Crazy Cat Lady

I’m single, I live alone, I own a pink chenille robe and purple fuzzy slippers and on rare occasions I show up in public with rollers in my hair. (It was Halloween and a wig, but still counts.) It should come as no surprise that I have two cats.

I am well on my way to becoming the youngest crazy cat lady ever, if I am not already there. For Christmas one year, my best friend gave me the most amazing action figure ever – The Crazy Cat Lady, complete with eight cats. See photo above. I think she was trying to tell me something.

In my last post, I talked about my parents’ dogs and then felt like a guilty parent, doting on my pet siblings but not talking about my own furry offspring.  See what I mean? I’m totally a crazy cat lady talking about my furry offspring. 

After returning from an amazing fourteen week backpacking trip through Europe after college (with the friend who gave me the action figure), I found myself at my parents’ house in Dallas, twiddling my thumbs trying to come up with my next steps. (Hey that sounds familiar, except now I am in NB at my grandparents’ house. Hmmmm) Anyways, my mom and I went to a charity dog walk, at which they had kittens up for adoption. This seemed odd, as having kittens at a dog walk seems a lot like inviting mice to a party hosted by hungry snakes. Either way, there was a cage with two tiny terrified fur balls that had been found that morning in a nearby alley. My mom took one look at them and said “We’ll take them!” I looked at her like she was crazy, as she already had four, maybe even five, cats at that time and three dogs. Clearly I come from an animal-loving family. We decided to adopt them and whenever I got a job and moved out, I’d take them with me. Six years later, I still have the two furry indoor only companions – Clementine and Nutmeg. Yes, I did move out of my parents house, eventually. 

Kittens!

Clementine is the adorable orange one, barely weighing in at six pounds soaking wet and has questionable eyesight and judgment but has the loudest yowl I've ever heard.

Clementine, not escaping

Nutmeg is the big brown one, topping the scales at fourteen pounds, is at least part Maine Coon acts more like a dog than a cat. She sleeps at my feet, hates being picked up and will play fetch with her toys. She jumped up on the bed last night and dropped a little sparkly ball in my lap for me to throw. I complied and she promptly brought it back to my bedside to repeat. Good dog! 

Nutmeg, also not escaping

They are both weary of strangers, having lived a rather secluded life indoors with me, but will warm up after a while. Clementine is not the sharpest apple in the drawer and gets confused easily. When my mom comes over, she often purrs and hisses at the same time while getting petted.  Nutmeg will hide under the bed or chair until she deems the stranger okay, usually after 15-20 minutes and then will wind her way around their legs, leaving her long fur on them as a token of love, or spite.

I left the windows at my house open on a recent warm day and left for a few hours, not thinking about the sturdiness of the screens separating them from the wild world outside. When I returned, the screen had been knocked out and Nutmeg was patiently sitting in the window sill, halfway hanging outside checking out the great outdoors but from the safety of the house. I panicked a little when I couldn't find Clementine, thinking she had escaped and would never return, as she is not the brightest bulb on the block. Thankfully, she too was still inside. Either they are that scared of life outside or they realized how darn good they have it living with me. I like to think the  latter.They've also lived with me in an Airstream trailer on four separate occasions which they seemed to tolerate and have been on more than a few road trips, which of course they hate.

Hanging out in the Airstream

Nutmeg even took up drinking while living in the trailer

Their most hated activity though, might be the annual Kate and cats Christmas card. After starting to get the Christmas cards with cute photos of couples from my friends a few years ago, I decided that I could play that game too! I found some cat sized antlers and Christmas hats, a willing photographer friend or two and began an (almost) yearly tradition. Here are some of the highlights over the years. The amazing photos in front of the Airstream were taken by my professional photographer friend, the other Kate. Merry Catmas Y’all (a little late)!

Best. Pajamas. Ever.

Right before she scratched my face off

She actually loves having her photo taken

See? Total ham!

HATES having her photo taken

 Still hating it and possibly contemplating suicide

 Such a drama queen! (The cat, not me)

 OMG it's a flying cat! (Who was not harmed in the photo shoot, but I was)

I know not everyone loves or even likes cats, but they are pretty awesome pets if you ask me. They are relatively low maintenance and keep me pretty entertained, which is more than I can say for the multiple beta fish I've accidentally killed over the years. The cats don't bark, their meows very rarely wake me and I can leave them alone for a few days (with adequate food and water) and not worry that they will destroy the entire house. I never have to rush home to let them out and they seem to tolerate my crazy schedule. They've also got quite a bit of 'tude and only do what they want to do, when they want to do it. Gotta respect that!

xoxo,
The Youngest Crazy Cat Lady in Texas