The Razor ? Blog Archive ? When Pets Have Pets

19th May 2012, 08:16 pm

A few years ago my young son dragged home a stray black cat. It had been tormented by the neighborhood kids, so my son caught it and brought it home figuring that his parents could either care for it or find it a new home. It was a healthy, young female cat, not the friendliest at first but she did warm up to us quickly so we I after a few weeks I made arrangements to have her spayed. By the time of the appointment I noticed that her belly had gotten bigger, and on the ride to the low-cost spay/neuter clinic I realized that she had not gone into heat but had gotten a lot friendlier. Ours is a pro-life house, and it applies even to kittens, so I turned the car around, returned home, canceled the appointment and waited. A few weeks later she gave birth to a litter of four kittens on my son?s bed.

I had never had kittens from day one, but I was determined to raise them into perfect house cats. After a few days I started handling them and had the family spend time with them. As they grew I supplemented their mom?s milk with expensive soft food formulated just for kittens. We brought them into our living room, onto our sofas, and even onto our beds, trying to imprint them with an affection for humans.

Fast forward a few years, and all four kittens are four large cats in my house. One of the cats, the only non-black cat in the lot, is a friendly, well-behaved cat that spends time with us as we move about the house. The other three cats have to be captured to be petted; one grooms himself furiously after being petted, desperate to remove our scent from his fur. The other two will meow at us when they need something, like when their food dish or water bowl is empty but otherwise I rarely see them.

In fact the only time I see them is when the dogs come in from the outside. The cats greet the dogs, padding in and rubbing themselves against them. Sometimes the dogs chase them away, other times they tolerate it, but for all the effort I expended on creating the perfect house cat I realized I have succeeded: I have created the perfect house cat ? for a dog.

cybermonday deals steve johnson norman reedus norman reedus sears office max office max