Saturday, August 26, 2006

Feline Loev Current mood: content Category: Pets and Animals

I would classify myself as an animal person. I like dogs and cats equally but have developed an allergy to dogs in the last decade of my life. Cats however - that allergy disappeared the same time the dog one set in.

I am not picky about my cats. I always have two and they are always going to be male (neutered) in the future. One will always be a Maine Coon the other - whatever.

My very first cat was Wilbur, a stunning Black Maine coon with green eyes. He was the love of my life and died 4 years ago. I had him cremated and he sits on a shelf over my desk every day. He was quite a personality. Such a gentle boy - 18 lbs but not fat. MC's are BIG cats. He was a mouser and since we lived in the woods back then, he would catch the unlucky mice that would have the nerve to set paw into our home.

I adopted Shadow, a domestic short hair, female found on the beach as a kitten, from a childhood friend of mine. The family had passed her from house to house within the family due to allergies but she was Mallory's cat from day 1. They missed each other. Shadow never liked to share her "people" with other animals. She was a little bit of bitch too. She was vindictive with as much ferocity towards her peoples as the love she had for them. Shadow adored me. She truly loved me. I loved her too. But when she got mad at me for some slight - real or imagined - she would pee somewhere. Never hidden - right out in the open - and damaging something. My leather briefcase was the one that really irked me most.

She passed away a year an half ago at age 18 also. She had some disease that defied even my vet. She had lesions on her body that would erupt and no one could tell me what was wrong with her. I was forced to put my poor shmoofy to sleep because it was slowly killing her with extensive pain and there was nothing that could be done for her.

In between, I had adopted a 4 year old neutered male Maine coon named Toby. He was gorgeous. Traditional tortuous shell tabby cat with brilliant green eyes. He had an aneurism after 9 months with me and we lost him.

Both Shadow and Toby are buried in my parents yard.

My current loves are Wolfgang and Bandit. Wolfi is my Orange Maine Coon. Hes 16 lbs and was the runt of the litter. A roly poly baby who I got at 3 months old, he was the first kitten I ever took care of by myself. He was so beautiful and sweet, he would fall asleep while running to sit on my lap, right on the floor. Such a sweet face, this cat has the perfect 8 points for showing a Maine Coon. I wouldnt show him though hes all mine and hes neutered. He can be very loving and a big pain in the butt. He sleeps with me, eats with me and sometimes my food in addition to his own.

He has a unique habit with his litter box. When its time for him to use the Lil kitties room, he goes into the bathroom, closes the door, does his business, cleans up, opens the door and comes out. Just like his humans do.

He feels that it is his right to share a yogurt with his mom and we have finally come to an arrangement with that. When I take out the yogurt, if hes not with me and thats highly unlikely

I ask Who wants to have a yogurt with mama? He comes running if hes not with me, and we walk together, with him chirping the whole way, to the couch. I tell him to settle down which means lay down until mama finishes her yogurt. He then takes the container between his front paws and licks it. I eat activia yogurt which has a very small container and his big head doesnt really fit, but he does pretty well.

He also has an unnatural affinity for the hallway. The one OUTSIDE my house. He sits at the door and whines, or talks to me, if he hears anyone or anything in this hallway. No matter that they may not be there to visit us. We do have neighbors. He does have a girlfriend 3 doors down named Ginger. She loves him and she loves me. She sits outside my door and they sniff each other. Its so funny to watch.

These stories may illustrate Wolfi as the smart one. I assure you, he is smart, but his brother bandit is brilliant.

Bandit is not out going, he is not terribly interesting looking, he is domestic short hair black and white cat. He was also the runt of his litter. He is very sweet and very loving. He loves to do things in the house that hes not allowed to and sets up Wolfi for the fall.

I had changed the type of litter the boys were using to the crystals. They deal with smells better and last longer so I thought this was a great idea. Bandit felt differently. What he would do, was take the multicolored blue crystal covered poops and use them as toys. Wolfi being the more active player IMMEDIATELY joined in. It took me months to catch Bandit as the culprit and poor Wolfi was always getting yelled at.

Likewise with the closets. Wolfi is dumb enough to open the closet doors to root around in there, but he learned this from Bandit. Again took me months to find out.

They play together all morning long. One chases the other than they reverse. They run through the house like this. 2 or 3 times a month, there are scratches on one anothers noses, but thats part of the territory. Bandit is getting better a fighting back. Hes the lover not the fighter. They play like this at my bedtime as well. There tends to be under the bed action here, they fight, hiss, and talk freshly to one another, until I turn the spray gun on them. If this continues through the night, one or both get thrown out of the room.

Bandit is a love bug more so than Wolfi. Wolfi is loving and affectionate but Bandit can go 20-30 minutes of petting and purring where Wolfi only has about 5 -7 minutes in him. Bandit is very responsive to being called the love bug, He is very sweet and very cuddly, and He is NOT the dominant one.

Wolfi is.

And you know how I found out? Wolfi mounted Bandit when they were 6 months old. Not really clear on what either was supposed to do, Bandit rolled over on his back and the two of them looked at me and had the most perplexed look on their face. And me without my camera! Like I said there is a supreme lack of intelligence here.
Bandit only sleeps on the bed in the winter Wolfi is on the bed all year round and under the covers during the colder months.

They both worship me, or at least, I like to think so.