Tuesday, November 17, 2009

A Tail of Two (Okay, Three) Kitties - 3

Part 3

And then, there was Bella.

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I knew when Jasmine died that I’d be in the market for a kitten. I only waited about 2 weeks. I found Bella through an online Feline Rescue group. They were hard core PRO-cat! I even had to sign a contract saying I wouldn’t feed her grocery store “cheap” cat food. They recommended all natural organic cat foods. Part of her adoption fee was applied automatically to having her spayed, and they practically set up the appointment for us. It was really handy. Bella was, as you might imagine, a very cute kitten.

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She is very social – she loves to say hello to visitors. She always has something fun on the agenda and can often be heard bustling from room to room in the house; but both she and Zoey always settle wherever I am, which is nice. (Zoey, certainly, is my closest shadow. I wish I had a way to communicate with her when it’s laundry day – she follows me up and down the stairs time and time again…thinking that I’m on my way someplace fun. I’ve almost killed myself many times because she’s always underfoot, especially on the stairs!)

Bella is extremely athletic, but as for gracefulness she’s got about a 50/50 shot. Maybe 40/60. She’s the only cat I’ve ever seen fall flat on her back. Thud! It doesn’t seem to bother her, she just gets up and goes on about her business. She’s almost 3 now, and she’s still about 90% kitten, I think. She loves to play, and unlike Zoey, she’s not picky about who’s on the other end of the laser light. She’s equal opportunity all the way. I’ve resigned myself to the fact that I’ll have the hands of a 12-year old girl for as long as I have Bella. I always have scratches and battle scars to remind me of the hours we spend playing “attack the thing under the blanket” which normally leads to a quick game of “swipe the hand that just came out from under the blanket to change the channel”…which typically wraps up our play session. But she’s also a snuggler – she curls up in my arm the way Jasmine used to, which I love. (Zoey thinks she’s a scarf, and cannot “snuggle” unless she’s on my neck. As you can imagine, not super comfy but once in a while, I give her the go ahead and she climbs on board.)

I recently realized who Bella reminds me of. Growing up, I loved the cartoon Calvin and Hobbes. Calvin was always getting into something but he was so cute and earnest when he got caught you just had to love him. And he was clever. That’s how I feel about Bella. You don’t very often get to use the word “mischievous” but that word fits Bella. The markings she has on her face probably disguise some of her explorations around the house, but when she comes sauntering casually into the room, with cobwebs dangling from her whiskers, blinking innocently, I can always be sure she’s searched out another corner of the basement heretofore untouched by man or beast. We could all do well to take a tip from Bella – every day is an adventure.

Last year, I was taking some pictures during the holidays. Bella had curled up under the Christmas tree, and she looked so precious:
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So, I turned to get a picture of Zoey who was perched on an ottoman next to me. I took a couple of shots where Zoey was blinking, or not looking; sadly, she’s not super photogenic, I’ve found. The room was relatively dark since I was trying out the Christmas lights, so I didn’t notice movement – but the next picture I got showed me that a certain someone didn’t want to be left out of the shot:
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That’s my Bella! :o)

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