Weekend Cat Blogging: Two New Kitties….

So, during my nearly year-long vacation from writing, our house was blessed with the arrival of two cats. And when I say arrival, I mean it–we didn’t plan to add two cats to our household–far from it. But two stray cats had other ideas.

The first to show up was the fellow you see in the first picture: Po. (Kat named him after Po, the title character in the movie, “Kung Fu Panda.” And while he is grey and white instead of black and white–the fluffy cat’s personality certainly fits his name.)

And when I say show up–that is exactly what he did. Our deck was redone this spring to make it safe for Kat–the original railings would have let a toddler fall through very easily–and so we spent most of our time outside. Kat and I were playing out there one evening, while Delia, one of our favorite cats watched from a window and meowed at us, and I had the thought, “I wish we had a cat who could come out on the deck with us, but all of ours would try to run off.”

Not ten minutes later, a grey and white fluffy cat came sauntering down the hill, climbed the steps to our second story deck and proceeded to be loving and charming. Zak came out and there was this fluffy cat purring while Kat hugged him.

At first we were adamant: no new cats. So, when we went inside, Mr. Fluffy (which was the name Kat wanted to give him when she first saw him) stayed outside. But, he settled down on our porch and stayed the night. He wasn’t there when we got up in the morning, so Zak and I thought we had dodged a bullet.

However, when I went to take out the trash that night, a fuzzy blur dashed down the hill and shot into our garage. When I came back for more trash, a very fluffy cat started winding himself around and through my ankles, purring like a dove cooing.

And he refused to leave the garage. So, we set up a bed, gave him food and water and brought a cat littler box to the garage, and resolved to call the vet the next day.

After being vetted, Po became a new member of the household and he has settled in nicely. He does have adolescent male cat problems–in that he is very active and likes to chase the other cats and bedevils them at every opportunity, but usually, he is so good-natured about it that the other cats don’t much care. Except for Grimmy who hates him, but she mostly keeps to herself, and when Po tries to get her to play, we shoot him with water pistols.

Now Po is fully integrated into our family. He likes to help with everything I do–as you can see, he even wants to help me work with my quilting machine! Not that having him sit on the fabric is much help! He also loves to sit on my ironing board or cutting table, and has been known to jump up on my sewing table and try to “help” me there–usually by trying to steal the thread spool from the machine while it is running!

Not a month after Po had settled himself comfortably as a member of our family, another cat appeared. I had gone out one night to make a grocery run, and as I was unlocking one of our cars, I heard a tiny, sad-sounding mew. Looking down, I saw a very small orange kitten under our other car. I set down my purse and called to the kitten–and eventually, she trusted me enough to come out. She was so thin, and dirty, it was obvious that she had been on the streets for a while, but she was so friendly, I knew she couldn’t be truly feral.

I also saw that she was pregnant.

So, I went inside and got some leftover beef from dinner and brought it out to feed her, and she gobbled it down voraciously. I called Zak out and he shook his head–no way could we take another cat–we just brought Po in.

So, I bedded her down in our walled garden, where there was water and shelter, and I put more food out for her.

When I got up the next morning, she was gone.

And I looked for her every day, but for a week, she never came back.

Seven days later, Zak and I were on our way outside when she showed up on our porch again, thinner than ever, and even more loving.

Zak petted her and watched me feed her by hand, and saw how hungry she was, and how sweet she was and he relented. Into the garage she went until she was vetted, and pronounced healthy. She came to live inside with us after a day–she was litter trained and tiny–but the vet said she was an adult. And she was pregnant, so we had her spayed and had the kittens aborted–because she was so starved, the poor things were probably starved as well, and she was so small, we thought she would have problems with delivery. And besides, we’d have to find homes for them.

We ended up naming her Jane after the protagonist from the Jane and the Dragon books by Martin Baynton, . These books tell the story of a young red-haired girl who decides that instead of being a lady in waiting, she would study to become a knight. In the course of her journey, she makes friends with a dragon, and many adventures ensue.

Jane is a great name for our littlest cat–she has turned out to be alert, playful, fierce and very interested in EVERYTHING! She is a lot of fun, and is very, very cute–and is also a great and brave spider killer–she has caught and killed several very large creepy-looking spiders, and brought them to me so I could dispose of them. What a good kitty!

I am just hoping that no other cats appear on our doorstep, though. We have plenty.

8 Comments

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1. Kitties know the best places to go. 🙂

   Congrats on the interlopers!

   Comment by Cindy — November 28, 2010 #

2. Awwwww…what a lucky break for these guys to find such a wonderful home. They look and sound so sweet, especially the little orange one. Love the photos!

   Comment by Diane — November 28, 2010 #

3. I love Po.

   He reminds me so much of Pippin, (my late feline who quite similarly sauntered into Barbara and Zak’s lives at the precise moment I was wanting a cat,) in terms of his mannerisms.

   I knew that poor little Jane was pregnant when she turned up, and I’d wondered what had happened.

   Comment by Dan — November 28, 2010 #

4. These kitties certainly knew what home to pick. Can I borrow Jane. There is an invasion in my house. Our weather turned cold and with all the nooks and crannies a 1907 house can have there is an over run of spidery creatures creating magnificent webs. It is as if a “free room and board” sign was put up outside and they happily moved in. The vacuum cleaner and I are always on patrol.

   Comment by Maureen — November 28, 2010 #

5. Aw, Po looks so cute and adorable. I prefer black and white cat from orange ones.

   Comment by Christmas Sweets — November 29, 2010 #

6. What adorable companions, and how good of you to keep them. I love marmalade cats but both of them look very affectionate. My mother in law has a habit of picking up strays, the cats in her neighbourhood just occasionally move houses when they get bored of their owners too, so her cat moved somewhere else and that families cat moved in with her!

   Comment by jenny — November 29, 2010 #

7. I have to admit that I particularly did NOT want another long-haired cat in the house. And I’m not generally fond of orange cats. But, well, there are exceptions to everything.

   What really bugged me about the cats the most was that they both showed up at the beginning of the summer…not long after the students had left. It was obvious that Po wasn’t truly feral. Jane, while emaciated and traumatized, had a worn color on. No phone number, though.

   Coincidence? Maybe. But they’d hardly be the first pets dumped by students at the beginning of summer.

   OTOH, Po, being Po, may have just decided to up and leave after making himself particularly UNwelcome. I love that cat, even if I want to toss him down the stairs on a regular basis.

   Comment by Zak — December 1, 2010 #

8. The kitties were looking for loving home and found it! Thank you for taking poor things off the street and into your home.
   Happy to see you back. Feel free to type away. I always found your posts insightful and informative.
   Love, -Jill-

   Comment by Jill — September 24, 2011 #

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