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Someone asked about my kitties. [LJ-CUT TEXT="Background info, eminently skippable"]
In order of seniority in the household:
1)![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
jackiecat, snob, accepts scritches on HER terms thankyouverymuch. Long-haired black w/ yellow eyes. Adopted from the Humane Society. 9 years old or so. Used to be much more congenial before she became indoor-only. I still wistfully think back on this decision; there might come a day when I'd reverse it in her case, although probably not.
I lost an all-black longhair under suspicious circumstances around Halloween one year. He was sweet and trusting... probably too trusting. We'd found him in a hotel parking lot, under our car, a palm-sized ball of fur eating a discarded Dorito. He was ours from that moment (although it took us a day or so to figure that out). When he went missing I was heartbroken. For months I went to the Humane Society every other day, looking for him in the "stray" section. Alas it was not to be. However, one day I arrived and saw a kitten that was the spitting image of him in his youth. I had the volunteer put a note on the cage indicating that there was an interested party hoping to adopt, so that when the moment the kitten passed the time limit waiting for her owner to claim her, she would be health-checked for adoptability. By this time everyone at the place knew me and I probably would have been considered responsible enough to take her even if she had some horrible disease, but she didn't, she was fine but for a bad case of fleas. I was first in line when the doors opened that morning, and she purred up a storm as I held her while doing the paperwork. Her personality isn't very like that of the tom I was missing, but she filled a hole in my heart just the same. She rules the house.
2) Duchess (no LJ), long-haired gray and white, extra large, extra affectionate. Also about nine years old. Found on an airport in the grassy area between the runways. (Named, therefore, for a largish and sort of slow airplane.) She'll stand up on her hind legs and head-butt any hand that's dangling enticingly close.
We suspect Duchess was abandoned. She was clearly an indoor cat -- knew the sound of a can opener, had a scar from spaying, showed no interest in going outside even if we left the door open by mistake. I won't say what I think of people who abandon animals they've taken on responsibility for. I'm glad Duchess is happy with us.jackiecat tries to boss her around, but she is supremely immune to that: she simply doesn't care! She goes somewhere else and starts purring again.
3) Little Girl (no LJ), shorthair, gray-stripey and white. Inherited from a LJ-friend's grandma who passed away. Probably about eleven years old. Craves human affection. Follows me into the bathroom. Tangles herself in my ankles all the time. Sits in the window waiting for us to come home. Total purr factory. Little Girl is the only cat in the house who does not know her own name, but it hardly matters -- she'll come to you whether you call her or not.
I was nervous about adopting Little Girl because she hadn't shared a household with other cats before. I wasn't sure how she or my other two would react. I really didn't want to turn the house into a territory battleground. The smells! But it turned out to be easy. She's comfortable being third on the totem pole in terms of territory as long as she can be first in terms of cuddling up with the human. She is the sweetest cat in the world, and while I can't ask her whether she misses her human, I'm sure she's happy in her new home. [/LJ-CUT]
I am *totally* sentimental about my cats. I bond with cats. I am a Cat Person.
In order of seniority in the household:
1)
jackiecat, snob, accepts scritches on HER terms thankyouverymuch. Long-haired black w/ yellow eyes. Adopted from the Humane Society. 9 years old or so. Used to be much more congenial before she became indoor-only. I still wistfully think back on this decision; there might come a day when I'd reverse it in her case, although probably not.I lost an all-black longhair under suspicious circumstances around Halloween one year. He was sweet and trusting... probably too trusting. We'd found him in a hotel parking lot, under our car, a palm-sized ball of fur eating a discarded Dorito. He was ours from that moment (although it took us a day or so to figure that out). When he went missing I was heartbroken. For months I went to the Humane Society every other day, looking for him in the "stray" section. Alas it was not to be. However, one day I arrived and saw a kitten that was the spitting image of him in his youth. I had the volunteer put a note on the cage indicating that there was an interested party hoping to adopt, so that when the moment the kitten passed the time limit waiting for her owner to claim her, she would be health-checked for adoptability. By this time everyone at the place knew me and I probably would have been considered responsible enough to take her even if she had some horrible disease, but she didn't, she was fine but for a bad case of fleas. I was first in line when the doors opened that morning, and she purred up a storm as I held her while doing the paperwork. Her personality isn't very like that of the tom I was missing, but she filled a hole in my heart just the same. She rules the house.
2) Duchess (no LJ), long-haired gray and white, extra large, extra affectionate. Also about nine years old. Found on an airport in the grassy area between the runways. (Named, therefore, for a largish and sort of slow airplane.) She'll stand up on her hind legs and head-butt any hand that's dangling enticingly close.
We suspect Duchess was abandoned. She was clearly an indoor cat -- knew the sound of a can opener, had a scar from spaying, showed no interest in going outside even if we left the door open by mistake. I won't say what I think of people who abandon animals they've taken on responsibility for. I'm glad Duchess is happy with us.
jackiecat tries to boss her around, but she is supremely immune to that: she simply doesn't care! She goes somewhere else and starts purring again.3) Little Girl (no LJ), shorthair, gray-stripey and white. Inherited from a LJ-friend's grandma who passed away. Probably about eleven years old. Craves human affection. Follows me into the bathroom. Tangles herself in my ankles all the time. Sits in the window waiting for us to come home. Total purr factory. Little Girl is the only cat in the house who does not know her own name, but it hardly matters -- she'll come to you whether you call her or not.
I was nervous about adopting Little Girl because she hadn't shared a household with other cats before. I wasn't sure how she or my other two would react. I really didn't want to turn the house into a territory battleground. The smells! But it turned out to be easy. She's comfortable being third on the totem pole in terms of territory as long as she can be first in terms of cuddling up with the human. She is the sweetest cat in the world, and while I can't ask her whether she misses her human, I'm sure she's happy in her new home. [/LJ-CUT]
I am *totally* sentimental about my cats. I bond with cats. I am a Cat Person.
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You say "tomato"... ;-)
Since I'm not working the crummy-job-with-no-flexibility-for-time-off, I should make plans to come out to the area again. It's been way too long.
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