It cracks me up that I haven’t haven’t written much lately. As usual, that means there’s actually too much going on in my life, not too little.
For example: As many of you know, Mom is currently in the memory-care unit of an assisted living facility. I won’t go into details (yet), but she had another mental-illness crisis in June/July. The doctors ordered 24-hour supervision, and even if they hadn’t, we would have sought it.
What, then, to do with her two cats? There’s only one real answer: They’ve come to live with us.
Yes, that’s right. After the loss of Toto in February, we were down to three cats. Despite my insistent pleading, Kris refused to budge from that number. Now, however, we’re up to five cats. And man oh man, has that played havoc with the cat politics around this place.
To summarize, we have:
- Simon, he of prize-winning photos. He loves to climb ladders and to sleep late.
- Nemo, who is scared of everything except…
- Max (or Meatball), who is a lovable lug (but frightened of Nemo).
- Socks, who is a miniature version of Max. She is actually his blood sister.
- Silver, who is Simon’s blood brother.
At first, I thought Silver was worthless. He hid under the bed. He hissed. He didn’t interact with anyone. Now, though, after two weeks at our house, he’s established himself as Boss. (In the world of Kris and J.D., “Boss” is bestowed to the top cat of a house or neighborhood. Simon used to be Boss of the house, though he quarreled with Oreo next door about Boss of the neighborhood.)
It’s been entertaining over the past week to watch as the cat politics are sorted out. Simon was pissed off about being dethroned as Boss, and he and Silver came to blows a couple of times. Now, though, he’s resigned to it. As long as Mom still scritches him.
Meanwhile, Nemo (who thought he was Boss) hasn’t come inside except briefly. He’s completely cowed by Silver. And Maxwell doesn’t know what to think.
The new cats are chowing through the cat food. Because they were 100% indoor cats, they haven’t learned to use the outdoors for bathroom duties. (Although Silver figured out how to do Outside in minutes. He loves it.) And now our house is even furrier than it was before. The stairs are covered with cat hair.
Five cats seems like a lot. Still, I’m hoping Kris will let me get a replacement for Toto.
Five cats ARE a lot LOL especially indoors…… I had four indoor cats for a spell but then had to relegate two of them to outdoor status because the work was simply too much, not to mention the expense of additional cat litter. Now, we are back to two indoor cats with three outdoors. Up until last week, we had four outdoor cats but one has gone AWOL. Anyway, it is so much fun to watch the critters work out the pecking order.
I had four cats, then three cats, then two cats, then suddenly four cats again, most recently for about a year until this past May when my elderly Cody passed away. I’m back down to three; however, other than Cody’s need for twice-daily medicine and being extra clingy in his old age (which I, in fact, enjoyed very much), there’s not much difference that I’ve found between three and four (and I live in an 874 square foot house!).
I try to spread the good word near and far about the benefits and joys of feeding animals grain-free food. Their coats are healthier, the odor of the litter box basically disappears (no, really!) and they consume a lot less food. Going grain-free simplified my life for the better several years ago and I’ve made it my mention to educate as many fellow cat-lovers about it as possible. So, consider yourself informed. 🙂 Everyone I’ve ‘converted’ has remained that way.
Made it my mission to educate, not my mention… 🙂
After seeing your Twitter post the other day, I was hoping you’d write a cat politics post. This is hilarious. As much as I love cats, I’ve never had more than two. Right now, we have just one teeny tiny one and that’s all we need. The kids do fight over her but she gets feisty so they don’t cling to her TOO much. I love the politics system though. Too funny.
If you’re remotely serious about downsizing your home someday, you may want to get some help with this cat addiction of yours 😉
J.D., you did replace Toto. In fact, you replaced him with two new cats, Silver and Socks. Five is enough! I wonder if the cats remember their blood sister and brother from their kitten days? I love hearing the interactions of the new and the old members of the cat family.