As I posted in another blog post.… my favorite animal (aside from the nearly unhealthy obsession I have with unicorns) is cats. They have been my favorite real animal as long as I can remember.
I am owned by a wonderful senior cat. Her full name is Her Royal Highness, the Princess Twixx Buttercup, but her name according to vet records is Twixx. She also goes by a number of other names, like all beings in this household. We call her MamaCat more often than not. Husband started doing that long ago, when we first were owned by her. It has stuck.
And yes, she owns us, not the other way around.
I post about her a great deal on social media, especially in my Instagram, when I am not sharing nature photos that is….
Twixx is likely 16 years of age. We aren’t entirely sure of her actual age, but she was around the age of two when we first got her almost fourteen years ago. She has been with us ever since, living first with our fluffy butt feline Barbossa and now with the big burly black one Inigo. She had been the boss of the household ever since she moved in. She also claimed my husband as hers and for years I joked I was the other woman in the relationship, for she was often snuggled with him on the couch and in bed.
That all changed when Barbossa, affectionately nicknamed “Bubs,” crossed the Rainbow Bridge two and a half years ago. Bubs was, for all intents and purposes, “mine.” His favorite thing to do was snuggle against me, no matter where I was sitting, reclining, or sleeping. He did like my husband, but just preferred my company the most. When he died of bladder cancer at the age of 12, I was heartbroken, for he was my cuddle-bug.
We got Inigo, or Go as he is usually called these days, because Twixx, at thirteen when Bubs passed, was not coping well. While she bossed Bubs around and acted as though she could not stand his presence, she needed his company as well. she wasn’t eating much, she was lonely, and she was languishing. We had to get another cat.
Go was just six months old at the time. I did not want another kitten. I had raised Bubs from kittenhood and he had been a terror for his “teenage” years. I did not want to do that all over again. I wanted a chill, calm, more mature cat to keep Twixx company. But life has a way of not working out according to plans made. Go was a stray, found by friends who could not keep him. We took him in and he fit right in to the household. He brought out a calmer side to the MamaCat. Of course, it helps that he is much younger than she is and twice her weight and bigger than she is, so she can’t bully him as much as she bullied Bubs.
Go also claimed my husband as his person, much to MamaCat’s chagrin. He still claims my other half as his, needing to be, for most of the day, sitting near the hubby while he does things around the house. He has no idea what privacy means to anyone, especially his person!
A curious thing happened as Go claimed my other half as his. Twixx began to seek out my company more and more. She’s not a cuddle-bug like Bubs was, but she’s near me often. I jokingly call her my feline familiar, as she needs to be within arm’s reach of me a great deal of the time.
But sometimes, she can be annoying. You see, sometimes….. Twixx can’t make up her mind about the kind of attention she wants.
I often give voices to my characters…. so I should also give voice to my cat. So here goes. This is a TYPICAL five minute inner monologue of MamaCat Twixx when she wants attention:
Mom, I want to be in your lap. No, I want to stand on the desk and head-butt you. I want to be in your lap. Ope, you moved too much now I don’t want to climb down. no, don’t pick me up. No don’t put me down. I want attention. I want hugs. I don’t want hugs. I want to sit on the back of your desk chair. No, I want down. I want attention. No, not like that. I want pettings. More pettings. Wait, you’re doing it wrong. I want in your lap. No, I want to cuddle. I don’t want to cuddle. I want to sit on your desk. I want to be in your lap. Pay attention to me. No, not like that! Yay, snuggles…. no, I don’t want to snuggle… Okay, I’m done.
~ Twixx
This goes on a great deal, especially when I am trying to get work done on my personal computer at my desk, which has a cat bed upon it. It goes on about once an hour every hour some days. Sometimes, when I am working on my Chromebook elsewhere in my home, she does the same… but usually it’s at my desk when I am working there.
It’s the joys of being owned by a senior cat.
Know what? I wouldn’t have it any other way. Eventually, in the (hopefully distant) future, I will miss this indecision of this particular senior cat, just as I miss the fuzzy constant cuddle-bug butthead Bubs. So I try to enjoy the moments now, for they are part of the story of life I am writing. They are part of the magic I watch unfold every day. They are part of the wonder and the joy that is life, even if they are somewhat annoying at times. For they are an aspect of my senior cat.
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And as always, #writeyourownstory
K. S. Wood Writes 