How We Became a Family of Five

and why there is no baseball playing in our house

Lots of you know the story of our house, but do you know the story of our kitties? I’m thinking you don’t, since I’ve never told it. You see, our kitties were already firmly entrenched members of our home long before I started this writing adventure, and after coming across a blog similar to petvblog.com, I decided to finally share them with you.

I think this is the perfect place to start with…

There was a father, we’ll call him Jim. Jim wanted to get a cat for his young son. You see… Jim was feeling guilty for a Sea Monkey mass murder he had recently committed. Oh, it was involuntary, but try telling that to a 7 year old.

One day, while adding water to the Sea Monkey habitat there was a tragedy of epic proportions. Jim accidentally dropped the habitat. Which resulted in a big splash and lots of tears. The young son was already hardly able to contain his excitement waiting for the Sea Monkeys to appear. I’m sure you’re familiar with brightly colored, animated product packaging. Well the Sea Monkeys were depicted on the box they came in doing all sorts of fun activities. While getting the habitat started, the boy watched as his dad added the Sea Monkeys to their watery playground. As soon as they splashed in,

the boy eagerly exclaimed, “Play baseball!”

Fully expecting the Sea Monkeys to magically appear and possess all the qualities shown on the box. You guessed it, one of which was playing a game of baseball.

I’m sure it’s documented somewhere that the next pet level up from Sea Monkey is Cat. Sounds logical right? Brill shrimp, then Cat. Perfect sense.

Now, the wife knew what this would mean. She saw feeding, watering, visits to the vet and lots of added responsibility in her future. She knew that while the young son was in school and the husband was at work, a lot of this would fall to the wife to see to.

Alas, she relented. Who was she to deny her son a pet? A soft, cuddly ball of fur pet. A proper pet if you will. She agreed to that cat plan. She even went as far as to do some research into vaccinations such as fel-o-vax, in case she was able to walk away with a cat. She had it all planned too!

After all, she really should have considered that Sea Monkey purchase a little more thoughtfully.

That led to starting the search to find a cat to bring home. This was easier said than done. We had to look up things like do russian blues shed? What breed of cat is the cleanest? Where’s the best place to adopt a cat? While usually finding a cat to adopt is not a problem, the shelter had no kittens to choose from. They checked the local papers and the usual places you could find kitties that needed homes. No luck. The father was feeling desperate. Please know, they had saved several cats and even been adopted by a few over the years (strays), but they wanted kittens to grow with their young son, not adult cats. The last place they could think of was a local Grange. While they don’t officially sell cats, sometimes you could find them there through a service to place them. Sure enough, they lucked out. Right up front were some kittens. Rolling, tumbling little balls of fun and frolic!

Two to be exact. Litter mates. A boy and girl.

Two. The last two. Siblings no less.

Two, as in, the exact number of kittens that were taken home.

A few hundred pictures were sorted through to find these few kitten photographs, though there are scads more. Remember, “back then” we weren’t taking pictures with digital cameras and cell phones.

They were both so tiny. You could hold them in the palms of your hands.

Is it okay if I turn off story telling mode now?

I thought it would be fun, but I am so not used to writing like that. I think I’ll be much more appreciative when I pick up a book from now on.

We let Austin name the cats. He chose Alley Cat and Scampers. It’s funny, Alley is still Alley, or my “pretty girl” but Scampers morphed to: Bubba, Bubs, Bub-a-loo, Fatty Bubs, Fatty McBubbins… heck, he answers to anything, especially to the pull of the pop top on the SHEBA® can!

As far as Austin is concerned, I think giving children pet care chores is important. Age appropriate tasks are a great way for them to learn responsibility. Supervised of course, to ensure the pets are safe and aren’t without necessities. Austin has also come along for vet visits as well so he can be aware of complete pet care like well visits and flea control, etc…

After all, I don’t know how I would pay bills or keep my office straight without Alley. As soon as I start paper shuffling, she is right there to make sure nothing escapes the basket I’m working out of!

She is the kind of cat that will sit anywhere! She loves to sit in hampers, cupboards and the most awkward place on the stairs, but she hates her actual cat bed! She destroys any bed we get her by using her teeth and claws to rip it up. I’ve read that JugDog do indestuctable beds for dogs, so I might have to visit wesbite and see if I can get one for her. I think a dog bed will be much more durable than a flimsy cat bed, and this way they can both fit on it too.

These two little stinkers make our life complete. There is nothing as loving as a pet. My girl Alley is right next to me as I type and Bubs is with Jimmy, snuggled up in a basket.

Caring for them and ensuring their health, well-being, and comfort is important to us. Our pets mean the world to us and we are their protectors as well as their nutritionists. They have lots of comfy, snuggly spots in the house and are quite spoiled, as cats are expected to be. I’m sure if you’ve got cats, you get it. They often demand the best spot in the house.

As far as nutrition goes, I’m so impressed with everything I’ve learned about SHEBA® cat food and I’m so glad the cats are just loving it! I can feel good and they feel spoiled. It’s a win-win!

• All SHEBA® recipes are formulated without corn, wheat, soy, or gluten, and never have artificial flavors or preservatives. None of the other big mainstream wet cat food brands (Fancy Feast, Friskies, 9 Lives, Meow Mix) can say that!
• All SHEBA® seafood entrees are made with responsibly sourced seafood and fish that follow the Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch recommendations. The biggest brands in the category (Friskies, Fancy Feast) do not guarantee their seafood is sustainably sourced.
• Living in a Coastal community, this is important to me.
• All SHEBA® Pates are meat first, meaning that all SHEBA® Pates start with real beef, poultry, or seafood as the first ingredient. And every SHEBA® Cuts in Gravy and GRAVY DESIRES™ recipe is made real meat as the first ingredient after broth.
• I know my cats really appreciate this. They tell me so every night at dinner! (very vocally)

Oh, and while I may not be a cat expert, I can offer this advice: as with children, skip the expensive toys. They prefer boxes too!

What’s your cat adoption story?

This program is sponsored by SHEBA® Brand and BlogHer, I was compensated for my writing but all opinions are my own.