Nice to Meet You!

This is me sleeping in front of the fire. I love the soft heat on my belly!

I am totally deaf, pure white, have pale blue-green eyes and Attitude with a capital "A". My people say I'm spoiled so rotten that I stink!

My people took me in as a rescue cat (rescued me from euthanasia!) and I ended up as an anniversary gift! They had just lost their dearly beloved Siamese cat friend of 18 years and weren't quite ready to "own" another cat yet.

I had been living (not too well, I might add) under the bleachers at the high school football field in Weyauwega, WI. When I was finally caught, I was hungry, cold and scared. I couldn't understand what everyone wanted from me.

These creatures I now live with look very strange to me - neither one has fur (he calls the whiskerless one Angel) and only one sports whiskers (she calls him Hulk). They feel funny against my fur - all slippery and smooth, and they taste strange on my tongue.

The whiskerless one's litter mate (she answers to Joyce) originally took me into her home, but Joyce also had a tiny dog with bad breath (I could have taken that little dog if I really wanted to!) that barked non-stop once I moved into their house. It was too annoying to have that nasty breath blown in my face at all hours of the day, so the tiny dog and I would fight about it - sometimes for hours!

Well, the litter-mate (Joyce) asked the whiskerless one to "babysit" me for a couple of weeks until she could find a home for me. (The whiskerless one told her litter-mate she wasn't ready for another cat since they had only lost their beloved Siamese less than six months before I showed up!) As if I needed a babysitter! I could get along fine on my own!

Once I was in the whiskerless one's house, I immediately jumped up onto the couch and sprawled out. (You have to treat them as you plan to go on - a cat needs to set down some ground rules, you know.)

And the rest, as they say, is history - I am the absolute ruler and they my loyal subjects.

(By the way, I guess they like having me as their absolute ruler - those two weeks have morphed into almost five years!)

These are my people (Hulk and Angel.) I fought against them for a long, long time and didn't want anything to do with either one of them.

The whiskerless one kept touching me and petting me and hugging me (yuck - I despise mushy stuff). I really hated all that affection. I'm a loner and wanted to keep it that way.

But, with their loving patience and perseverence, I have to admit these fur-less people finally won me over. I even jump onto their laps, now, to sleep or groom. After all, they're much warmer than the floor on a cold winter day.

I'm learning sign language (some - and only when it pertains to food) and have mastered walking on a leash. The whiskerless one takes me for walks in the summer and I get to pounce on the bugs and chew grass. We walk past the yard of my friend Rex (yes, he's a "d-o-g", but even for a sub-species he makes a decent friend) where I like to flaunt the fact that I'm walking down the sidewalk while he's tied to the wall of his house. After the walks, I get my fur brushed and yummy home-made treats.

(Note: Rex, who was 14 years old, has recently passed on to that doggie playground in the sky, but I still say hi every morning - we walk past his remains where he reigns supreme under the white lilac bush between our homes. I miss you buddy!)

I've learned to accept the harness and leash, having realized they're only there to keep me safe, even if it does mess up my sleek girlish silhouette. But I still protest when I have to put it on; somehow, it seems to be expected of me - it's a game we play.

My persistence has paid off, as well. I've been diligent about winding around the whiskered one's legs and sleeping on his chest. Just a few days ago, he rewarded me by sharing a forkful of his salmon with me. (He doesn't believe in pets eating people food...but I knew if I just kept at it, I would eventually wear him down, too.)

In fact, when I'm really cute and play with him, he gives me enough treats to fill my food dish. He and the whiskerless one have repeated "discussions" about what constitutes a treat and what constitutes a meal. I don't really care what they call it, as long as he obeys me and gives me what I want, exactly when I want it!

These fur-less creatures are really pretty easy to manage, and are no match for the stubborness and gile of a cat with Attitude.

Cat's Rule!