Monday, December 10, 2007

Trading Pussies

In the spirit of the posts sharing pet photos, here are the two cats that let me live with them.



Poo Poo, in the first picture, is my mom's cat. Her name, previous to this, was Whiskers. Who knows what it was before she was dumped off at the pound before her subsequent adoption by our next-door neighbor?

The neighbors rescued her from a shelter over a decade ago. Over the years, she spent more and more time with my mom and they developed a special bond. She was a constant companion to my mother during the summer, relieving her of loneliness, spending hours with her as she did yard work and relaxed in a lawn chair. The same neighbor went on to get three Bichon Frise dogs, the last of which caused Whiskers undue stress. Making everyone happy, the cat made the transition to living here with my mother. Mom renamed her Poo Poo.

Chi-quita Poo, in the second picture, is the cat that I brought back from California (first class, mind you) about 18 months ago. Her path into my life was very similar to Poo Poo's into mother's life. She was owned by a neighbor, but developed a special bond with me while I was out in the yard gardening. An odd twist of fate led her here with me. I'm happy and lucky; I thought of her for a year after moving to NY and lamented that I had left her behind.

I started adding the "Poo" to Chi-quita's name in an effort to make it easier for my mother to remember. She had been calling her Conchita and I thought linking the Poo ending would help. It didn't, but she stopped calling her Conchita and now calls her "the other one."

When Chi-quita arrived, she established dominance and took over the spot as mom's #1 cat. She sits on her lap a large portion of the day (as in this photo) and sleeps with her at night.

Poo Poo, having been relegated to second-cat status, now sleeps on my chest all night. Honestly, I'm happy for the company.
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3 comments:

Red Seven said...

Cute pics -- I have two kitties too. My problem is that New Cat (not so new anymore; she's been with us almost a year) hates Old Cat. It's sad, because she'd be a great solo kitty for anyone; she just doesn't like to share. Consequently, Old Cat gets much more lap time because he scares New Cat away when he's in the room. (I should note that Old Cat is asleep and New Cat is purring in my lap as I type this -- I love telecommuting ... ha!).

more cowbell said...

That's a lotta Poo! They look very content, and what pretty ladies. I especially like the colors on ... The Other One.

(That's OK, Batman calls Mason "the Brown One".)

evilganome said...

Lovely cats. I doubt Alice would allow another cat in the house. She's top dog, or cat or whatever around here. Lord knows she spends most of her time bossing me around.