2022 must have been so good that I did not make an entry for kitty pictures. I assure you I took plenty of them and they gave me plenty of opportunities to capture them, unfortunately to grab some of their best antics I would have to be a walking camera.
Being that Miss Helen is the eldest and if we had to compare cat years to human years… she’d be in her 50’s? She’s over 11 years old and has been the matriarch of the ornery bunch, so I don’t blame her disposition when the young ones want to lure her into a cat and mouse game.
She spends most of her day in my studio office lounging and giving me occasional stare downs. I take it that she disapproves of my lack of daytime catnaps.
Second in line is Meesho, and I still think that is debatable since I still insist that Mittens (and Mr. Chubs, RIP) were next to adopt us.
Meesho is the night watch, when all the cats are inside (as well as to our surprise Little Bear – his shadow) Meesho is the one that stays out star-gazing. He greets us by the kitchen door in the morning which faces east and if I didn’t know better it appears he truly loves watching the Sun come up.
Now comes in Mittens, aka Mr. Lover, aka Goodwill Embassador, aka Mr. Goofy … I mean this cat could pass for a kitten with his silliness and his love for strings and toys … oh and boxes. This was the year that our Mittens suffered a set back and is beginning to lose his hearing.
If I could share anything with any indoor/outdoor cat owner is this: if you happen to have a cat like Mittens with ‘greasy ears’ – clean their ears bi-monthly. To experience a cat lose it’s hearing is so sad. No longer do they respond to your voice (as if they really cared or would admit to respond to humans 😹 ), yet it is sad to see the excitement or ability to jump onto higher platforms because of the loss of inner ear balance is very sad.
When the veterinarian told us that he was losing hearing on one ear… we were devastated and I personally wanted to blame myself as if I could have avoided it. I know things happen and with the other 5 cats with no issue I know better not to beat myself up like that. I just wonder if more cleaning would have helped, I’ll never know. One thing I do know is this… just because your cat has a ‘condition’ one should not treat him/her any different, only be a bit more aware of how to help them continue to live their best life ever.
…and then there is Little Bear. No clouder is complete if it does not have at least one black cat. Little Bear is Meesho’s shadow and nemesis. I don’t know how that happened, since early on when Little Bear joined the family they both got along well and even slept together.
It’s not like they go at it. It’s more like they are pretending to be nemesis; or it just seems that Little Bear loves tormenting Meesho with his presence. I think that Meesho feels too mature to be playful… I’ll stick with that story. 😹
Then come ‘the twins’. In a previous post I shared how they showed up in our lives. This here is Liberty… so named because when he was younger the white fur between his eyes looked more defined like the statute of Liberty.
He has the sweetest disposition and lines right up behind Mittens as the unifier. While he wants to pretend sometimes that he’s in the bad-boy league with Little Bear, he can’t help himself and just like his white and black coat he easily can flip sides …. making everyone fall in love with him.
Finally we mention ‘twin 2’, Liberty’s sister – Dottie. She’s like the princess; the ‘sleeping princess’ I might add. Of all the cats I think by far Dottie sleeps the most. All day if possible, with perhaps 3 hours of activity and that is not 3 straight hours… which usually is used for eating or sitting like a statute waiting for snacks.
Very much like her brother, she has a lovely and loving disposition. If she trusts you… you will be her lap friend probably for life.
I hope you’ve enjoyed the updates… choosing which pictures to share was the toughest and sadly the best moments were the ones off-camera.
From our cat family to you… till the next kitty update. Farewell oh pardon that is Meow-well.
