Poopie and Black&White Kitty

Poopie and Black&White Kitty came to live with us when Colten came to live with us in May of 2010. Caroline had just remarried and was moving to Clovis, which made sense since her husband’s business is in Clovis. Colten, however,  didn’t want to change schools and friends again, so it was agreed that he could live with us in order to finish up at Muleshoe High School. He and his mother could still keep close contact since Clovis is only 30 minutes away, and he wouldn’t have to disrupt his high school education.

But no one asked Caroline’s last two cats,  Poopie and Kitty, where they wanted to live, but it was pretty much a done deal that if Colten came, Poopie was coming too, as they had been together her whole life, which at the time was for the past eleven years. She hung around wherever he was and slept with him every night. Kitty had been with the family a year longer, although not as close to Colten, but I decided she might as well come along, too.

Which was all well and good, except at the time we already had six cats, so there was some concern about if they would all get along. And we already had one named Kitty (Kitty The Lap Cat, October 4, 2010) . As it turned out, they all made it just fine, although these days I am beginning to see a lot more insecurity in Peaches’ behavior, so I try to give her a little more attention. Occasionally I will hear a spat or two, but they all have their routines and favorite places and have settled into life with each other. But that meant we would have eight cats, which my smarty-pants friends love to remind me is the cut-off for qualifying as one of those crazy cat-hoarding old ladies. But my cats have all had their shots, been spayed, and have clean litter boxes. So there!

Unfortunately, though, as I write this we are down to six cats, having lost the lap cat Kitty and Little Cat. We had called the new Kitty Black&White Kitty to distinguish between the two cats, which worked fine. Now she could just be Kitty, but I catch myself still calling her Black&White Kitty, out of respect for Kitty.

Poopie is completely devoted to Colten, expects to be in his room with him and is perfectly happy when she is in the middle of his bed, usually curled up right on top of him.  She has been no trouble at all, so we are glad she came to live with us. When his door is shut, she patiently waits by it until someone opens it to let her in. And her name? Well, Colten said she would do funny things and thought she needed a funny name.  Poopie does bring out the smiles.

 

Black&White Kitty was a little longer coming around. A bit timid, she wasn’t real sure she wanted to be here. She had been more of an outside cat for the last few years and still seems more comfortable outside, but now she will ask to come in, gets a bite to eat just for the reassurance that this is her home and she is welcome, and then it is back outside. Her favorite place during this hot summer has been on the front step where she lounges in the corner napping and watching the traffic go by. She appears magically when I go out to weed or water and has even taken to jumping into laps for a little one-on-one time, which I enjoy, too.

So now you have met all my cats and been with me for the loss of three; Pedro Jesus, Kitty, and Little Cat. The head count stands at six, as of today. I hope it stays like this for a while. I don’t want to lose another one any time soon.

And considering that most of our cats just mysteriously found our house and stayed, I might  turn off that sign visible only to cats  that says “Safe House,” because for now, six really is enough…