Singing to the Furkids

Yesterday a friend posted a sweet video on FaceBook of a man singing a pile of puppies to sleep. I commented on it that I've always sung to my cats, especially when it time to go to sleep or go to the vet. I guess this truly makes me the crazy cat lady. Or, does this exemplify the sweetness of life. Where nothing is more important at that moment, than having a sweet loving connection with with a being who is part of your family.

There are the people in the camp that would argue that these are just animals...these people don't have pets and never have. These people don't understand how someone could spend hundreds, maybe thousands of dollars on vet bills for an animal... So sad.

But to us, the animal lovers – these beings are our children, our family. Or as my niece is wont to say, our furkids. These furkids are there for us no matter what may happen in our day, with love and caring.

It's funny, even I can get short with my cats, when they meow at me constantly. But when it comes right down to it - they are telling me, “Get over here, you need to get some attention and relax.” It's not the opposite as most people think, that they want attention. They know when you need to take your mind off something and they're providing this outlet.

My cats hate the car, when they get in the car they know they're going to the vet and they talk and yowl until you think you'll go mad. So I sing to them and they're quiet. But when I evacuated for Hurricane Katrina, they went in their cages and never made a sound in the car. They knew that we had to go and they were okay with that fact.

I was the crazy cat lady, with four great kitties...Hissy, Maurie, Gino, and Smudge'. These cats were my family since 1998. From the same litter, siblings. Born of the parents, crazy Celeste and raucous Clancy, two strays that I fed regularly. The kittens were born under the house I lived in on Jefferson Avenue, right before Hurricane Georges.

Then last July the ex...made the permanent move to Seattle and took two. The female, Smudge', was a daddy's girl, no surprise...she really had no use for me. But not wanting her to be alone, Gino went with her. It is heart breaking, since the three boys were like the three amigos, the three musketeers... They always slept in a big pile. My pile o' kitties.

Smudge', the lone girl was almost always on her own. If anyone was with her, it was Gino. We called them the bookends, their coloring is so similar. I miss Gino and the other two boys do as well. The first night Gino was gone, Hissy and Maurie were up ALL night, searching the place and meowing constantly. They look less and less as days go by. I didn't say his name in front of them for a few months. I still don't really say his name aloud, it just makes me sad.

Still singing though...