Our roommates

When we were invited to take up a cheap lease on our new house, we were excited about the opportunity but a little cautious. The conditions of the lease included the care and feeding of 2 cats.

It was clear from the first that we were moving into the cats' house. Before we could sign up for the deal, the cats would have to approve. I was overseas but Nathan, the cat whisperer, managed to woo these shy and somewhat high-strung cats into a little cuddle on the first date.

When Col and Clyde moved out, the cats were quite upset. Neither would stay in the same room with us for the first week. But Nathan again worked his magic and they have relaxed. Just last week, we made another test...moving Jake back (into his own half of the house). Jake's rather potent smell and earsplitting yowling have our new roommates a little nervous, (not that it looks it from these pictures!) and we are hoping to slowly introduce them to each other.

But first we'll introduce them to you:

To dance is human to Polka is Divine (Polka) is an 11 yr old female Siamese, who is quite timid and likes a bit of a snuggle. She is terrified of Jake, and even though he's behind a shut door, Polka runs in fear when Jake starts his usual yowling for company.
I had coordinated my previous work wardrobe with Jake--black suits to hide his black cat hair. Polka's cream colour fur means I need a new wardrobe for each part of the house.
She is a big change from ole Jake, as she is definitely a lap cat. Once she has found a lap she is there FOREVER. She likes Nathan best, perhaps because my tiny bladder won't allow for extended uninterrupted lap time. Polka is also convinced the way to get our attention is to sit on the computer keyboard while we try to type.

Pinky Freidman (Pinksta) is an 11 yr old neutered male Burmese who is slightly crazy. The first 3 weeks he would freak out if you were entered a room he was in, now 6 weeks in he's becoming a lap cat too. He has the most pitiful meow (like he has laryngitis).

Pinky gets to go outside every day with a belled collar. In the morning he jumps on the counter by the door to have his collar put on. Once it's on, he'll jump down ready to get outside for the morning scout.

He apparently is quite aggressive when he is outside (as we have already seen him fight with another neighbor cat). Although we hope to avoid any conflicts, Jake can take him. Not only does he weigh twice as much as Pinky, he doesn't have such a weenie name.




Jake "the Peg" (Jacque) is our big black 3-legged cat. He's probably about 14 years old, and wasn't neutered until he was 2 or 3. He has old Tomcat jowels, urine like napalm, and in London terrorised cats within a 6 mile radius. Since then, we have kept him as a house cat, with no other cats for competition. He has adjusted to the move to our new home graciously, with no malicious peeing and almost no curiosity about the cats on the other side of the door.

They all still live separate lives: Pinky outside for most the day, Polka on her own in the house, and Jake in his half of the room. Maybe someday we'll get brave enough to try and mix these 3 cats together.

As I was telling my sister about our cats, I was reminded of my neices and nephew predicting I would eventually become the crazy cat lady with 20 cats.

3 down, 17 to go.