The snow continued to pile up the first part of the week, so we stuck close to home. It was a good time to get caught up on our reading and in the process offer lap time for the cats.
Some time in the spring of 2007, a neighbor in the 33rd street culdesac where we lived, abandoned a pregnant cat.
Now, we’d been fooled once by a bloated orange tom (a homeless male cat who looked pregnant, so of course we took him in) but we knew what we were getting into, or at least we thought we knew.
The cat, Mittens, a polydactyl (extra toes) cat immediately was re-named Greta, and we got to witness a birth cycle. Four kittens survived.
Unfortunately, one of our kitten crew was a budding escape artist . While moving to Sandy she managed to slip past our confines. The other three, Lewis, Clark, and Boo have always lived indoors.
We’re are dog people and enjoy a canine’s company in the house or car. That said, there is nothing like a cat purring in your lap which can soothe the mind.
Until recently, Lewis was really the only lap cat out of the lot. Boo would regularly climb up on JQ and literally hug her around the neck. After receiving his due, he would move on.
Gretta and Clark were tolerant of my existence at best, but would hang out with JQ and the dogs.
Sixteen years have passed and two males are all that are left of our cat clan. Boo and Lewis have turned into talkative old geezers.
A year ago, we started treating Boo for Hyperthyroidism . . . the same malady that took his mother. Boo’s medicine, or rather it’s delivery system is more advanced than Greta’s, however it still has limits and I think we’re reaching his.
In their advancing age, a warm place to nap has become critical, something I can understand.
Usually after a bit of chin scratching you can return back to reading or scrolling and a warm knot of fur will lay calmly in your lap.
Recently Boo’s naps have included what can only be attributed to dreams.
These manifest as growls and small spasms that run through his body. I wonder what memories a cat carries to cause such fits.
Are cat dreams shaped by actual experience or can a they conjure up an alternate reality in their sleep? I don’t expect an answer.
Days are warming and as spring approaches, we’ll be spending less time at home. The brothers will adjust to different napping sites, but will continue to vocalize their dissatisfaction. It’s just another cycle of life.