She had us at meow.
We were certainly not in the market for another cat. Tabitha/Slinky had moved out with our older daughter, and we were quite comfortable in our three cat, one dog house. Then on Saturday afternoon I glanced out of the kitchen window and saw something moving in the tall grass. Something pouncing. “Oh my God. It’s a bobcat.” I was sure. We have heard of them coming up onto properties around here in the mountains, but it was usually not a good thing and involved being sick or injured and dangerous. I ran to another window where I could get a better look, and the creature seemed too small for a bobcat, though the coloring was right. A sweet face popped up from the grass. “Kitty?” I called and got a loud “Meow” in answer.
I called to my husband, and we both rushed outside to see what in the world a little kitty was doing so far away from any other houses. The tiny brown spotted tabby ran right to us, wanted to be picked up, and purred like a fiend. Our younger daughter joined the fun and we knew that we had a new cat. Just. Like. That.
Cheetara and “Leia” bonded immediately.
Sitting there on the front porch, I wanted to name her Cheetigra because she has the most amazing coat of stripes and spots. My husband said that Cheetara was the only possible name. Did any of you watch Thundercats? Me neither. But he did and that was that. It mostly comes out as Chee-Chee now.
Look at the cheetah-like spots!
Where this beautiful cat came from we will probably never know. I sent photos to our local shelter, but they had no answers. We were kind of glad. She is ours now. She was not terribly happy about the trip to the vet, but she had worms and we did a flea treatment (even though we didn’t see any). She had already been spayed, so somewhere at some time this cat had a home. She seems to prefer the Blue Buffalo fruit and veggie nuggets to the lizards we saw her hunting in the yard.
She is normally pretty mellow, but game time is serious business.
After keeping her separate in the luxury of our game room for a few days, Cheetara has integrated well into the family. After a few dances and some hissing, she and Max now touch noses and he allows her to sniff his toes. Samantha/Miss Fatty Cat looked startled, but making a fuss takes some energy and effort and just wasn’t worth it. Hiro keeps an eye on her, and she growls if Cheetara comes into the master bedroom too often, but otherwise they have also come to terms. Kimba is mightily miffed. Fortunately, Cheetara is willing to lower her head and allow Kimba to remain the alpha cat of the house. They have had a couple of mild tussles, but that is now reduced to annoyed conversation. Cheetara wants to be cuddled and in laps, so Kimba should just be grateful that someone else is willing to take on that chore. I try to remind Kimba that she was once the kitten brought in off the street that other cats needed to welcome. This does not impress her. She remains aloof and glares a lot. But she does that most days, so it is hard to tell how she really feels.
For my part, I now know what the plot of “Kimba’s Christmas” will be. Now I just need time to get it written!
In other fun around here this week:
*My guest video for my friends at Stanley & Katrina is up this week. They do a Word of the Week program, and mine is for Hobnob. Click here to watch the video and sign up for their newsletter and future videos.
*I finally got started on “Max’s Wild Night”–a companion book for the Cats in the Mirror series. Publication will come late in 2015. It will all depend on the schedule for my adult book, which leads me to…
*My adult book, “At The Corner of Magnetic and Main,” has been signed by my friends at Pen-L Publishing. We are just in the very early stages of editing, so there will be much more to come. Very exciting! It will be interesting to just be on the author side of things with someone else in charge of all those little details I am used to messing with. I promise to be cooperative and behave. Really I do. Really.
Now I just need to sit down and do inventory and book ordering so I’m ready for the big four day event at the War Eagle Fall Craft Fair in a couple of weeks. I hope you all have a wonderful week and enjoy the beautiful fall weather!