Two adopted cats getting along just fine

I don’t know what all the fuss is about. My mom saw these 2 cats together on her bed and raced to get the picture.

Creampuff, the ditzy calico on the left, has lived with my mom Cathy for eleven years – since February 2002. Creampuff was in a shelter in Silver City, New Mexico. My mom thought she was too young but the volunteers begged her to adopt Creampuff. This poor kitty had been in the shelter for three months. They gave her some breaks from her small cage but no cat can live in a shelter forever. Creampuff’s number was about to come up.

So my mom took her home and changed her name to Creampuff. Creampuff played with Tiger (if you go back far enough in this blog, you’ll meet Tiger). Creampuff wasn’t crazy about Ophelia and my mom was afraid they’d never get along. Creampuff didn’t want to accept Pumpkin either, but Pumpkin is the ultimate diplomat. She waas determined to make friends.

So here they are. We think Pumpkin should take over the Middle East crisis.

2catsgood

Dog curled up like a cat

graciecurledupAs an indoor city dog, one of my great virtues is that I don’t take up a lot of room. I keep thinking, “If I curl up like a cat, maybe Pumpkin will share her food? Or I can get spoiled like the cats?”

“You’re already spoiled,” my mom said firmly. “You get to eat good food, enjoy treats and walks, and sleep on the couch and the bed. What more do you want?”

Well, for one thing, Pumpkin the cat has taken over my fuzzy bed.

Pumpkin the cat thinks she’s a grizzly bear

pumpkin-up“People are going to think we taught her to do this,” my mom said.

But we didn’t. Pumpkin is an adopted cat with a past. Pumpkin’s foster mom, Karen, tells us that Pumpkin likes to stand on her hind paws and look out at the world. She’s not begging, although she wanted my mom to know her food dish is empty.

“You ate five minutes ago,” my mom said to Pumpkin. “That’s why your dish is empty. You inhaled your breakfast in 30 seconds.”

Pumpkin is not a cat to be swayed by logic. She’s one tough kitty. Fortunately, we get along extremely well. I’m sure you’ll be seeing a few dozen more photos of me, snuggled up next to Pumpkin on our couch and bed.

Cold weather drives cat into cave …

catcave

A comforter cave, that is! Creampuff, our ditziest housemate, is very smart when it comes to finding warm, comfortable places to curl up. She made herself a cave among the comforters of my mom’s bed.

As I wrote awhile back, my mom Cathy rarely turns on the heat. She loves to crawl into a warm bed with her heavy comforters. When it’s cold the whole family joins her.

I have been pressed into service as a heating pad, although I’d rather curl up at the foot of the bed and get some serious sleep time. Keeping the mom warm is, in my opinion, the job of the cats. Creampuff might as well do something to earn her expensive crunchies.

With my awesome dog walker

City Dog With Dog Walker
Posing with my awesome Philly dog walker, Jaime of Happy Tails

One sunny day we were walking in the local park when we ran into our dog walker, Jaime. Can you tell that I’ve bonded with Jaime?

My mom was nervous when she flew me here. We had the most amazing dog walker in Seattle – Sara Kimmel from walkaboutpets.com.

So she was relieved to meet Jaime Bennett who specializes in dogs from our neighborhood. Her company is “Happy Tails.”

We both adore Jaime. My mom enjoys talking with Jaime, who’s sensible and smart like Sara. I love walking with Jaime because she recognizes my royal status and treats me accordingly.

I get to walk with Jaime when my mom takes classes that go late into the evening. She doesn’t like to leave me alone for five or six hours and I don’t like to be alone with the cats.

So now when my mom takes off for her improv class, I get to improv a walk with Jaime around the neighborhood. She takes me to cool places. She leaves fun notes, which my mom reads to me: “Gracie was wonderful tonight.” She goes into detail about what I did on the walk but my mom censors those details for my blog.

We’re enjoying the tail (!) end of fall leaves and fall weather.

Adopted dog and adopted cat: friendship doggie style

friendshipdoggiestyleLet me clarify: “Doggie Style” is the name of a chain of dog retail stores in Philadelphia.

And that fat interloper, Pumpkin, likes to sleep in the middle of the couch. Notice how she spreads out full length. My mom gets so excited when she sees us snuggled up. The truth is, I don’t have much choice.

