ooh a kitty thread. Sign me up!
I've had cats around me all my life. We did have a black and white cat once. Her name was Oreo. Oreo was the companion of an elderly woman, and when the elderly woman passed away, we inherited her. She was very sweet, and sleepy. But she was long haired, and so her hair got everywhere. Oreo was the very first cat that my mother allowed to live inside.
Right now we have 2 1/2 cats. Patches is a tortie that mom stole from her mother after luring her in with cat food. The mother was a stray that we'd been feeding for about six months or so before she suddenly showed up with 2 kittens. Patches, and an orange tabby. We weren't able to get close enough to rescue either of them.
Patches used to be a very outdoorsy cat. We kept her in until she was old enough to be spayed, and as soon as she was allowed outside, she'd stay out there as long as possible. Unless it was windy or rainy, and then she'd come inside to nap. I took care of her as a baby, and she used to loved to sleep in my windows. Then once she got outside she only cared for me as her playmate. She decided mom was her person. Although she did piss on my bed all the time. She would not pee in her box, only poo.
When she was around a year old, a neighbor boy brought this tiny, scrawny, mewling little male over who smelly, dirty, and crawling with fleas. The boys family had dogs and found the baby kitty crying in their yard. I did not want a second cat and was not pleased to see him at all, at first. When we gave him a bath, he looked like a drowned rat, the poor dear.
But he was really smart, and learned to use his box super quickly. And he was super cuddly, and now he is my cat.
He used to be an indoors-almost-all-the-time cat, and he'd sleep on my bed, in my window, and on me a lot. Patches hated him the moment she saw him and would growl and hiss. It didn't help that Smokey loves to chase and jump on her. Patches has gotten used to him now. Sometimes she still grows and runs away, but occasionally they will play together, or you'll see them just sitting, sharing the same space.
A few months ago, we had to move across the ocean, so both cats got their first airplane ride. It was not a fun day. But they are now settled into their new house and have both developed different personalities. Patches has forgiven me, and doesn't hate me anymore. Although I still can't touch her, most of the time. But she is now the indoors-most-of-the-time kitty, and Smokey disappears all day and sometimes doesn't come home until after dark. I think he'll be in more once he experiences his first winter though. They are both Hawaii cats, and we are now in Idaho.
We also have a very fluffy stray cat that runs anytime we move or get near it, but it comes in and scarfs down food when it thinks we're asleep. I call it Fluffytina.
(After all, look at penguins... they all wear tuxedos.)
