There are 5 cats!
Guen (Guenhwyvar), the black one, the queen. Getting around is hard for her, and when I post things about arthritis or digestion it’s with her in mind. She is getting around better but prefers staying in one place, usually the bed, sometimes the chair or ottoman in the office, occasionally the gym floor. If she yells at you, she would like cuddles. Cuddles are her favorite, she makes a good pillow and will purr you to sleep. She gets 1mL of medicine every day for IBS. Snuggling is her love language, and she is made entirely of love. Her purrs are the best and she knows it, and will happily give purrs as often as possible. She is my sidekick and has been my constant companion since she came into my life in 2005. She’s also the one who has the most story. In 2015 or so her liver stopped working, and it was a very close call that she was able to stay alive. I fed her through a tube surgically inserted into her throat 4 times a day, and in the beginning of the tube feeding she still kept throwing up, so they adjusted her meds and she started keeping food down. I still remember when my roommate saw her eat for the first time after that ordeal, he took a video and brought it up to show me and we both cried with joy. The IBS diagnosis happened last summer, and I strongly suspect that was the underlying cause of the liver failure.
Bast, her full sister, the tortoise-shell one with the cool stripe down her nose. She’s a little shy, and likes pets on her terms. If she yells at you, she will lead you to what she wants, recently it’s been to sit with her in the office. The top of the chair is her favorite spot. She has had several UTIs which seems to be a mild form of kidney disease that responds well to injectable medication. Her love language is string and treats. She’s generally quiet and about half the time likes to be around whatever is going on…as long as it’s quiet. Loud noises, thunder included, will make her run for a small, dark, enclosed space. She prefers the company of men and likes to lay on legs.
Guen and Bast had a brother, Jack. He was black like Guen with even smaller white spots. Bast and Jack caught something when they were young, this was probably around 2008. Bast came home. Jack didnt. Please never trust Banfield clinics. If I wasn’t young and dumb and broke he would still be here.
When this trio came into my life, I was in the process of moving back into my parents’ house (0/10 do not reccomend, living with my parents was a bad time no matter what part of my life it was) and I had to fight endlessly to prevent them from taking the cats and getting them declawed. It’s a fight I will jump into any day with anyone. And yes, all my cats have their claws…but none of them have their reproductive organs.
Xooey, the orange one. She likes pets and playing, and has phases where she will vocalize A LOT and phases where, eh, not so much. I still think of her as the talkative one though because there have been a lot of those talking phases, especially when she wanted food, or when she wanted attention in the middle of the night. If she is insistent about having a conversation these days, she probably doesn’t like the food that’s available, or she wants you to sit with her in the bathroom while she eats. She tends to defer to the other cats when it’s playtime and is generally submissive. She gets chased, she isn’t usually the chaser. She also gets groomed. EVERYBODY grooms Xooey. But Xooey doesn’t groom anyone else. She likes to be picked up as long as I immediately bend at the hips so she can climb onto my back. And stay there. Forever.
Yoshi, the fuzzy one, the princess. Spicy and particular. If she yells at you she wants to be fed in the bathroom alone with the door closed while you sit with her. Sometimes she uses the bathtub as her litterbox if she’s annoyed at the human of the house, or if the boxes haven’t been cleaned recently enough. We have a habit where, after I shower and am wrapped in a towel, she’ll lay on me and sometimes fall asleep. I love this beyond words. When she came into my life, she was standoffish, and I called her puppy kitty because we would play tug of war with the pink fish toy and she would actually growl. It was a very slow process to win her affection. For a while though, years ago, she would only eat dry food that I was holding in my cupped hand, in the bathroom with the door closed, so we see where that tradition begain. She will tolerate pets from other people, and sometimes even likes them. Periodically wants to go after Ramses.
Ramses, the white and gray one, the only boy. Also known as Little Prince, Ramses the Great, and Good Boy. He’s enrolled in the They Can Talk research group, so button training will focus on him. Likes to talk. It’s more likely you’ll get a small squeak out of him than a true meow, but I treasure those meows. Gets a particular look when he wants to play the red dot game, usually at 830pm. His favorite spot is looking out the window in the bedroom, and has woken me up many times to provide open curtains. Loves to play and run around. Energetic. Will get into things because he’s curious and wants to play. Usually runs away from Yoshi, but will sometimes swat at her and his other sisters. They do not enjoy this. He likes rough skritches on his back and chin scratches. He came into my life by showing up on my porch as the skinniest and friendliest kitten, at about 6 months old. In the neighborhood where I was living at the time, this was terrifying because there were known Bad People who did awful shit like leave out poison. As such a friendly and fearless kitten, there are any number of terrible fates that could have befallen him so I was highly motivated to get him off the street. Instead, he has a safe, dry, cushy house with lots of toys, soft cushions, and excellent food. He was the worst hunter when he was outside, and I suspect he may have vision irregularities, but he shows no signs of impairment.