Our other cats were much more polite. Ophelia always sat politely on a corner of the couch. Tiger liked chairs. Creampuff rarely chooses the couch. She’s more likely to be found on top of my mom’s printer, on a windowsill, or even curled up in the comforters on my mom’s bed.

But Pumpkin believes the world owes her, big time. She doesn’t realize that an adopted cat should be grateful to be in any home, let alone a home with a comfortable couch and a cat-fanatic mom.

Pumpkin doesn’t like to share. My mom has to feed Creampuff in a separate room. When Pumpkin jumps into my mom’s lap, she’s there for hours. It’s not affection. She’s holding that lap hostage from the rest of us.

So what’s a dog to do?

I’m not just any dog, of course. I am the ultimate Canine Urban Princess. So I’m going to claim my space on the couch. Luckily I don’t take up much room and I like to be all curled up in a ball.

And hey, when you stand up to a bully like Pumpkin, she turns out to be warm and cuddly. On a cold winter day, I’ll take her.

Philly Dog Wins Prize, Accepts Treat

phillysceneEvery First Friday our neighborhood comes alive with open houses in all the galleries and stores. Most of the stores, my mom points out, are pretty useless to us. I mean, we’re not about to buy a six thousand dollar sofa, are we? Not with the cats and me.

Our local pet shop, Bone Jour, had n rare open house for December’s first Friday. They had a raffle to support one of the many needy animal shelters.

We know shelters. My mom says the paperwork shows that I was in a shelter as a puppy but then I got lucky: I was adopted from a foster home. Creampuff spent three months in a shelter in New Mexico before my mom adopted her, but she’s too ditzy to care. Pumpkin also got lucky: she did some time in Animal Control till her foster mom, Karen, showed up and chose her. Pumpkin knows she is lucky. She just assumes the world was created for her to enjoy.

So I was not surprised when my mom donated to the raffle. She bought two tickets when they said they’d take her credit card. And then she forgot about it.

Last week we got a phone call. We won! I got a beautiful gift basket, filled with dog toys and treats and a couple of tennis balls to take to the park.

My mom was thrilled. “Best news I’ve had all week,” she said. “Um, I guess that means I need to get a life.”

“I’d be excited too,” the store person said tactfully.

So here I am accepting my basket – on the floor – and a treat. Notice how completely I am attuned  on what I want. “What you focus on expands,” as the saying goes.

My mom disagrees. She says her luck is inversely proportional to her attention, whatever that means.

Who cares? I can’t wait to dive into that basket.

 

Working Cat In Our Neighborhood

My mom loves the shops in our neighborhood. They’re not very practical, she says. Mostly vintage clothing and high-end furniture, like $6000 for a couch.

My mom says $600 is a lot for a couch when you’ve got 3 pets. From my vantage point on the couch, I say, “No comment.”

Here’s a charming shop with lots of beautiful objects, guarded by one of the toughest cats on the block. This cat is not afraid of anything, even dogs. She tried to take a swipe at my nose when we stopped in.

We do have an exceptionally good pet store and a wonderful cafe where I get a biscuit while my mom orders take-out. Otherwise, I’ll stick to the parks, thank you very much. This history is wasted on a dog whose a mixed breed princess without a past.

City dog sleeps in cat bed

My mom rarely buys dog beds or cat beds. She doesn’t have to. People give them to her when they move out.  When our neighbor’s dog wouldn’t sleep on his new bed, guess who got it?

This is a brand new CAT bed from the Amazon Vine program, where my mom is a reviewer. She is supposed to review this product so she put it down next to my own big fluffy dog bed (on the right). She bought that bed in December 1998, when she adopted Keesha at the Humane Society in Broward County.

I can’t resist trying it out. My mom says I’m more like a cat than a dog. Who cares? This is SO comfortable.

It comes with an electric cord but my mom doesn’t like electric blankets. When she was teaching, she says, one of her students was a fire fighter. He told her he wouldn’t use an electric blanket or extension cord in his home. He’s seen too many of them catch fire.

Anyway, it’s not that cold. So I’m enjoying this bed for now. The cats will have to wait.