Good bye, sweet jungle gym

Ruthie the kitten here again.  People say I'm a cat, but I still look like I'm not a day over three months.  And I don't think I wanna grow much more because my person loves me this size.  Besides, my mom didn't look big enough to have babies.  So I'll just stay a kitten forever, and everyone's happy.  This is great for someone who likes kittens.

Which brings me to the most awesome thing in the universe.  My people brought us a jungle gym.  It's an awesome thing.  Green with stiff, prickly branches. kind of triangular in shape.  I think it's supposed to be a tree or something, but it doesn't smell like a tree.  Smells like plastic.  Lots and lots of shiny, dangly stuff all over it.  These awesome, gold and silver balls that glitter in the light.  Little glowing lights everywhere, and a glorious frilly doll with wings at the top.  It was awesome to behold.

But even better to hide in.  And man, can those balls fly.  And the crashing, shattering sound is very satisfying.  Do you know that three or four of us almost-old-enough-to-be-cat types can fit in our favorite jungle gym at the SAME TIME?  And when we do, those pretty, dangly things fly EVERYWHERE.  It's a whole lot of fun.  We chase each other everywhere in it, climbing up and down and all around, killing everything in sight.  SO much fun.  My favorite thing was when I climbed all the way to the top and got that pretty frilly doll with wings at the top.  Pulled her right over.  So much fun.  But my people weren't so happy with me that day.  Not sure why.

Then our silly people put stuff wrapped in fragile, crinkly paper under our favorite jungle gym.  You wouldn't believe how easily and satisfyingly that paper shreds.  And then they put those packages in big, plastic bags to try to protect them from us.  Silly people.  They don't seem to know we can shred plastic, too, and climb inside to get to that wonderful, shreddable paper.  So much fun.  Our people are so thoughtful, bringing us all this entertaining stuff.

But then the stuff started disappearing, first the packages underneath.  The people got all mad at us for shredding that paper, and now, they shredded it themselves.  It just doesn't make any sense.  And now, the pretty dangly things are disappearing off the tree thing.   I wonder if the jungle gym is going next.  It was so much fun while it lasted.  I can't figure people out some days.  I wonder when it's coming back again.

Jeckyll and Hyde

I'm a sweet kitten.  I'm almost a sweet cat, almost six months old, but you wouldn't know it to look at me.  One of my nicknames is Nermal, like from the comic strip "Garfield" because I'm so cute and endearing.  I love other cats.  I love the dogs, even the visiting big border collie most of the cats and even the other dogs can't stand.  My brother is all about Mommy.  He is as old as I am, but he still sits around pretending he's a kitten nursing on Mommy whenever he can get away with it because Mommy left us to be adopted early.  But if anyone else tries to pick him up, he wants to go back to Mommy.  But I'm happy wherever I am.  I curl up on or by whomever I am near.   Even if you're a stranger, if you pick me up and rub my belly, I'll be motorized jelly in your hands, flopping and purring because you loved me.  Everybody loves me because I love everybody.  And I'm a particularly tiny cat with a cute, pudgy face, so you can't resist when I purr at you.

But everything changes the millisecond you bring out the turkey or the bologna or the cheese or anything I even sort of like to eat.  Then I Hyde.  I don't hide.  I become an insane, ravening monster likely to tear through you if you stand between me and my cheese.  I will claw you, bite you, take you out because you are a mere distraction on the way to devouring my prey.  Most cats get interested in food.  Might even steal it from you.  I kill for food.

But if the food goes away, I will snuggle up to whatever I have left of you and tell you how much I love you.  It's how I roll.

My Mommy

                                                        Mama, just after she was fixed.

                                                                 Only existing photo

I get to have my first Thanksgiving tomorrow.  I would like to say that I'm sharing it with my cat mama, but she died just a month ago.  My person mama liked having her around, liked feeding her every day.  But then my cat mama, named Mama, darted out into the middle of the road and was hit.  I have a happy life.  I have my brother here.  Another cat brother moved in.  I'm surrounded by four-legged friends and two-legged friends.  They take good care of me.  I even got a Thanksgiving feast of raw chicken bits until I felt too fat to keep eating, but I kept eating, anyway.  But nothing seems right now Mama's gone.  We weren't even close.  I haven't seen her much since I was little.  She was outside, mostly.  I was in.  But the sadness creeps in sometimes.  Especially on holidays.

