Tuesday, March 28, 2006

The Kentucky Cat House

For those of you who have been following my blog, you already know that our six cats are allowing husband and I to continue living in our house and have extracted life-long promises (just like in a marriage ceremony) for us to take care of them, for better or worse, 'til death us do part. All you pet lovers KNOW what I'm talking about. You will note I did not say "pet owners." That misnomer would not fit our situation in the least and would imply that we were somehow directing the lives of these felines.

I'm here to tell you that cats are untrainable. They train us, the humble human servants, to take care of their needs, feed them, pet and love them upon demand, and clean up their numerous messes. In addition, we must share our La-Z-Boys and beds with them whether we like it or not. But, we would not be without these six spoiled brats. They have replaced our kids who are grown up and gone.

Husband and I have been known to talk to them -- as if they would really answer back. I was on the computer last evening and heard a conversation from the living room. I thought husband was talking to the TV but he was actually talking to several of the cats. The funny thing is that when you talk to them, they seem to understand. They may be untrainable, but they are pretty smart when they want to be.

Tiger Lily likes stalking robins in the back yard on a fine Spring day. She also likes to bring her "trophies" in the house for us, including moles, mice, and birds. Some are alive and some are not. Tiger Lily, our youngest cat, came from one of Alipurr's litters.





























Peaches is lying on the deck teasing Bootsie who's just trying to get a drink of water. Peaches was found coming out of a cornfield and a friend was kind enough to give her to me.

Sweetie is always waiting for some loving. Sweetie is getting pretty old now and looks kind of puny, but she's still my sweetie kitty. She showed up many years ago and was found eating in the garage alongside our other kittens. She promptly came in the house and has not left. We don't know where she came from.






Polly-I is getting ready to take an afternoon snooze in bed. We found Polly-I at a local pizza restaurant when she was about a month old. She was sitting on our van tire trying to get out of the rain and was soaking wet and starving. She got her name from the restaurant, Pagliai's, and chowed down on left-over pizza in the car coming home.








Bootsie is sitting by the slider waiting for Mom to open the door so she can go outside on the deck. Bootsie showed up one afternoon last fall and decided she liked living at our house. She's never left.

















And last, but not least, the ruler of the house and our oldest cat, Alley Cat, who was found in an alley behind my mother's house in Indiana in 1993 -- she was about two months old and she still acts like a young cat. Even though she loves me, she's mean as a snake and independent as anything, and will bite the hand that feeds her. I guess she's getting cranky in her old age. Both Bootsie and Alley Cat are known as tuxedo cats characterized by their white socks and gloves, white whiskers, and white bibs on their throats.

There is an invisible sign in front of my house that says "All Cats Welcome." I guess these cats are smarter than I thought because some of them can read.

13 Comments:

At March 28, 2006 5:32 PM, Blogger somershade said...

I love all your cats,awesome post. I tried to post my kitty today but blogger was being unique:)It is called watch for the sign.Try tommorrow.
Stopped in to say Hi!!
Hi xxoo

 
At March 28, 2006 5:37 PM, Blogger somershade said...

Oh yeah. happy for you. Eli's coming and tell him we love him and Zac and Megan said Hi. They feel in love with him when we all were in Lexington,who wouldn't

 
At March 28, 2006 6:50 PM, Blogger Sandy Hatcher-Wallace said...

Jimmy & I are also pet lovers who feel the same about our 7 cats, as you two do.

The cats are, our Masters...they tell us when to feed them, what to feed and what time they want their massages. They sleep anywhere they like and generally rule the house.

As pet lovers we give them all the freedom they want. We do not constrain them or fence them in...we let them be as wild as they would like to be. We do free them from the duties of motherhood and require that they get their shots...but that's about all.

The pictures of the kitties are great, but it seems that you have another cat that I didn't know about...another tuxedo cat.

Good post as usual MK.

 
At March 28, 2006 6:57 PM, Blogger TUFFENUF said...

OK, I am a cat. Can I move in? What a life I will have!

 
At March 28, 2006 9:06 PM, Blogger MrsGreenThumb said...

Aww, that was so nice. It reminds me of Smitty the Kitty who we loved when we were growing up. As many cats as we've had in our 46 years of marriage, our childhood cat stays in the forefront of my memory. He was another stray cat who found you, you must have been a cat in a former life:) He lived to be over 20 and thoughts of him bring tears to my eyes. Do you remember my cat, George the invisible cat who lived on a shelf in the garage. She lived to be 16. The name is another story. You are such a softy, and I love you for it.

 
At March 28, 2006 9:34 PM, Blogger Susie said...

Loved this post with all the pics of your kitties! We have just the one very spoiled boy! He certainly rules our roost!

 
At March 28, 2006 11:22 PM, Blogger Cathy said...

Your cats are beautiful. I know exactly what you mean about us being their servants. The sign on my front door says "The Cat and His Housekeeping Staff Live Here!"

I wouldn't trade him for the world..My grandaughter named him so he has the human name of "Gary"..Strange but he even looks like a "Gary"

 
At March 29, 2006 12:00 AM, Blogger manababies said...

*sigh* I miss having a cat! They all definitely look like they have their own personalities. And I just want to scoop up Sweetie and cuddle her! She's so cute!

 
At March 29, 2006 7:20 AM, Blogger bornfool said...

Some cats can be trained. I've never seen it before and probably won't again but one of the inmates who works for me adopted a kitten from one of the many litters born here every year. He has trained the cat to sit on command, to lie down, roll over, and he's taught it to never leave his room. He can leave his door open and walk down the hall and the cat will come to the threshold of the door and look up and down the hall but will never cross that invisible line. I think the cat believes he's a dog.

 
At March 29, 2006 8:38 AM, Blogger Sandy Hatcher-Wallace said...

In reading bornfools comment I'm reminded of Jybow, the cat who acts with Cucoo...I have taught Jybow how to fetch like a dog, but that's it.

 
At March 29, 2006 9:35 AM, Blogger K said...

Motherkitty--your post on my blog was so nice and complimentary, it just made my entire day. Thank you.

And I love the idea of cats training you vs. you training them. Really astute.

 
At March 29, 2006 10:50 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I love all your kitties! Nice feature for them! I think I may be partial to Sweetie Kitty for obvious reasons ;)

 
At March 29, 2006 11:28 AM, Blogger doubleknot said...

Nice pictures of your 'Masters' uh I mean cats.
If you read my blog very much you will notice Moocher mentioned a lot - he got left behind when the neighbors moved and decided he liked us and stayed.
My room mate had never had a cat before and had to learn even to pet him but guess who Moocher loves on all the time - yep Steve.

 

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