Cat Fights Vol. 1, Looking in

Louie & The Loaf, lying in my lap.

This was Meatloaf of the day that we found her. 
 There she is, a tiny sick, weird-looking kitten snatched out from under an old trailer. No sign of mom or siblings in sight. Gross snotty face and icky ears. She was an instant favorite.

This is Louie lying in my lap as I sit on the floor.
 He would not leave Meatloaf's side the first two weeks we had her. It took full time monitoring to get her to dry out at all. Louie wanted to clean that gross little kitty. She would purr and purr and eagerly allow it. Then of course, Meatloaf thought she could nurse from her new mommy. I watched the scrawny kitten wriggle her way under Louie. I could see Louie's eyebrows move inquisitively up and down. Then, suddenly. Eyebrows up! and up Louie jumps as fast as he can. I guess Meatloaf found that what she wanted, she wasn't going find there at all.

Imminent death is upon us.

This is Halford sitting on the front porch.

  A cat that has had the run of our family homes for over three years. A cat that is smart, comes when he's called, asks to be let out to use the bathroom, and basically acts like a dog. He is glaring through the window that lines the side of the front door.
   I sit on the floor in the living room. Meatloaf and Louie in my lap. I feel calm and happy. Louie has finally settled down and stopped trying to lick the kitten. Everyone is comfortable. I take a photo, it's just that cute of a moment. I look up and at little to my right with a slight smile on my face.

 Five feet away, we lock eyes.

Halford.

Sitting on the front porch,

glaring through the window that lines the side of the front door.

For just one split second, I was very afraid. This was a death glare. A wild animal. Halford was ready to kill, stalking prey, in the moment. He wanted that rodent out of his house and now. Halford, the only cat that got Louie attention was, Halford. and that was that. Luci didn't want anything to do with him and Louie came to terms with that. They left each other alone. I can only imagine Halford wondered why we were coddling a mouse, when in fact he brought us them dead and left them at the back door all the time.

Happy Halloween, From Halford

For the Love of Cat Vol. 5, Meatloaf

Doing some deep sniffing, inspecting the new kitten.

Movin' to the Country
In July of 2012 my husband and I picked up and moved a few towns north to a house right behind my parents. I wanted to be closer to family and there was such a big yard and barn so our animals could have an even better place to hang out. Our beloved family dog, Poncho passed away at the age of ten in February of 2012, and my dad seemed sad and lonely without him. We all took it very hard. Poncho went everywhere with my dad and there was a huge hole left without him. My dad didn't want another dog, Poncho couldn't be replaced. I knew that Louie has a way of comforting people in a special way. Moving out there allowed my dad to 'dog sit' for us every work day.

Rescue Mission

A few days after we starting staying out in our new house on 'the farm', my dads neighbor stopped by saying she heard something under her house and thought there might be some kind of animal under there trapped. My dad went over and spent some time, finally coming back home with a little grey tabby kitten in his arms. Later we'd found out it was a little girl. She was clawing and trying to get away from my dad. We put her into a small room with a little bit of food and water. She looked scared and sick. Her eyes were all gooey and she was sneezing. I guessed she was about eight weeks old, probably born around June 1st.

Introduction

Nap Time

I opened the door and sat down on the floor. Louie shoved his head in around me, sniffing loudly. The kitten came to us. She looked so sad and sick, poor thing. She started to purr. It reminded me of Halford the day he met Louie. Louie started to lick this new kitten. She gladly allowed it. Before you know it she was soaking wet, sparkly clean and smelled like dog breath. I decided to call her Meatloaf, since Louie thought she was so tasty.

Clean 'er Up
We took Meatloaf the the vet the next day. She got some meds for the icky eyes, fleas, ear mites and some antibiotics for an upper respiratory infection. We scheduled an appointment for two weeks later for her first shots. The receptionist looked at the kitten and said, "She doesn't look like a meatloaf." I responded in a loud exaggerated whisper "Shhh, SHE'S MADE OF KITTEN MEAT." I didn't really get a laugh. Umph.

Meatloaf knows she can sneak away from Louie if she's quiet

She's a Keeper
We weren't thinking of keeping this little kitten at first. I just wanted to get her healthy and try to find her a good home. That was until we realized how well she was getting along with our dogs! Luci and Halford pretty much lived next door at my parents house and Meatloaf tended to sleep with us and the dogs. I wouldn't call my husband Paul a 'cat person' by any stretch, but he really seemed to be warming up to Meatloaf, she seemed to take a liking to him as well. I said to him "Looks like you like that kitten, Paul." He responded, cat on his chest purring as he gently pet her and kissed the top of her head, "No. No, I don't care for her." with a disapproving nod. I think he's lying. I guess if that's what it means, I don't much care for her either.

Me and Meatloaf, I'm just tolerating her. She's not cute at all.

As I write this, she sits next to me. A Meatloaf made of kitten meat. She sure is cute right now, but when she wants to have a fight to the death with my face when I'm dead asleep at 3am, not so much.

I love that Louie gets along with cats, even Snorp has come around to the whole idea. So the family grows. My parents next door, Paul and I, Louie, Snorp, Halford, Luci and now Meatloaf.

What could happen next?