Fuzzy Shoulder Angel

I am so tiny, I have a hard time seeing anything above ankle level.  I'm even smaller than my brother from the same litter, a little shorter but 1/3 his weight.  I don't like that I can't see anything, especially when I smell food.  So when Mommy is making lunch, I climb her leg from the floor to her shoulder to watch what she's doing.  I'm ready to assist her in eating meat and cheese at a moment's notice because I'm sweet that way.  I really like helping. But sometimes, people get kind of upset when I try to climb them with my little claws.  I don't get it.  I guess they don't understand how sweet I can be for them in case they have any extra food.  All I want to do is sit like a shoulder angel and descend like a predator onto unsuspecting cheese.  I guess I'll go climb Mommy instead.  

Companion Cat

My people heard of a sweet, elderly lady who was sad that her husband had died. The daughter of this sweet lady was worried that she was all alone and needed someone to live for and be her friend.  So she called and asked about us kittens.  The sweet lady wanted a girl kitten, but the only ones left [other than me] were boys.  But then my people decided to give away the cat in the picture, Cleo, to help that sweet lady get her smile back.

The sweet lady showed up, ready for Cleo with an entire box of cat food.  And now, that lady has someone to love and someone to live for.  And Cleo no longer has to fight with the dogs, who chased her around, or us kittens, who she didn't like very well.  I think she'll be much happier there.  I'm much happier with her there, too, because she no longer hisses at me.  Have a happy life, Cleo and sweet lady!

Mama?

                                              Mama's latest batch [us] getting a bath

I think they found Mama, but I don't know.  I don't really remember her.  It's been five weeks since my people found me.  That's over half a life time ago.  But they put food in a trap for her, and she came in.  Her face looks like my brother's, and her body like my sister's.  They fed her for over a week and took her to the vet to stop her from making more and more and more of us.  The vet even confirmed she had had babies.  My people were so excited that they told EVERYBODY they had caught Mama.

Then the day after they set Mama free to keep the territory clear of other strays, a new cat showed up leading another line of kittens.  I'm pretty sure I heard my people groan.  I'm wondering when I get to meet my new playmates.

Ruru's Story

That picture is me, Ruru. I am an 8 week old kitten. I love my people, and they love me.

 6 months ago, long before I was born, my people found a cute batch of kittens that were one week old. They were born on the birthday of Alli, the family's angel baby baby, who had died five years before. The kittens were found a couple of days after their girl's birthday. Their girl had been praying for a kitten, but the family decided two cats were enough. When the family took in these kittens, they decided their angel baby had given their little girl a present for her birthday, the best present of all: kittens! Because our mama left them in the cold for too long, two of them died and went to be Alli's kittens. But our people were able to save four. They kept Baby, my older sister, who looked then just like I do now. The other three were adopted to relatives at almost eight weeks old.

Sadly, one of them never grew.  While everyone else doubled and tripled in size, he stayed forever 10 ounces.  Just after little Kovu was adopted out, he stopped being able to eat, shuddered, and died of a birth defect.  Everyone was very sad.

Then three weeks ago, the same mama cat dropped us four of us off in the family's dog kennel.  The dogs adopted and loved us, but one of them was accidentally trampled.  The family found the three that remained and saved them.  One of them is Toothless, my brother who is still with me.  Three days later, Mama brought the other three to the dog kennel.  The family took all six of us in and loved us.

But for several days, while my brothers and sister grew around me, I did not put on any weight.  They were afraid I was going to be just like Kovu.  Day after day passed, as everyone around me grew to one pound then one and a half, and I stayed tiny.  Until they had a lot of people pray for me.  And suddenly, overnight, I started growing and growing.  I will probably never be as big as Toothless, the one brother I have who hasn't gotten a home yet.  But I'm happy and healthy.  Hooray for prayer!