My World According to Cats



Lucy



People often ask me what it is like to live in home with so many cats. To be honest, unless it is Saturday morning, the day set aside for a special breakfast of canned cat food, it is a rarity to see all eleven of them at the same time. Yes, I have eleven cats!!

But it wasn’t always that way. I was a confirmed dog person until I adopted my first kitten, Siegfried, almost 30 years ago. All it took was that tiny ball of fur curled up on my lap, purring his little heart out and I was smitten. No more dogs, cats rule.

Since that time sixteen different cats have taken their place in my home. Kissa lived here the shortest at only two years; others, like Tristan lived until the ripe old age of 22.  I had long-haired and short-haired cats, males and females, kittens and adults. The only requirement was that they either came from shelters or were abandoned in the neighborhood.

My current cat household is unique in that I actually have three distinct family groups. The Old Ladies, Lucy and Gracie, are my senior citizens. Both in their late teens, they possess the Maine Coon markings and coloration varying only in their eye color and the fact that Lucy is long-haired and Gracie, short-haired. The Old Ladies are feisty and prefer to keep their own company. They want nothing to do with the other cats in the house.

The Hole in the Wall Gang is family group number two. True siblings, Butch, Sundance and Etta (known in the house as Eddie) moved in fourteen years ago when I offered to foster care them after their mother was killed. When they arrived, the three were barely a month old and still needed bottle feeding. Fourteen years later, they continue to behave like unruly kittens, constantly fighting and stealing food from one another.

The last family group is Mama’s Family. Mama Kitty and her five children (Gabriel, Isabelle, Oliver, Lily and Squeak) moved in five years ago after being abandoned by someone in the neighborhood. Unlike the Hole in the Wall Gang, Mama’s family adore each other and you can always find them cuddled up together on the living room chair or stacked in a row at the back door watching the squirrels at the feeder.

I must admit there are times when having all these cats are exhausting. There are always litter boxes to empty and it is a rare moment to sit down without one of them wanting to sit on my lap. I have a closer relationship with my veterinarian than I do with my own physician and you don’t even want to know how much I spend each year on litter, food and medications.

But like I always said, I wouldn’t get out of bed in the morning if it wasn’t for my cats. They play such a large role in my life, making me laugh when they race through the house in hot pursuit of each other, to testing my patience when I catch them using my houseplants as litter boxes. I have bottle fed them as kittens and held them in my arms when they took their final breath. Cats are fearless and independent yet playful and loving. And I adore each and every one of mine.