A Tale of Two Kitties

Here's (finally) the story of the last two of my four kitties.  The photos aren't great, but they don't like sitting for their portrait, and this may be the best I ever get. 

This is Fiona

Fiona is the cat I've had the longest.   11 years ago I think, I had taken the day off.  The insurance agency where I was working at the time called and asked me to come in.   They had found two kittens in the parking lot there, that someone had dumped.  Since I had been talking about getting a second cat, they thought I might want to take a look. One was a orange tabby and one was a tortoiseshell.  I picked up the torty and she promptly patted my nose with her little paw and stuck her toes up my nose. That was it - she went home with me.  The reason I took off that day was because it was my birthday - so little Fiona was my birthday present that year.   My grumpy old male cat never did take to her much, and over the years we also added a dog - who she didn't like much.  Both the dog and that cat are gone now, and Fiona is now the older, grumpy, grande dame of the household.  She loves her creature comforts (hence snuggling down in the wool, half asleep) and is always on my lap or sleeping next to me at night.  

    

This is Michu (mee-shoo)

Michu is my newest cat.  When I went to the shelter and picked out Yoshi, I also saw this pretty girl, and it was hard to decide between them.   They were having a "two-for-one" deal at the shelter..... adopt one cat, get one free.  (isn't that pathetic!?  But I understood their need to make room)    The idea of having four cats freaked me out though.  I thought I would end up 'the crazy old cat lady.'    Ha - ha, little did I know then.........  So, I went home with only Yoshi.   I just couldn't get this girl out of my mind though, and within a few days I had to go back and get her too.   She was brought into the shelter at Christmastime, with 3 kittens, even though she was hardly beyond kitten-age herself.  All 3 of the kittens were adopted, but no one wanted mom....... and she had been in that little cage for several months.   That made it even harder to leave her behind originally, and why I just had to go back for her, crazy or not. 

Michu is an odd duck.....for a cat.   She stayed in the kitchen for at least a week after coming home, and only gradually ventured out to the living room.  (open plan, the kitchen and living room are really only one room) It was a full year before she would come downstairs to the bedroom, and she still only does it when I am sleeping in and it gets so far past her normal breakfast time she is afraid I might not intend to feed her.  She will let me pick her up, but only for a few seconds, then she squiggles to get down.  She will NOT get up on the furniture or the bed, and kind of panics to get down when I put her up there with me.   She is not stand-offish though and is the sweetest thing in the world. She loves pets and ear rubs, as long as all four of her feet are solidly on the ground.  She has a loud purr  - like an engine, and all you have to do is look at her - especially if you call her a 'pretty girl,' that starts her motor running.  She has gained a lot of weight since I brought her home.  I think of her as the "Delta Burke of Catdom" (a fat girl with a pretty face)  With the other cats - none of whom have any weight problems - needing to have access to their food too, we haven't figured out a way to monitor her intake.   I'm pretty sure she has Persian behind her.  Her face isn't smooshed in, but her body type is VERY different from all the other cats - short legs, short neck,  heavy bone, body built like a shoebox and silky coat with a shorter, puffier tale - all Persian traits.

So now you have met all my 'kids.'   Sometimes I feel like the old woman who lived in a shoe, but I love each of them dearly, and wouldn't want to be without them.