A Cat Person

Growing up, on any given day there were at least 4-5 semi-feral cats creeping around the barn in our backyard.  I would always make it my mission to catch the teeny-tiny little kittens when they were born every spring.  I loved going on those kitten hunts.  I would even convince my little brother or our favorite neighbors to help on my mission.  However, once I "caught" the kittens, I wasn't ever really interested in keeping one for a pet.  I always thought they were better suited living in the rafters of the barn and catching field mice to supplement their feed store cat food my dad sat out every day.

I've never been a cat person.  I was always far more interested in having a dog as a pet.

My sweet Marley-girl  - Best.Dog.Ever.

While visiting family for Christmas, LJB fell in love with the tom cat that adopted my sister's family.  He cried when we left the kitty at their house and headed home.  Over the course of a few hours with their cat, this  kiddo learned 2 new words with no pleading prompting from us.  For 2 days he was talking about "kitty" and "meow."

The more I thought about it, the aloof attitude of a cat (what always kind of turned me off to having a cat as a pet) is so similar to LJB.  He is wonderfully affectionate and warm, on his terms.  Much like a cat, he will climb up in my lap and seek out affection, but only when it suits him.  Maybe this is why he was instantly attached to my sister's cat.  I don't know.  But, I do know that this boy wouldn't stop talking about the kitty.

My last day of vacation for the holidays, I took LJB on a solo trip to the animal shelter.  Taking LJB anywhere without a second set of hands is always anxiety inducing.  I kept preparing him and telling him that we were going to get a kitty.  He would repeat "Kitty?"  "Yes, son, we are going to get a kitty for our house."  I bet we had this conversation 100 times during the 15 minute drive to the shelter.   When we arrived at the shelter, there was a lot of commotion in the lobby - pets coming and going, a flurry of volunteers, several potential pet owners filling out paperwork and asking questions.  I could feel LJB tense up as I held him and I feared he was going to lose it, so I repeated our conversation from the car ride, "Remember, we are looking for a kitty for our house."

As we made our way back to the "cat room," we lost the crowd and the commotion.  The room was full of meow-ing cages.  LJB slowly studied each animal as he walked down the aisle.  Then he stopped.  He stopped at the cage of the biggest, fattest, orange cat I have ever seen.  This cat was rubbing up against the bars of his cage and LJB was flapping away and squealing with delight.  This seemed to elicit even more vigorous rubbing and louder purring from this gargantuan feline.  A volunteer took this guy out of his cage and showed me a room where we could become acquainted with Mr Fat Cat.  As soon as the volunteer turned her back, LJB grabbed the cat's tail and drug him to the other side of the room before I could intervene.  The cat never even flinched.  No hissing, no scratching.  Right then, I knew this was the cat we were going home with.  It wasn't the one I had picked out from the photos of adoptable cats on their website.  He was older, and fatter, and orange-r than what I was looking for, but LJB really liked him and he seemed well suited to tolerate LJB.


This past week as a cat owner, I have learned a few important lessons.
1.  A littler box, like a dirty diaper, is gross.  However, it is less gross if you tend to it quickly.

2.  According to the vet, 15lbs is a healthy weight for Leon.  He has big bones.  I think I am going to have our vet contact my family doctor before I have to get on the scale again.

3.  Playtime with the kitty is better bribery than chocolate...and that is saying something.  LJB will try a little harder at therapy, get dressed for school with fewer tears, and even pick up his toys if he knows he gets some quality kitty-time afterwards.

4. Maybe, just maybe, this dog-person can be a cat lover too.  If Leon (our fat orange kitty) makes LJB that happy, I can't help but fall in love with him too.