Meet the rest of the family....

I had a very weird dream last night that we were infested with cats. In my dream, I kept hearing this noise and commotion during the night, but when I would get up to see what was going on I couldn't see anything causing the problem. So I hid a flashlight in my bed, and when I heard the noise again I jumped up and shone the flashlight around...and saw several dozen feral kittens crawling out of the walls. When they saw my light, they immediately started swarming back into the wall like a bunch of cockroaches. I remember being in a panic, trying to think of how I was going to rid of all these cats.

I don't need Ziggy Freud to figure out the root of that dream. If it were up to Maria, we *would* be swarmed with dozens of cats. We already own four of them, and she is still always trying to bring home more. "Mom," she'll cry from the backseat of the car, "look at that cat, it looks like a stray. It doesn't have a collar! Can I bring it home and we can find a home for it?" "Find a home for it" really means "can we keep it in our house for weeks while you fruitlessly try to con some poor soul into taking this cat until we are too attached to it to take it to a shelter?" I tell her firmly, "No More Cats!", and point out to her that she has no reason to think that the cat is a stray. Three of our four cats roam the neighborhood as well, and they also have no collars. Every so often I make an investment in collars for them all, and one by one each collar disappears. I tell her all this and that she would be very sad if someone started picking up our cats simply because they don't have a collar,,,and "No More Cats!". Then she'll insist that the cat looks quite hungry and uncared for as well...all deduced from the 8 second glance from her car window. "Maria! No More Cats!"

All four cats that we do own have come into our lives because of Maria and her (obsession) compassion for these animals.





This was the first cat, Maggie. Maggie appeared in our backyard one evening over 4 years ago during a snowstorm. It was already very cold out and getting dark quickly. We heard her crying and wailing from inside the house. She willingly let Maria pick her up and we found that she had frostbite on her ear. If you look at her left ear, you'll see it's still misshapen and hairless on the edges. I told Maria she could come in for the *night* and we would try to find her owner. She looked well fed and was obviously accustomed to being handled by children, so I really figured she belonged to someone. A few days later we had been unable to turn up an owner. We were also quite attached to this very sweet and rather fat lap cat. She especially attached to John, and he to her. We still call her his "girlfriend".
A few days after *that* I realized that Maggie was not fat....she *was* quite pregnant though.

Soon Maggie gave birth behind my living room chair to four kittens. I had already told Maria that she could pick one, mostly because the momma in me wanted Maggie to get to keep at least one of her babies. Even though I encouraged Maria to wait a few weeks and get to know their personalities, she picked the prettiest of the litter as soon as they are born This is Dinah...like in Alice in Wonderland.

Dinah is our only indoor cat. She has a typical cat prima donna personality. She seems to know she is the most beautiful cat in the world and spends her days lying on the cat perch in the window grooming her long, thick fur. She certainly would not stoop to roaming the yard looking for chipmunks and birds like the other cats. She doesn't have much use for us, though she does allow us to feed her and change her litter box.

My mom took one of the three remaining kittens, and a nurse at the hospital I worked at took another. The fourth didn't have any takers. I posted pictures up at the hospital, begged and pleaded...it's hard to get rid of a litter of mutt cats! Weeks went by and I accepted the fact that this cat, a lanky, short-haired boy Maria named Britches (his markings make him look like he does, indeed have pants on) wasn't going anywhere. I'll admit, that time I was happy enough to oblige. I felt sorry for the plain looking but very sweet cat that no one wanted. He now sleeps at my feet most nights and is "momma's boy".

Our last cat just came to us late last summer. This is Kitten. Actually, her name is Alice (to go with our Dinah), but we all still call her Kitten. Kitten pretty much adopted us. We were exiting the car one day and this tiny gray ball of fur came running across the road and dropped herself at Maria's feet. Maria, of course, begins her "can't we PLEASE keep her" wails. She was only a few weeks old and, well, asphalt colored. I was worried about her being run over since she obviously had no reservations about running out in the middle of the road. Still, Iknew her momma must be somewhere nearby. I strongly suspected (and later confirmed) that she belonged to our neighbors across the street, people that let their cats just breed generations of strays over and over again. I really, really didn't want another cat. I had spent a fortune over the summer keeping the three we had in Frontline and vaccines. But she was very tiny, and very cute. She sat on my shoulder most of the time like a furry gray parrot. So, I caved. We kept her, and she is the brattiest thing! So much for gratitude...She attacks your feet when you leave the dangling off the side of the couch, or even just walk by when she is "hunting" under the dining room table. She'll attack your feet while you sleep if you dare to shift them under the covers. John especially can't stand her because she torments his Maggie....Maggie *hates* her. We hoped this would improve with time, but it has not. Maggie hisses and howls every time she sees her, and Kitten, being the brat that she is, will stalk and pounce on Maggie several times a day, seeming to enjoy the fireworks that ensue. Maria stays loyal, however. She absolutely adores Kitten...mostly because Kitten is the only cat that will allow Maria to pick her up and tote her around the house.

So, there you have it...our four furry family members. I have grown to love them,,,even Kitten...but that's it!!! No More Cats!