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Well, sometimes we call him Teddy. Sometimes he's Teddy Bear, Bear-Dog, Ignats, or, my mother's favorite, Destructo.
I'd love to lie to you and tell you that Teddy is a wonderful puppy who full of sprinkles and rainbows and merriment. He isn't. He chewed a hole in our brick wall. He mangled my childhood stuffed animal. He jumps and nips and barks and digs. In summation, he's a regular puppy. He just excels at making me crazy. That being said, he is also a terrific cuddler, a fast learner, and ferociously adorable. But I digress.
We have an inside cat named Thunder. He's pretty much the perfect pet. He snuggles and purrs and is ridiculously easy to take care of. My favorite thing about Thunder, is if he wants attention and you're busy, he'll leave you alone once you make it clear that you are, in fact, busy. If you want to give him attention, and HE is busy, however, he'll pretty much always concede and take that lovin' no matter what he was up to before. Perfect pet.
Thunder and Teddy are not friends. They aren't enemies, in fact, I'm pretty sure Teddy would kill to play with Thunder, but Thunder prefers to pretend Teddy doesn't exist and avoid him as much as possible.
But here is the meat of the story, the thing that inspired me to write in this thing for the first time in years.
We haven't named her. I just call her KittyCat. She was loitering on my parents' porch for a week, and she is the sweetest thing ever. She was found without a collar, obviously malnourished, and a bit of a mess. She isn't feral; she loves to be held, pet, and doesn't mind the car. Her claws are super long because she doesn't use them. We're pretty sure that she was someone's house cat and was abandoned. Bringing her inside isn't feasible right now, but she's become our lovely outside cat. She has a little cat box with blankets and protection from the elements, we feed her once a day, and make sure she gets a hefty amount of lovin'.
The best and funniest thing is to watch her interact with Teddy. The fact that a cat could even stand to be in Teddy's presence is beyond his realm of excitement. The KittyCat just stands there and lets Teddy go to town. He can't pick what he wants to smell more, her face or her butt. Watching him try and choose and alternate was not unlike watching a small child with an extreme case of ADHD try and pick a star out of the heavens.
Pets are expensive, and as time goes on, slowly but surely we're gonna get everything that KittyCat needs to be healthy living outside. For now, I hope that she sticks around, and I get to look at those pretty blue eyes and rub on that super soft fur for a long time.
