Many writers have pets. Is it because writers are animal lovers, or because the job is solitary and sometimes lonely? I’ve always had a pile of pets but recently, we have pared down the number. Ana moved our in the spring and took Giselle (Gigi), Francesca (Frannie), and Isabella (Bella). She also took her bunny (a white Lionhead dwarf named JoJo) and her gecko, Leyna. That left us with four cats and a Panther chameleon (Anakin).
After her Thanksgiving visit, Alex took Demetrius back with her to Carnegie Mellon. Now, we only have three cats! Tigger, Roo, and Ophelia (Fifi).
It’s too early to tell if the cats miss Mimi (Demetrius). Tigger is his same over-protective self and Roo hasn’t gotten over his kitten energy-though he’s getting big! Fifi is annoyed with both of them.
Tigger is rarely more than three feet away from me. He’s like a cat-shaped shadow. He has a bed beside my desk where he can watch out the window. I just bought him a heated pod to snuggle in–I hope he likes it. When I’m working, he’ll sometimes hop up on the back of my chair and watch. Or walk across my arms as I type, or wash my legs, or walk in circles and meow at me to play.
I keep the Bengals’ favorite toy in my desk drawer. They can open most of the drawers in the house, but not my desk. They have tried. I’ve caught them tag-teaming it, trying to get to the telescoping feather teaser. But you have to understand, if either of them played with it alone, the toy would be destroyed in minutes. It needs adult human supervision. When I take a break from writing, I’ll take it out and play with Tigger and Roo. They love it–hopping and jumping to catch the faux bird.
I also keep treats in my desk. Tigger only eats one kind–freeze-dried, wild-caught Alaskan Salmon. He loves it. It’s so dry–you’d think cats wouldn’t like it, but he really does. He’s tasted a few other freeze-dried treats, but he will try one and not want another. The only other “food” he eats besides their high protein pricey dry food is milk. I have a glass of milk nightly and he will take one taste of it.
Roo, on the other hand, will eat anything that resembles food. You’d think we were starving him, the way he acts. But, as Andi says, “He looks like a bowling pin.” One day, he stole an entire taco supreme. He ran through the house with it and when we tried to retrieve it, he growled and swatted and then picked it up and ran down the hallway. Silly Roo!
Fifi is the princess. She’s completely white, with one blue and one gold eye. She likes to sleep in the cave under my bed–until lights out when she climbs in bed with me and sleeps beside my head. Roo is usually at my back and Tigger sleeps over my feet. I think he doesn’t want to miss me getting up and going anywhere while he’s snoozing.
Speaking of Tigger snoozing–this cat snores. All the time. He needs a CPAP, I’m not even kidding. It’s loud. And 
adorable.
Tigger gets jealous of anything I spend time with. He’s stolen my iPhone–taking off running with it. He makes a pile of stuff under my desk. It’s his dragon horde. When I’m working on the laptop, he’ll come up and start biting it. He wants to be the center of attention.
I’m getting ready to send out this year’s holiday cards, and once again, Tigger is featured. It’s a great card. If you signed up to get one, you should get it before Christmas.
Happy Holidays from Tigger!
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