitzee), and he looks older than one year.

Bosco as he looks now

a little over one year old

Scratch isn't exactly pleased that Bosco and Scruffy have joined the household, but she tolerates them - - and even plays with them now and then.

End of cat tales.

Excuse me while I cough up a hairball. 



Note:
Scruffy and Bosco had different mothers but I strongly suspect they had the same father. He was a great big black Tom who fathered nearly all the kittens in the neighborhood.