Our Cats

I read somewhere that pretty soon everybody blogs about their cats, so why should I be any different?

Here are our latest additions, the two "boys," The Count and Luis, playing with the lower arm of our dishwasher (and no doubt not doing the door hinge any good). The black one is the Count, the whiter one Luis. They're brothers. If you've read MY LORD'S DESIRE, they have a cameo role in that book.

We got them after our old cat, Tommy, had to be put to sleep. He was very old -- 19 years. Our "little cat," Eeky (named for that cartoon character Eek the cat) had never been alone, so we decided to adopt another cat.

We went to the vets after learning they had kittens. We had already decided to name the (boy) cat Luis, after the actor Luis Guzman. We really liked the latest movie version of The Count of Monte Cristo, wherein LG played the count's friend/bodyguard, Jacapo. When my son went to Europe, our joke was that we'd hired LG to be his bodyguard. So we thought Luis would be a good name for a cat (I didn't like Jacapo.)

Well, out came the kittens, and the vet's assistant started telling us that they're brothers, and they've never been separated, and their sister got adopted the day before and they missed her and...my husband succumbed first. "Is there any reason we can't take two?"

Then he said, "And of course the second one would be the Count." As in, the Count of Monte Cristo.

So we came home with two cats. Poor Eeky is still wondering what the heck we were thinking.

The Count is a big pig and will eat anything. We have to feed him a bit first, then the others, and then go back and give him the rest, so he doesn't start mooching.

He also thinks he's the alpha male, but if there's another cat outside? It's Luis who's fierce. I think of the Count as the noble who sits in his castle making big plans, and Luis is the warrior who actually does the work. And Eeky? She is the Dowager Cat, putting up with the whipper-snappers, unless they get too close.

Eeky, helping me work (And yes, my office really is that messy when I'm writing a book. Sad but true.)










And this is our dear, departed Tommy (aka The Mighty One).
After putting him to sleep, the vet sent a contribution to a veterinary college in his name. It was a surprise, and a lovely gesture. Perhaps needless to say, I cried. Again. People who've lost pets will know exactly how I felt, I'm sure.