Cat Update

When we took possession of our house 3.5 years ago, one of the "island" cats stayed behind. We tried to get the Mexican family to take her with them, but they were having none of it. I'm ashamed to say, for awhile I tried to chase her away. I did not want to deal with disease ridden island animals hanging around. But she wouldn't go.

Over time, I discovered just what a wonderful cat she was. She is constantly underfoot, following us everywhere and always keeping us in sight. But she absolutely does not like to be picked up or held. Petting yes, picking up, no. Eventually, we accepted that she had adopted us and had her spayed, vaccinated and all that good stuff. We ran into the old mistress of our house a couple of years later and I remarked what a nice cat she was. She told us that the cat, whom we just called Kitten, was actually named Paloma. Spanish for dove. Why? Because she doesn't really purr. She just emits this low cooing kind of sound. The other thing that shocked us was her age. If the former owner is to be believed, our little Kitten is now just a bit over 14 years old! Does she look it to you?


I find it incredible that a family could have a cat around for so long, actually give it a name and then just walk away from it like it was some unwanted piece of junk. But I'm glad they did because she is a lovely, non stress causing addition to our lives.

Then came Simon. He is now just over 4 months old and, as of Valentine's Day, no longer "intact". He too is one of the friendliest cats I have ever known and almost gets frantic if he isn't picked up and carried around for awhile every day.

I'm certainly glad I have these two in my life.