Those Darn Cats

We currently have 3 cats. I say currently because it is possible that we have more cats but after a couple of years of not coming home for dinner (or for anything else) I figure they have either found a better home or are coyote fodder.

I'm allergic to cats and I don't tell my doctor that I have them as then he might suggest I get rid of them and then my asthma might get a bit better. But after a while the cats don't bother me, I seem to build up immunities and we can live together in harmony.

First we got Bruce Lee. Originally he was named Delphinia but then we found out he was not a she. But he was a handsome black cat with yellow eyes. He did not like to be touched. His skin would ripple if you petted him and he would try to avoid contact with his humans. We decided to get Bruce a friend so that's when Jackie Chan entered our lives. Jackie was the son of the neighborhood bully. His mom was a tiny cat that could send huge labs running for their life. Jackie was a scrappy cat but he was so loving and always gave us nose bumps. Of course my kids didn't think this was enough cats and wanted one more - one for each kid. So that's when we got Jet Li (see a pattern here?) Jet Li was a Sealpoint Siamese. Bruce and Jackie hated him. Poor Jet Li. He was not a fast cat and when he ran, his under belly would swing from side to side. All the other cats used to laugh and call him names... So that was our cat family until one night Jackie insisted that he go out. After an hour of him throwing himself against our bedroom door, I let him out. He never came back....

Then more tragedy struck! Rob was doing archery target practice in the back yard when he missed the target. The stray arrow bounces into my trellis of snap peas when boing! A cat leaps out of the peas and flees under the shed with an arrow in his back. Rob shot Jet Li! and now he can't find him. Rob calls me and says he shot the cat. I said, "what the hell did the cat do?" I had visions of Clint Eastwood and Rob saying, "Make my day". I soon realized that he didn't shoot the cat with his gun. He finally found the cat, took him to the vet who successfully removed the arrow and Jet Li was fine. I like to tell this story to parents when Rob is teaching archery to their kids. But tragedies never just happen twice, do they?

A month before the arrow incident, we got a feisty orange tabby kitten we called Chuck Morris or as we say, Charlie. Charlie was a fun kitten but he liked to eat string and thread. He ate alot of it one day. It messed up his digestive tract big time. Charlie got gastric bypass surgery. He is still going strong but boy, is he a skinny cat!

Shortly after we were recovering from the vet bills, Bruce Lee got sick and died in the hospital of liver failure. We buried him in the back yard while the neighbors watched from the comfort of their new hot tub. That was a big year in vet bills $$$$

So we are down to 2 cats until one fine day Jet Li didn't come home. I'm thinking my success rating with pets is not good. And I keep having to notify King Co Pet Licensing that those cats are now gone.

We had a temp cat for a while when Marcus's cat Tommy needed a place to stay, but Tommy is a tough old cat and didn't play well with Charlie. When Tommy started to spray in my house, Tommy got kicked outside.

After Tommy moved into his own house, we decided to add a kitten to our family so Charlie would have a friend. We went to Animal Control and came home with Figaro and Cleo (they were running a buy one, get one free special). Charlie hated them, I think at first he was afraid of them, then annoyed with them. They seem to be friends now but they all have show downs until someone gives and hands the hierarchy to the winner.





So it's Charlie the skin and bones cat, Cleo the secret eater who looks a beached harbor seal, and Super Fig who strikes a pose like Superman across the floor.