It occurred to me recently that I haven’t written much (if at all) about the dynamic between Catie and the cats.
When Catie was a baby, Beaumont was her buddy. At first, he was just curious about this new strange thing we’d brought into the house.
They quickly fell in love with each other. They were playmates.
He would comfort her when she was sick.
And after she became mobile, he followed her around all over the place. He seemed to get nervous that she might wander off.
I would take Catie for walks around our neighborhood and Beaumont would follow right alongside with us. This was when we lived in the sticks, so we generally didn’t pass that many people, but a couple of our neighbors stopped and commented that they’d never seen anyone take their cat for a walk before.
In fact, when we moved out here from Seattle and decided to re-home a couple of our cats, it was understood that even though Beaumont is painfully stupid and prone to annoying the crap out of me and Dave, we couldn’t possibly get rid of him because he and Catie had such a bond.
Unfortunately, their relationship shifted when we moved to North Carolina. I’m not sure if it was the trauma of the move, or if Catie just got a little too big and manhandled him too roughly (both, probably), but he’s a little skittish around her now. I imagine that’ll change again, as time goes on.
But the one dynamic that hasn’t changed is the one between her and Teenie. Teenie is my cat, always has been. I’ve had her since I was 20 years old. She seemed to understand from the time I first brought Catie home from the hospital that this new little creature belonged to “us,” somehow.
When I was breastfeeding, I’d typically nurse Catie sitting in bed. I just found it to be more comfortable there than anywhere else. Teenie would sit on the bed in front of me, and if anyone came near me while I was nursing (including Dave and my mom, both of whom Teenie knew and trusted), she would growl, hiss, and swat them away.
And over the past 3 years, that hasn’t changed at all. Teenie still loves Catie, and lets her totally manhandle her. When we come downstairs in the morning, the first thing they do is curl up on the couch together.
Teenie is getting pretty old for a cat, she’ll be 14 this year. And I know it’s part of nature, and that our pets aren’t supposed to out-live us, but I dread the day that I have to explain the concept of Kitty-Cat Heaven to my daughter. Because seeing the two of them all happily snuggled up on the couch together is one of the highlights of my day.
OMG! These are the cutest pics ever! No wonder these snuggle moments mean so much to you… they are priceless!
When I was 6 months old my parents acquired a siamese cat. Everyone in my mom’s family told her how cats were horrible around babies, saying they were crazy to get a cat.
Mom ignored them. One day she was watching me while on the phone, I was sleeping in my car seat. Our cat walked up to me, sniffed me, then gently stepped into my lap and curled up, and went to sleep.
She was my cat from then on. Would come down the stairs meowing to let my parents know I was up. Forgave me when someone told me cats could fly and I dumped her over the banister down the stairs. (For the record cats cannot fly and they don’t always land on their feet, she needed her tooth pulled after landing on her face.)
She died from cancer when I was 7. I have a picture of me sleeping on the couch at about 5 or so, and she’s curled up sleeping on my back. Now I have my three goofballs and love them to death. I love how yours just completely enveloped Catie into their lives. We all know how cats do not like change. Your little man is probably reeling from the move (didn’t he get stuck in the moving van?) then you going away for awhile, a new house, new routine. He’ll be better once he realizes you guys are not going anywhere for awhile. <3
awwww! I love pictures of my doggy with my girls. I worry about explaining doggy heaven, too. Yay for pets!!
This makes me want a cat.
Cuteness! Love the 1st picture of little bitty Catie. It’s funny how our pets know things and LOVE us unconditionally!
That picture of Catie outside? In the purple tank top? That is just a priceless photo. Those are my favorite types of photos. So beautiful. So simple. Just amazing.
Awww, this makes me so happy. Many a well-meaning people have asked us what we’re going to do with our cats if/when we have kids, and we’ve always given them the, “uhh…nothing?” look back because unfortunately a lot of people give their cats away when a baby comes. What a happy, wonderful story. 🙂
I’m 5 mos pregnant and we have a dog and cat. A friend of ours hates our dog because he’s convinced she’s horribly misbehaved, so when I told him we were keeping the dog when the baby gets here he was absolutely disgusted.
I told him to keep his opinions to himself because we like our dog a hell of a lot more than we like him. That’ll teach him!