Elizabeth, I love Hank! He is beyond cute. Man, he can't be more than a few weeks old. Did you just get him? I also love his meeting with your dog. Now, I am guessing the doggie is your family dog but lives with your Mom? Do I have that right? I think I can remember him in some photos of yours from years past. He looks like a Lab, and of course........Labs rule! That's a great expression on his face (and I should be saying "he or she" cause I don't know), but he's impressed by Hank's forthrightness in introducing himself. "So you're Hank, eh"? And Hank's sitting there all composed, like "yes, that's me".
I am glad you have a new kitty! Tomorrow I will be back with the famous Black Kitty, now ten years old. She's the stray that Kobi chased up a tree in October 2010, when she wasn't much bigger than Hank. She was a feral kitten, separated from her kin, and somehow wound up in Pearl's backyard. When I pulled her out of the tree that day, she stuck around and she's been with us ever since, still half-feral, but asks to come in the house every now and then, and every night in the winter.
We have another cat who's kind of taken over the place, and it's funny because she's not even our cat. Her name is "Booie", which roughly translates to "come here" in Hebrew, and she originally belonged to Pearl's neighbors. One day about three years ago she started hanging around, so I began feeding her along with Black Kitty. Then she'd go home at night, across the street. But after a few months, she wasn't going home any more. She just camped out on Pearl's porch, waiting to be fed. I felt bad because she was the neighbor's cat, but I fed her anyway. She is a mama cat, a little older, and doesn't stray much, doesn't roam. Pretty soon she was wanting to come in the house, too, and she adopted us as her new home. One day last Winter, the neighbors came over while I was outside and introduced themselves. They are a nice couple from Israel. I was a little nervous about Booie (whose name I didn't know yet), and I just explained that I'd initially fed her and she stuck around. "I'm really sorry that she's stayed here, I didn't plan for that to happen". I encouraged them to take Booie back if they wanted, but they laughed and said, "No, it's okay. She's your's now, she likes you better". They went on to explain that Booie didn't get along with their other cat, which might have explained her departure. I didn't know her name until they told me, and said that it meant "come here", which almost sounds like she was a stray when they met her, just like Black Kitty was for me. But I didn't ask.
Booie hangs out on the table in the back yard, and meows like crazy when it gets near feeding time. She's turned into the Alpha Kitty of the household.
Then finally we have Sylvester. I call him that because he's black and white and resembles the cartoon cat of the same name. Sylvester is a quiet guy, very humble, who comes over from across the street in the other direction. Pearl's house in on a corner, so he comes "catty corner", which is appropriate haha. Sylvester is older as well. He's on the skinny side. Maybe his owners don't feed him a lot, or maybe he's got a high metabolism, but whatever the case, he discovered our feeding area, and feeding time, and began showing up promptly at that time (late afternoon) about two years ago, and he's become part of The Lunch Club as I refer to them. Sylvester doesn't show up every day, but most days, and when he's there he pounds food. He was super shy when I first met him, and would run away when I offered him a bowl, but now he will even let me pet him, but just a little bit. But man can he eat!
The only problem is that Booie tries to boss the other two cats around. She used to bully Black Kitty and Sylvester out of their meals. What she would do was scarf down her own bowl as fast as she could, and then intimidate the other two away from their bowls because she is bigger than they are. This worked easily on the humble Sylvester, who would give up his food to avoid confrontation. Black Kitty, though, she fought back after a while. She's a street cat, not to be messed with for too long.
Ultimately I stepped in, and began feeding Booie separately from the other two. Now I feed Black Kitty and Sylvester first, up high on the table, and they get along. They eat right next to each other. But I feed Booie last, on the ground over by the front porch. That way, she is less inclined to jump up and bully the other two who are eating together.
And now, they all eat in peace. All we need now is a new Kobi to chase them around.
I am glad you have Hank, and that Hank has his new friend, your Black Lab.
Cats and Dogs rule!
Sweet Dreams, my love. I will see you in the morning. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
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