Ever since I moved out of the family house to my own place, I’ve had cats. Lots of cats. Clumps of cats. Never less than two, and usually more. Right now, I have eight.
“Eight!” people exclaim; “How on Earth did you ever wind up with eight cats?” Easy! Here’s how:
When I moved, after many years of city life, from Boston to Exurbia, I brought along Tiger, Allegra, York, and Tribble – all strays I’d taken in off the streets of Boston, except for York, who was foisted on me by my then vet. Old age took Tiger, at 19, a couple of years after we’d left the city. Meanwhile, two black four-month-old kitties appeared one day at the barn where I boarded my horse, Nicky. After a month of waiting to see if anyone else would adopt them, I took Sophie and Sylvia home. Since they were still juveniles, the hissing, yowling, and death threats from the other cats abated fairly soon. The old and new felines, in fact, became quite chummy.
Then I moved to my current home, a townhouse condo with four levels (including the partially finished basement) and roughly 1600 square feet of living area. Plenty of room for everyone. The infirmities of age took Allegra soon after, and I was down to four. All was well for a couple of years, and then I lost both York and Tribble to illness within a couple of months. I was heartbroken. Only two cats! There was a void in my life.
When the first, fierce grief had lessened, and I was ready to adopt again, I couldn’t bear to take in another calico – Tribble was a cat of a lifetime. I did want two kittens, so they’d keep each other company during the adjustment period. Calling around to various rescue organizations, I found – amazing! – a dearth of kittens. Finally, Danvers Strays In Need told me they had kittens in the right age range (about four months old). Three brothers, in fact – but I didn’t have to take them all. Just come and see them, and decide whether I wanted one or two.
So I came, I saw, I was conquered. I took home Eddy, Teddy, and Freddy. Well, how could I break up the matched set? More hissing, growling, yowls, and death threats, especially from Sylvia, Defender of the Free World (when she isn’t napping), but eventually things settled down, and the boys grew. And grew. AND GREW. Eddy’s now 16 inches from withers to tailhead, Freddy’s nearly as large, and only Teddy is “normal” cat size.
Two years later, I had throat surgery to remove a golfball-sized cyst (benign) and celebrated by adopting another black girl kitten, Serena, from Danvers SIN. The integration wasn’t too difficult – the other cats pretty much rolled their eyes, sighed, and got on with their lives.
I now had three black girls and three orange boys. So it made perfect sense, when I visited a friend in Ontario a few months later, to come home with Patches, the tortoiseshell kitten that her adopted stray had produced. The fact that this was in 2001 and I was flying home with a kitten in a carrier just a month after September 11 added a surreal touch.
So: three black girls, three orange boys, all with some white markings, and a tortoiseshell with white patches girl. Perfect, right? Then why, in the summer of 2002, when I brought EddyTeddyFreddy to the vet for their annual checkup, did I walk out with them plus two buff-colored boy kittens? Heh. The folks at my vets’ office know me so well. They thrust the wee bundles of fur into my arms with a sob story of their origins, and, well…
So: three black girls, three dark orange boys, two light orange boys, and a tortie. Wait, that’s nine!
Patches was unhappy in the herd. Miserable, in fact. Teddy took particular delight in pouncing on her, and he plays rough. Patches began leaving Statements of Distress about the house. Freddy began marking over them. What to do? I finally found a new home for Patches as a barn cat at a friend’s farm, and she’s fat, happy, and snug in her haynest there.
Meanwhile, the rest of the cats get along just fine. Oh, there’s some playful wrestling, and sometimes a senior cat must discipline a whippersnapper, but mostly all is harmony and amiable relations.
Thus: eight cats.
