cats' tale

these are my cats. the calico is sassy, and the tortoiseshell is squeakers. it never ceases to amaze me how different their personalities are, and how they ended up living up to their names.

squeakers was a rescue cat. she was born under a friend's house and she gave me first pick of the litter. all of the other kittens were tabby cats. i just couldn't resist her unique coloring and her little bitty meow ("squeak"). squeakers became my baby. we had another cat at the time, t.c. (the cat), who was the smartest cat i had ever owned. but she was lonely because the captain and i worked a lot and punkin wasn't even a twinkle in our eyes yet. squeakers liked to knead my shoulder and suck on my shirt. in fact, she still does that when i let her. the unfortunate thing about her is that she is dumb. and not just because i had a super-smart cat to compare her to. the captain can look at her a certain way and she will go running. certain things that you would consider "cat common sense" elude her. she meows often, and loudly. but, like stitch, she is family and will never get left behind or forgotten.

t.c. contracted liver disease, and despite our best efforts, passed away. squeakers was beside herself with loneliness. by that time, punkin was close to a year old. so, we took her down to the local humane society and asked her to pick out a kitten. i would point to one and ask, "do you want this one?" and she would nod yes. it was pretty funny. so, instead of taking every kitten in the place home, i picked out sassy. i had always loved the calico coloring and we wanted another female. i named her sassy because a friend of mine had a dog of the same name, and i really thought it was cute. as it turns out, sassy lives up to her name. every once in a while, we'll have a friend come over and bring their dog. squeakers goes running under the bed. but no matter how big or scary the dog is, sassy stands her ground. she fluffs up and hisses, but does not run away. after a few minutes, it's usually the dog being chased by the cat! she's the strong, silent type. unlike squeakers, it's rare that sassy will meow. usually it will be because she is ready for her breakfast or wanting to go outside.

so there you have it. more than you ever wanted to know about my cats. now your sunday is complete.