Our Kitties

Snuggle Time!

Cuteness incoming! I wanted to write a bit about our cats. We have 2 girls named Moo and Squatch, and we love having them both; they provide endless companionship and cheap entertainment.

Moo

Moo is done. with. your. shit.

Nicknames: Moo Baby, Moo Thing, Moo Bear, SchMoo, Kitty Girl, Butthole #1

Moo is about 6 years old and we adopted her from the local humane society in March 2014. When we brought her home she acted differently than any other cat I've ever had, and I've had quite a few cats throughout my life. Instead of hiding and being defensive, she walked right out of the carrier, made a circuit of the house, sniffed around a bit, and then came to hang out on the couch with us and made herself right at home. I've never experienced that when bringing home a new cat! We fell in love with her instantly.

One evening in April 2015, hubby and I were hanging out in the living room. Moo was sitting on the windowsill as she likes to do (ground level window in daylight basement). The window was open but it has a screen. Suddenly we hear this crashing sound from the window and Moo had busted through the screen and took off. We immediately started calling for her, trying to lure her with food and looked around the backyard in every hiding place we could think of, but she just wasn't there. We were so perplexed as to why she did that because we didn't see any other cats, dogs or anything.

For 2 weeks we looked. We posted on Facebook, Craigslist, let the Humane Society know, put up flyers, drove and walked around the neighborhood, all with no sign. When we were home we kept that window open in the hopes that she would come back in or we might hear her. 2 weeks later, almost to the HOUR, we heard meowing at the window. We immediately jumped up from what we were doing to investigate and it was our Moo! We let her in and checked her over. She was not hurt, she was a bit thinner and had some dirt and grease on her but was otherwise fine. After a good meal and a bath, she curled up with us and went to sleep. We had been starting to give up hope and we were so incredibly happy that she returned to us.

Moo has been such a joy; she is sweet and friendly and playful. She has her frustrating moments (picky eater, hairballs, trying to dart into the garage), but overall she is a wonderful cat and we are grateful that she is in our lives.

Some of Moo’s traits and quirks:

• She will sit or lay on any plastic bag if it's on the floor or in a chair.
• She has a very soft, sweet meow.
• She loves to sit on the windowsill and will chitter at whatever is out there.
• She is extremely photogenic.
• She will run up to one of us and make a chittering meow as a greeting.
• She likes to sleep on me. I'm a side sleeper and she will get up on my hip and waist area and lay there. I really like it because her warmth, weight, and purring are very comforting and relaxing. If I'm laying down because I'm in pain I always hope she will come lay on me.
• She doesn't give a crap about catnip but she LOVES valerian.
• Her "crazy time" usually involves freaking out on the cat tree or rolling around in the hallway and pulling herself around on the carpet.
• She's always getting her claws stuck in things - carpet, blankets, our clothes, etc. We often have to help her disengage.
• She likes to wait for me while I'm taking a shower, and when I finish and pull the curtain back she will sit on the edge of the tub and trap me (of course this is under the guise of demanding pets).
• She will sit and stare at you. Just stare.
• She likes to play the stalking & hunting peekaboo game.
• She loves anyone that comes to visit and will shamelessly solicit pets from them.
• She likes belly rubs but hates being picked up and held.
• When I'm at my altar, she will come and lay on the floor under or next to it.

Squatch

The Squatchinator...Makin' Squatchies!

Nicknames: Squatchie, Squatchie Thing, The Squatchinator, Dangus, Shitbag (if she’s been really bad), Butthole #2

Next up is Squatch. We got her in September 2015 from a coworker of mine who lives on a farm and had barn cats. Squatch was about 12 weeks old when we brought her home. She is a polydactyl cat and has a crooked tail. I wanted to name her for her huge feet (which I just love) but I didn't like her original name "Thumbsy” and I didn't like the name Bigfoot. But Bigfoot is also known as Sasquatch, and I thought shortening it to Squatch sounded perfect for our silly little kitten.

Squatch also has some other genetic...interestingness. Her fur pattern is a weird mix of tabby, tortoiseshell, and the piebald gene. Now pay attention class, this may be on the quiz later. The piebald gene is basically a melanin distribution gene. It's what creates coat patterns like Moo’s, or tuxedo cats, or black cats with white socks, white cats with a colored tail, etc. So anytime you see a cat with white areas, their piebald gene is activated to some degree.

The tortoiseshell or calico pattern is due to a gene which allows for red/orange coloring to appear alongside the black or brown coloring. This is widely known to mainly happen on female cats, and only very rarely on male cats. This is only partially true. The “male” calico or tortie cats are actually intersexed; they have XXY chromosomes. This also happens in humans and is called Klinefelter syndrome. These cats have male-appearing genitalia but are actually sterile. So they are not truly “male” in the sense that they do not produce sperm, but the Y chromosome makes them appear male and the extra X chromosome allows for the red coloration in their fur.

Though Squatch is female (she is spayed), she does have some very interesting physical characteristics with her giant feet, crooked tail and coat pattern. I'm not sure if it's because barn cat colonies have limited gene pools or what.

Squatch, while having a very different personality to Moo, is still mostly a great cat. She's about 3 years old so she still has a lot of kitten in her and can get rambunctious. She is very sweet, very vocal, and a bit wild. She's a lot of fun to play with and we can get her going crazy with the laser pointer or the caterpillar.

Some of Squatch’s traits and quirks:

• She purrs VERY loudly.
• She spooks easily.
• She likes being picked up and carried around. She will perch on your shoulder.
• She steals small things and hoards them. Whatever she can pick up and carry in her mouth. I'm sure there's a treasure trove under the couch as I'm writing this. She also sometimes puts these small things inside our shoes. Some of the things she's stolen:
• Electric tealight
• Bottle caps
• Pork rinds
• Packing peanuts
• Shoelaces (still in wrapper)
• Lip balm tubes
• Screwdriver cap
• Transformers toy
• Binder clips
• Spools of thread
• Dish scrubber (from upstairs even!)
• Candies in the wrapper
• Kabuki brush
• Glass marbles (the flat back ones)
• Soft foam earplug
• Makeup sponge
• Face powder pouf
• She is scared of strangers and will run and hide under the bed when anyone comes to visit. It takes her a while to warm up to people.
• She doesn't meow so much as trills. Mrrrrrrrow!
• She likes to eat plants. I had to get rid of my plants because she kept destroying them no matter what I tried!
• She will sometimes sleep between my feet at night, or behind my thighs.
• She likes to burrow in blankets, under butts and pillows, etc.
• If we go upstairs and she doesn't follow us, she will yowl and cry…as if we disappeared and are never coming back.
• She looks confused a lot of the time.
• She HATES her paws being touched.
• Anytime I'm in the kitchen she seems to think I'm preparing a freshly killed rabbit just for her. Even if I'm just cleaning.

And there you have it! This was kind of fun to write. Our kitties are such a big part of our life, it just seemed right to dedicate a post to them.

<3 Aranea