A day with cats

I didn't blog yesterday. Well I did write about low self esteem after ailments but I didn't publish it. I just needed to vent. I was also really tired and busy. I had a dentist appointment in the morning and then I thought I had a 1230pm meeting but that was cancelled and my knitting group was postponed until 3pm. I arrived at 1245 for a 3pm meeting because of my inability to read an email. This meant I had a long day and was very tired.

Also, it was a day of cat vs rodent adventures. In rushing to my meeting, I went down to the car through the garage and found the cat, Boots, frantically looking behind folded cardboard boxes along the side wall. I moved the cardboard and the cat dashed and pounced on a chipmunk cowering behind it. There was an ensuing race around the garage and then out the door.

I went back upstairs and then downstairs again. Boots was outside and then proudly walked toward the garage carrying the chipmunk in his mouth, a gift for me, which he then deposited IN the garage. The chipmunk was alive and ran off again with Boots chasing. I left with the garage door closed firmly in hopes that there would be no repeats of live animals carried into the house.

After I finally returned at 5pm, exhausted from being out for so long, both cats were no where to be found. However they reappeared and were chasing yet another mouse who was hiding in the day lilies. We went to make dinner on the grill on the deck, I found a mouse nest IN THE GRILL. I needed back up.

I went and grabbed Boots, who hates to be carried, and brought him over to the grill so he could evict them for me. He ran off because he wanted to go catch his other mouse. Then I grabbed Zdpot and he climbed in the grill and tried to remove the mice. My husband intervened and the mice were evicted. The cats went back to their mouse hunting at the other end of the house.

When it was time to call them in for dinner, they were chasing yet another critter in the front yard. I intercepted them by opening a can of cat food in their ear shot and they came running in. 

Why am I blogging about our cats? It has been almost one year since we adopted our two cats. They have impacted our lives and made it warm and fuzzy. As my health has lessened, they have made things nicer for me by entertaining me, cuddling with me, chasing my yarn, and just being companions. Here are before and after shots of the two of them.

Boots before adoption	Zdpot before adoption
Boots now	Zdpot now

Boots came to us a very shy boy who was desperate for attention. He wanted to cuddle but was too concerned about being scared and abandoned. Now he sleeps next to me in bed. Zdpot, or Evil Kitty because he picks fights and steals Boots' food, was malnourished with white skin showing through thin short fur. He also had ear mites and internal parasites. He also did not know how to be a cat - he didn't meow, didn't know about toys, didn't know there was an outdoors, and had no idea how to be nice to anyone - human or feline.

Its been a nice year with our new cats. They like to take care of us and we like to take care of them.