The Cat Chronicles: "Paws II"

Just a note to start this entry. I am really not a cat person. I grew up with dogs (we had some farm cats, but I didn't care for them because they scratched more than the dogs did). My dad had Dachshunds, so I guess I'm more of a "little dog" person. However, I married a cat person. My husband has always had a cat (and he has plenty of cat stories of his own). Those cat loving genes were passed on to our daughter as well. So for the rest of my life, I will probably have a cat living in my house.

Apparently, according to this picture, all you can really tell about Paws is that he's totally black and that his eyes were open when the flash went off. We currently have 5 cats in our house, and they each have some interesting personalities, so I thought I'd devote a blog entry for each one.

So, as the title states, this one is about Heather's cat "Paws". When Heather was about 6, she started talking about "when I get a kitty, I'm gonna name it Paws". For three years, we heard about this cat that she was planning on having. She didn't seem to have any particular kind of cat in mind other than just having one of her own. When she was almost 9, and it was a hot day in July. Heather was coming home from church camp that day. I had gone to the teacher supply store when someone walked in and said that there were some free kittens in front of the grocery store next door. I left the store to check out these kittens, and saw a little orange tabby snoozing amongst the little black fluffy siblings. I made the impulsive decision to take him home (which surprised my husband because impulsively bringing a kitten home is something he would do......and has done). So Heather came home from camp and found this cute kitten in her room, and he was the "Paws" she had waited for. This little guy had a place on her bed to sleep and he even blended in with all of the stuffed animals.

Unfortunately, that little guy didn't stay with us long. We only had him for a month and he wound up having to be put to sleep. Heather grieved for several days over him. Kevin started to check the newspapers again for free kittens and found an ad for "rubberized" kittens out in the Thurston area of Springfield. So we drove out to see them and see what "rubberized" meant. The lady giving them away demonstrated by holding them in hand, just under their little armpits and sort of dangle them, and swing them a little before cuddling them. They were the most relaxed kittens we'd ever seen. Heather picked out this little black ball of fur with bright blue eyes, and he became "Paws II" (we eventually dropped the "II"). It turned out that he also had a little bit of white fur between two toes, so I guess his name fit.

We brought him home, and discovered that he liked to beg for food (scrambled eggs). He doesn't do that now. He's kind of passive. Anytime he sees other cats get into a fight, he likes to go and be a spectator, not a participant. He's not a mouser, he'd rather play with it, however he is a bird catcher (gross & sad). And I have never seen a cat so proud when he's being pet, like this one. He acts like he's the king of the house. He's also the only cat in the house who may actually figure out how to open the front door to let himself in and out, and it wouldn't surprise me if, one day, he figures out how to ring the doorbell to let us know that he wants in. He certainly has tried.

Even though he's Heather's cat, he seems to have bonded with Kevin more (it's ok though because Heather has bonded more with Kevin's cat "Aslan")

So, that's the tale about Paws. Not the most exciting or amusing one, just kind of a lazy one.

Lp