It's Official!

I saw this on Facebook the other day and besides laugh, the only thing I could think of was, yes, it's official.  I am now the crazy cat lady!

Believe it or not, we now have FIVE pet cats.   Over the course of the past few months, we have added three more cats to our menagerie.

Jayla

We started off with Jayla--a free kitten we got from a rural pound several years ago.  Jayla is very sweet and has a serious weakness for all things edible.  Unfortunately, she isn't terribly high energy either, so consequently, she has become rather large.  In other words, she is the quintessential "fat cat."

Riley

Two years later, we added Riley into the mix.  On my previous blog, I told the story of how we got Riley.  It's sort of funny, so I'll quickly retell it.  Our local newspaper featured a cat in their "Pet of the Week" column.  The article described how Riley was a cat who was "majorly down on his luck."  He had been dumped at a local gas station and was found scrounging in the dumpster.  To make matters worse, Riley had a severe respiratory infection and an abscess on his face.  After Bob finished reading the article to me, he jokingly said, "Wow, he sounds perfect--let's get him."   (These are words Bob should long know that he should never, ever utter in my presence, because of course, we did just that.)  The following day, Connor, Mikaela and I went to the animal shelter and adopted Riley.

The article didn't exaggerate--he was a mess.  We took him straight to the vet's office where they began treating him for the respiratory infection and abscess.  Let's just say I never knew cats could shoot humongous, human like boogers out their noses.  Boogers that are 3 - 5X the size of their noses.  I now do.  As we were leaving the vet's office, the tech asked me if I'd like to purchase a cardboard cat carrier to safely bring him home--to which I (cheaply) replied, "Nah, we'll be fine.  I only live 10 minutes away."  Needless to say, that was a BIG mistake!

Six minutes later, as I was driving home, Riley crawled under my legs and feet and proceeded to get car sick on my floor mat.  And then to make matters worse, as he was vomiting, he simultaneously had a major diarrhea attack.  The smell was horrific and since he was throwing up and couldn't move, the diarrhea was getting all over his fur. Naturally, as soon as he stopped throwing up, he began to move all over me and the car, tracking the poop everywhere he went.  But that wasn't the worst of it...when I finally got home and got out of the car, I grabbed the floormat and to my total horror, I saw a slew of white worms wriggling in his vomit.  Much to his chagrin, Riley went directly into the laundry room sink for a bath.  Riley may have been down on his luck, but his life has taken a turn for the better.  He's been with us for 3 years now and he is very well loved.  Unfortunately, Riley has polyps in his nose and still shoots out humongous boogers (lovely, I know--I'm sure you'd love to come stay with us knowing that).  However, he's incredibly sweet--full of spunk and personality--but he's not terribly healthy and on top of his chronic infections, he has a heart murmur as well.

The next cat which found a home with us came from our local farm and feed store.  I went there to pick up some llama chow and wound up bringing home Maisy Grace--a feral kitten they had caught in a trap and wanted to get rid of.  I figured since she was feral and was already living in a barn, she might as well come live in our barn.  And so I brought her home, put her up in the barn with some food and water and she promptly disappeared.  I went out to the barn for the next few days looking for her, but unfortunately, I couldn't find her.  I felt bad, but there was little I could do.

About a week later, I was working in the barn when I heard a rustle.  Lo and behold, there she was under a wood pallet.  I felt so sorry for her, because she looked so pathetic--she was just a little kitten and she was all alone in the world, so I brought her into the house.  It took Maisy all of about 20 seconds to decide she liked being a house cat far better than being a barn cat and so she's stayed.

Maisy Grace

Then this summer, I received a phone call from my sister saying that they had found 3 abandoned two-week old kittens at her office and she wanted to know if we'd take them.  Of course we would.  So for the next eight weeks, Bob, the kids and I bottle fed these kittens.  To be honest, I felt like some sort of  La Leche League mama--doing extended "nursing" and "attachment parenting."  My initial plan was to find homes for the kittens and I found takers for all of them.  In fact, my friend Tisha took Storm...but as the days progressed, we became more and more bonded to the two remaining kittens--Rainier and Ninja.

Rainier

Six months later, they are still here and here is where they'll stay.  There must be something to that "nursing-bonding" thing, because I absolutely love these guys.  That said, five is my absolute limit and no matter what, we won't be getting any more cats.  (Just. say. NO, Maureen, Just. say. NO!)

Ninja

Hmmm...can I just say the fact that I have five cats is scary, but the fact that I am actually blogging about my pet cats is even scarier?  The ironic thing is I've become the crazy cat lady and I'm not even a cat person--I'm much, much more into dogs!