happy meow day

Three years ago yesterday a little critter came home from the SPCA to live with me. Marley Kitty was brought home to a bit of a controversial situation. Technically no furry creatures were allowed in the white carpeted rented home I was living in, something I can openly talk about as I'm 99.9% sure my old landlord doesn't know this blog exists (though he may have moved up to Alaska, in which case, he can now identify himself as the unknown creeper who dutifully checks my blog at the least once daily). Point being, I thought long and hard about whether it was a good idea to a) commit to owning a pet and b) bring a pet into an illegal situation. Since my Mom taught me well, I decided to laugh in the face of the law..

When I got home from work the first day Marley came home she was staring, absolutely terrified, at herself in the mirror from under the bed. It looked at though she was looking at a ghost. Quickly, she proved she was in fact a very adaptable cat and although she spent two years in the SPCA (I KNOW, 2 years is a lot...) she didn't have any long-lasting effects (PTSD or the like). She went back and forth (very often) from Vancouver to Victoria. Then she traveled trans-province home to Calgary and now spends her time between her three homes, one city home, one country home and one mountain home and adapts so well between each I can hardly believe it.

Three years in she comes more and more and more out of her shell. For the first year or so I would cherish the moments when she would come and lay on the couch close to me. Now, only very very recently, she has started jumping up as I'm working and curling up on my lap. Love. She converses all day long and changes her meows so much that I know she is trying to tell us all sorts of things. Mostly, she just seems so incredibly content and happy to hang around with her people.

You're the best kitty ever Marleykins!

techy

Marley is finding places to stay warm during the blizzard, and trying to get someone's attention by any means possible.

Christian the Lion

If you haven't seen this you really need to.. It is one of my most favourite things ever. For the first year, every time I watched it I'd tear up.. Now I know it so well I've become desensitized, but it still gives me that ear to ear smile. Who can't love that feeling?!?!

Italian Cat Tales

One might consider me a cat enthusiast. I feel so drawn towards them and like to spend a little bit of time with every one I meet. In Italy there were plenty to pull me in. When I was in Scala for a month  I planned to put out food for the cats. There are lots of feral kitties in Italy so I wanted to help them out. Well, quite by accident I 'adopted' a kitten. This little monkey was perched on the doorstep one evening after a walk.

Slowly, she allowed me to get closer until she became so comfortable that she would curl up on me at any moment she could steal; she even climbed on my back and fell asleep as I was bent down at the computer. It didn't take long for me to absolutely fall in love with this little one. She was a kitten when we met, then grew to a katten after a few weeks and finally graduated to a catten when I said good-bye (yes, I made those words up). She was young and little but there was something about her that was so dainty and so she was dubbed "Tiny". I would go out for the day and when I returned little Tiny was dutifully waiting, ready for love, she couldn't get enough even though she tried her hardest.

I fed her cat food, and lots of it. I fed her milk to help her grow strong. I feel good about giving her a better start than most of the cats in Scala would get.

When I left I was heartbroken. I felt so guilty for giving Tiny SO much love, food, milk and attention, only to have to leave her. It killed me and I would often think about her and pray to the universe that she was continuing to thrive and that she had befriended some other human to shower her kitty love with.

Suita, the woman who owns the home I rented, wrote to me after I inquire about the kitten that I'd met and said that Tiny was doing great and that Suita's brother-in-law, the gardener fed her daily. I was absolutely thrilled beyond words to hear that she was okay.

By now she will be a full grown cat and I can only hope for her that she is full of food and human love. If I'm a cat person than this is the biggest person cat I've ever encountered.