...to Miss Kitty (aka Fatty Patty). I may have mentioned her before, but I don't think I've ever really posted about our cat, Miss Kitty. So, without further ado, let me introduce you to our spoiled, rotten fat cat.
This post is brought about by some of the crazy things she does on a daily basis to keep us entertained. First of all, you must learn how Miss Kitty came in to our lives.
About 5(!! Man, I'm getting old!) years ago, Jonathan and I went to Hot Springs for the day. When you go to a really small college in an unbelievably small town in Arkansas, this is what you do for fun. Anyway, we went to Hot Springs to do a little shopping, and noticed a "Pet Adoptions Today" sign at the PetCo. As a junior in college, I was living in my first off-campus apartment, and thought it might be fun to have a pet to keep me company. I'm allergic to so many types of dogs, (like seriously allergic, eyes well shut, hives, or not being able to breathe), I naturally gravitated to the cages of cats.
There were several cages of cats, most of them little, orange kittens. But, underneath one cage with a rather rambunctious mini-Garfield, was a full-grown calico,
cowering in the corner of her own cage, hissing at all the other kittens around her. Now, who in the world would want to actually pay money for such an orenery cat?
I felt so sorry for her sitting in that cage with all the little kittens climbing around her, invading her personal space that I asked the woman who had brought her from the shelter about her. Turns out someone had dropped her off at the shelter door when she was about to have kittens. She had her kittens at the shelter, all of them had gotten old enough to be put up for adoption, and had subsequently all been adopted out.
Meanwhile, no one wanted the old, momma cat. The woman told us that most people looking to adopt cats want kittens, and that every week they her to the PetCo for adoption day, and no one wanted her. They would bring her back to the shelter, and she would be stressed and moody for a few days. She would get over it, have a couple good days where she was the sweetest cat, then they would have to bring her back to PetCo and the vicious cycle would begin again.
Now, honestly. How can you not feel sorry for the poor thing? Maybe because I'm gullible or stupid, but I called to okay it with my roommate, signed the papers, and she was mine.
The shelter had called her Jane Seymour, because like Dr. Quinn she had two different colored eyes. I thought the name didn't fit her at all, but couldn't really come up with anything, so we decided to "temporarily" call her Miss Kitty. Well, turns out the name kind of stuck, and is actually kind of appropriate, because she is quite the prima donna.
She has turned out actually to be the best cat though. As I sit here now, she's just curled up in my lap under my arm with her head resting on the edge of the laptop. But there are a few things you have to know about her:
1. I'm convinced she thinks she's a person, and as such, always sleeps in the bed.
But, you have to watch her, because a lot of times she'll either a)steal your warm spot when you get up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom,
or b)just flat out hog the bed.
2. She also likes to sit at the table. She sits on the stairs in the kitchen and watches me cook until I start to get plates out of the cabinet. That's her cue to go sit in my chair at the table.
3. She LOVES windows! Every morning (afternoon) when I wake up, I go into the living room and open all the blinds. She runs behind me jumping from window to window to look out each one as soon as it's opened.
In this last picture she's all puffed up because she was scared of that guy outside because he was flying a giant butterfly kite and she freaked out everytime it came 'flying' past.
4. She has anxiety issues. Maybe it goes back to being dumped at the shelter and having to go to the pet adoption days. I don't know. But, since I first got her she's had terrible anxiety issues. If there's a thunderstorm she hides under whatever piece of furniture is closest.
and if we leave her at home alone for more than a few hours, she pulls her fur out. Dead serious. She has given herself what we call her bikini wax. Everyone asks us if she was just fixed or had surgery, but no, she has licked/pulled all the fur off of her whole stomach. It's very odd.
5. While most times she's relatively demure, she has her moments of mischievousness.
No, my carpets not just super filthy. Those are the remains of a mouse Jonathan's mom got her for Christmas a few years ago. She had no interest in it for about 2 months, then one day in about 5 minutes she turned it into this.
One day this spring I was working on something and Miss Kitty was sitting in an open window of the living room. I heard a noise and turned around to see this:
she had popped the screen out of the window and was sitting on the roof of below the window. She didn't jump off or anything, just sat out there for a few minutes like she had a private balcony, and then came back in.
Yesterday, she came flying down the stairs carrying something in her mouth like a dog. She dropped in on the floor to play with it and I got a good look at what she had, a Q-tip. She had gotten it out of the trash in the upstairs bathroom. Gross, but I about died laughing at her playing with her Q-tip. Then promptly took it away from her and put it in the trash in the kitchen, where there's a lid and she couldn't steal it back.
Like I said, she pretty well keeps us entertained. But now to the actual reason I started this post.
Five years ago when I got her, she refused to get on any furniture, (as you can tell that didn't last long), and I felt sorry for her always sleeping on the floor. I bought her a little wooden laundry basket at Wal-Mart and put a blanket in it for her to sleep in. She wanted nothing to do with. So, since then I've used it as a laundry basket.
Fast forward to this week. In between loads of laundry I put the basket in the floor in our bedroom. I came back later and she was sitting in it. She got out when she saw me coming, but I put in a cheap fleece throw from the hospital where we used to work, and she's been sleeping in it all week long!
Crazy cat! She's wanted nothing to do with the basket for
5 years and all of the sudden, it's her favorite spot!
To end this terribly long and probably computer-crashing because-of-so-many-pictures post, Miss Kitty would like to wish you all a Merry Christmas!
Jennifer
(Please excuse my dirty porch and dead mums)
