Living With Cats

If there's one thing I've learned about living with cats, it's that you don't own them. They own you. I am owned by two kitties. One of whom is shy, and the other is outgoing and playful. Mouse, the littlest baby, is outgoing, playful and full of energy. She naps through most days, gearing up for her short bursts of playing. Sometimes she can convince her brother to play with her, and sometimes, he just wants to be left alone. This article is going to focus mostly on Mouse, because she's the outgoing, stubborn one. She knows that she owns my husband and I, and isn't shy about making it known. Even as I write this, she's laying on my desk in front of me and my laptop, purring and cuddling with my chest where I'm leaning in to my desk. She knows that there are very few circumstances where I would actually move her. And I know that if she is comfortable, nothing will stop her from coming back. She's a cuddle bug. Most nights when she naps, she's napping either on me or my husband, or somewhere on the bed between us. She's never far away from one of us, and if she wants to play, one must bend to the tiny dictator's wishes.

I love Mouse. So very much. But sometimes, I'd just like to be able to get some work done without having to situate my arms around her so I can type. During the summer months (now especially) kitty space heaters are all but necessary, but I have one. She enjoys cuddling and playing with far too much claw out. She's adorable, and I wouldn't change anything about our journey to bringing her home, but having gotten used to Arno (big brother) being shy and not really liking to cuddle or be around people in general unless we're sleeping, I'm not used to a cuddly kitty. Arno never really likes to cuddle, and when he does it's when we're sleeping. He's a shy guy, and it's hard to wee him so scared of so many things, but I know that there's really not much to do about it. Mouse is his polar opposite. Next to nothing scares her.

The other thing I'm not used to from being owned by Arno, is an 'If I Fits, I Sits' cat. You all know the type. The kind of cat who finds increasingly smaller boxes to try and fit in. Mouse so far has found a few boxes that she likes, but her favorite is the Wheat Thins™ box. It's relatively small and she can't turn around in it, but she loves it nonetheless. It's cozy. The other one is the box from a Top Ramen™ 12-pack. That's her play box. She'll drag her jingle balls, or a mouse toy into the box and throw it around.

The gist of this article is simple. We do not own cats. They own us. We're merely the humans who are responsible for feeding them and providing them with love and body parts to sink their claws and teeth into as kittens. There is no scientific proof that cats own us, and there's limited literature as far as 'official' sources. All of my knowledge and know how on the subject comes from being owned by numerous cats in my life. Mouse and Arno are just the beginning of a long life of being owned by cats. I know that saying goodbye to these two is going to be hard, but I plan on sharing a long happy life with both of them before that happens.