This January marks the one-year anniversary of adopting our 2 cats, Willow and Miss Lilly. I read somewhere on the internet that I’m not supposed to say adopted, but I don’t really remember why, having never finished reading the blog that told me this, but I think it had to do with me being human and cats being not-human. I think I am not supposed to use adopted because it identifies me as an imperialist or an over-anthropomorphizer, but I’m willing to live with it for now.
I have had cats most of my life. I found a cat when I was a very young girl and that cat became my mother’s after I went to college. Once, upon seeing a “Free Kittens” sign, live-in-boyfriend-at-the-time (who actually became Hubby) and I came home with a kitten to join my cat-at-the-time, Scamper. That free kitten became Jack, had her own litter (yes, before I was a responsible pet owner who got her cats “fixed” immediately) and we kept 2 of those, a black male who we named Spike and a gray female who we named Ray. I have adopted kittens from animal shelters, twice, I think, but until January, 2010, I had never walked into a shelter and come home with an adult cat.
I am writing this to say how happy the cats have made me and how much they have added to our lives and household. In spite of Willow’s expensive and weird dental problems, Miss Lilly’s bad habits and not particularly imaginative name (we renamed Willow, who was given the uninspired moniker “TJ” at the shelter), the most revolting cat poop ever created (currently courtesy of Miss Lilly, though it had been pretty bad with Willow before the new food), pee in various boxes and on top of various cloths (you guessed it, Miss Lilly again), giving these 2 cats a home has been a very satisfying experience.
I came up with this little rhyme one morning while lazing in bed with one of my kids and Willow, and it pretty much sums up my feelings about my cats. It makes me laugh, but I wish I could remember to sing it when I am cleaning up nasty litter poo, or poo that someone simply chose against putting in the litter box and decided to put onto a clean sweatshirt instead.
(sung to the opening bars of Benjamin Britten’s “This Little Babe”)
A kitty’s tongue is oh, so rough
it keeps her clean, it makes her tough
twinklysparkles 
Love this! Coincidentally, my cat used to be called Willow until we adopted him when he was 10 weeks old.. We kept Willow as his ‘middle name’ but called him Casper. And mum often calles me ‘Miss Lily’, as Lily is part of my name! 🙂 I love your posts by the way.
Welcome, TLS! Sadly, Willow was killed by a car on the night before Thanksgiving. It was a great loss as she was one of the most amazing beings I’ve ever had in my life. Very sad. https://twinklysparkles.wordpress.com/2011/11/24/thankful-thursday-a-sad-day/
I met another blogger who has a Willow cat, too. I suppose it’s a common enough, feel-good name. If your cat was not a Willow, a name change was a good thing. I like the name Casper–so cute.
I used to live on Willow Street in Kent, Ohio and my massage practice had Willow in its name. Not to get too caught up on naming, but that’s the history for me.
I’ll stop by your blog today. Thanks for taking a peek here. twinkly
Oh that’s so sad, I’m sorry. *hugs*
Yes, Casper suits him better I think, we got him a few days before halloween, and he’s mainly white (tortie) so it’s a mixture between Casper the Friendly Ghost, and Casper one of the Three Wise Men. When we lived in the states we had a black cat named Balthazar, one of the other Three Wise Men! 🙂
I’ve got a few pics up of Casper on my blog(I’ve only got about 9 posts, I’m a very new blogger, hehe)
Willow a lovely name, especially for a cat. Y’know I’ve just thought.. My grandad lives on ‘Willow-Brook Road’! It’s funny when you think about a name, how many other names relate to it..
No problem, I really like your writing tone; honest but entertaining. 🙂
Thanks, that would be lovely!