Introduction to my Fur Babies! (finally!)

Tuesday, August 20, 2013

I've been writing this blog for long enough now, and just realized that I have never written a formal introduction post on my furbabies! Besides my husband, these girls mean so much to me. We've shared the last 9 years together and I couldn't imagine my life without either one and their strange quirks.

Don't let the names fool you - they are both girls!


First up is Cleatus, or Cleaty as I usually call her. Her name came from the fact that we had originally thought she was a male when she was discovered as a kitten! She was my first pet, the first week that I moved out on my own at 18. My friends came across a mother cat and a kitten out in the middle of nowhere (honestly, the closest house is probably 3-5 km away) and decided to pick up the kitten for me. I yelled at them for hours, 'How could you take a kitten away from her mother? That is awful!' They offered to put her back where they found her, but I knew that the mother cat was probably long gone, and it probably wouldn't end too well. I wasn't happy with them, at all, but quickly fell in love with those eyes!


As you can see, Cleatus is a big girl and always has been. We are currently trying different diet methods, but she tends to steal all the food from our other cat (that I worry isn't eating enough!) so it's a dilemma but we are working on it. She still runs around like a fool half the time, tail puffy and all, so I don't think it bothers her too much at this point.

Cleaty definitely has her quirks and odd behaviour. She gets into weird phases on where she likes to lay .. for a few weeks she won't sleep anywhere besides in our chair, then it's her wicker basket, then it's the bathtub (seriously!). She is definitely adventurous and will investigate anything new that is brought into the apartment, no matter what.

She always likes to cross her front paws and look all innocent, but don't let that fool you!

Lucky for me, she tends to get into her hyper playful moods right around bedtime at 10 or 11pm. They aren't allowed in our bedroom (due to my allergies) so some nights she enjoys bumping into the door continuously until I will get up and make her lay down in basket and go to sleep! She is definitely a handful, this one!


Next up is Crawal, or Crawaly, or Crawaly Dolly.. whichever, she will answer to all. She is the total opposite personality to Cleatus - she's very mellow, shy and doesn't want attention unless she asks for it! Although, she is generally attached to me at the hip.. always following me around. For example, if I am taking a shower, she will ALWAYS come sit in the bathroom and wait for me to come out, or if I close the door, she'll sit outside and wait patiently. If I go into the bedroom, I have to remember to look when I come back out or I'll trip over her!

It's hard to tell here, but she is polydactyl and has 2 extra toes on each from paw (and 3 extra nails).

Crawaly came to me a few months after Cleatus.. I was up late one night in my old apartment (that I shared with friends at the time) and heard a cat meowing very loudly, it sounded like it was coming outside. I started to freak because my roommate had a whole in her screen which Cleaty had gotten out a few times, and I had begged her, if you are going to open your window, please close the door until the screen is fixed.. so I thought Cleaty had gotten out and couldn't get back in and was pissed. I was throwing my coat on to run outside (it was raining pretty badly) when I noticed Cleaty sitting in the hallway. I ran over and opened our window curtain (it was a basement apartment) and saw this little tiny black bundle of fur staring back at me. I ran outside to her, and she started to run away when I called out to her. She slowly turned back and came over to me, I scooped her up and took her inside to get her dry.

It's hard to imagine, but she was soooo tiny! Like, she fit into the palm of my hand.. no way should she have been away from her mother yet and I was so worried. I ended up feeding her milk through a dropper for the next few days, while posting flyers up around the neighbour. Nobody ever claimed her, and I was told by one of our neighbours that there were a few kittens like this running around nearby.

Lucky for me, I got to keep this little angel with the extra toes!

She always makes weird faces when I try to take her picture!

She quickly recovered, although I still don't think she is as mature as she should be.. and it makes me wonder if being taken away from her mother so young had something to do with it. She has major digestive problems - we have to feed her only 1 brand of cat food, if we try to switch to anything else.. well.. let's just say, her stomach can't take it.

It looks like something might be about to happen here!

It's very rare that I can get a picture of them together since, even 9 years later, they really don't like each other. They fight usually once a day (nothing major, just hissing.. sometimes a swat or two). But, they don't lay together like normal cats do.

In all honesty, I think they are just 2 very different personalities, as you can see above. They are completely different and you can bet that if one wants to play, the other one doesn't. But, I know that they still love each other like sisters because one day, a visitor to our place stepped on Crawaly's paw (my poor baby!) and Cleaty came running to her rescue, and I have NEVER seen her move so fast to try to protect her!

So, there are my two fur babies in a nutshell!


6 comments:

  1. I love them both! Good for you for rescuing two kittens that needed you :)

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    1. Aww thank you!
      And I am so glad that I did, I couldn't imagine not having them in my life the last 9 years!

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  2. Let me guess, is Cleaty the dominant one? Until recently I had two cats (had to put our oldest one to sleep a couple of months ago) and they had different personalities and almost never got along, but every once in a while they would cuddle in together and it was the most adorable thing ever.

    Cats are awesome! I never saw myself as a cat person but once they reel you in, you are never the same.

    Of Bees and Bonnets

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    1. Definitely Cleaty is the dominant one, and also very jealous! She won't want anything to do with you, but as soon as you call Crawly's name - she pushes her out of the way and is to you in a second flat. We always joke that we should just switch their names, haha!

      Ours have cuddled on the odd occasion.. and when I say odd, I mean like maybe 10 times in 9 years have we ever caught them together.

      I would say I'm a smidgen more of a cat person than I am a dog person.. I love them all, but cats are (usually) so easy going!

      And aww, I'm so sorry you had to say goodbye to your oldest one recently! Has your other cat been acting any different since the older one passed?

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    2. the only type of dog I want is a french bulldog (which tends to act like a cat) so I suppose I'm consistent with the type of animals I like

      It was hard for her the first couple of weeks. She would cry everywhere and got really anxious whenever my mom or I would leave the house. I think she knew he was gone for good (I read after the fact that it's recommended to let the surviving cats sniff the one who left; that way they can understand and not wait for their return...we didn't let her sniff him but we brought him back to the house from the Vet's to bury him in the yard and I'm sure she knew what happened even if she didn't go into the room).

      She's much better now, though the needy trait it's still there and it really shows whenever we are getting ready to leave. We have thought about getting another one in the future seeing as she is only five years old, so a companion around her age would be good. We'll see though.. I don't know if I want to get another cat just yet.

      Of Bees and Bonnets

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  3. So cute! Love my fur babies! :)

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