Sunday, June 4, 2017

Is That Hamlet?

Remember this little face?


In May of 2016, my friend, Becky, rescued this kitten from a storm drain where he had gone during a pouring rain to stay dry. He joined my family in July of last year when three homes fell through for him.

They grow kind of imperceptibly.


He's brought energy and giggles to the house.


He's my lover, particularly on a Sunday morning, when I sit down for breakfast and an hour of computer time before tackling the day's events.


He can be a pain when he wants attention but I want to play World of Warcraft. One of the best $50 I spent was for an impact case for my phone.

He turned a year old in April, so we had the obligatory vet visit.


At his first visit, he weighed 3 pounds. Let's add 10 to that. I was a bit horrified. Pilchard topped out at 13 and Mija was 12 and I worked to get them down to right around 10 pounds each. But the vet said she wasn't worried. He's a big cat; I mean look at that furrball on my table up there. Thirteen pounds on him is okay.

I still spend more time yelling, "Hamlet, no!" than I want to. He chases the girls and Mija really doesn't like it. Pilchard encourages it and will go looking for him. She will also growl at him if he wants to come inside and she's by the door. I realize this an exertion of dominance but I yell at her to knock it off.

He has learned to stay on the deck if I have the door open. That is a wonderful thing. The late spring gently warm days are wonderful if I can have the back door open. But, during the winter, when we'd go outside to sit in the sunshine, he'd go running off the deck. I rued being able to ever leave the door open again. The girls don't leave the deck if they come outside. They are skittish and usually don't go out even if I'm out there. I don't know what changed but he is usually very good now. If he leaves the deck, "Hamlet! Deck! House!" and he comes running.

For his birthday, I squirted some aerosol whipping cream onto a plate. Mija and Pilchard weren't quite sure what this stuff was so they didn't clean off their plates. He happily finished theirs. I don't feed him anything different than the other two. He thinks he wants people food and is always in my face when I sit down to eat, but then he sees what it is and realizes it's not for cats. He stuck his nose into my tea back in February and started drinking, which prompted a call to the vet to see if English Breakfast was acceptable. He did it only one other time and my vet said it was okay as long as he didn't drink it all the time.

He also loves catnip. The girls aren't that fond of it. They like it but he loves it.


So, yes, this is Hamlet, quite grown up. I never thought I wanted another cat but he's been the purrfect addition to the family.

Beverage:  Klarbrunn Black Cherry Seltzer

deb

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