Raiden
A mother shouldn't play favorites but I can't help it. This pic is Raiden's last ditch effort to be packed into my suitcase so she could go to the last YearlyKos.
Raiden was found in a farm field after a farmer saw some people toss her out of their car. He thought it was trash so he went to pick it up but instead he found my wonderful cat - and she was pregnant!
I didn't meet her until after she gave birth to her kittens and she was already fixed. I saw her on Petfinder and I knew immediately that I had found my cat. When I contacted the shelter, they told me Raiden is very social and she should have another cat to keep her company. They suggested Meg. (More on that later)
Raiden's foster parents (or probably their kid) named her, and when I brought her home, I thought she was responding to her name so I didn't change it. It turns out that she comes when you call out any name, not just hers. She's crazy for belly-rubs and she purrs and rolls all over the floor while you pet her as if she's so happy she can't figure out what to do with herself.
Raiden's a very good cat in a lot of ways, but she's also very naughty. You can always count on her to look for new toys and treasures in the trash. She likes to chew on cords, so if you ever see me with my duct-taped powercord at a convention, now you'll know why. Unfortunately, she likes to help me knit too:
And she always likes to have a taste of whatever I'm eating:
Unlike dogs, who might be sneaky when they are being naughty, cats have no shame. When Raiden steals my food, instead of hiding it she'll lick her lips.
Meg
When I got Meg she was a six-month-old kitten - only 4 lbs! At first she hid under the covers in my bed and cuddled for hours on end, but she got much more standoffish after I took her to the vet for her shots. Meg has a long memory and she knows how to hold a grudge.
Once she got over the vet visit (and believe me, it took months) she got cuddly again. For some reason, Meg's favorite time and place to cuddle is when I'm in the bathroom. Particularly if it's 3am and I don't have my contacts in and it's freezing. That's always the time she picks to hop into my lap and purr like crazy so I don't want to put her down, even though I'd really like to get out of the bathroom already.
Between Raiden and Meg, Meg's always been the better hunter. If a fly gets into my apartment, Raiden might do a half-assed job at chasing it, but Meg is always the one to catch it. When you watch Raiden play her favorite game - pouncing a ball when I throw it - you'll understand why she can't catch anything. She gets so excited to pounce the ball that she'll run before I throw it, or she'll run in the wrong direction.
From the start, Meg was always more interested in food than Raiden. Over the past few months, she's gotten really, really fat. I've been trying to come up with some sort of exercise or diet plan for her but I can't seem to come up with anything that works.
At first, I started trying to get her moving with her favorite toy - a feather on a string. She used to practically do backflips while trying to catch the feather. Gigantic leaps 3 to 4 feet into the air! But now? She'll jump once or twice and after that she waits for the feather to get close enough as she lies on the ground and she'll just swipe at it with a paw.
My next thought was buying some crickets for her to chase. I got 4 crickets at a pet shop this past weekend. Meg loved them. In fact, she liked them so much that afterwards she spent hours staring at the empty bag they came in, wishing for more.
Unfortunately, they didn't hop enough to make Meg really move. She just sat on the ground like she always does and stared at them. Once in a while, she'd take a step or two forward, or put a paw out if they crawled under something. Then she ate them.
Plan C was putting the food bowl on top of the fridge. I know Meg can get up there. It was her preferred hiding spot before she was so fat. That and behind the toilet.
At first when I put the food on the fridge, she ignored it. I made sure she saw me do it but after a day, it was obvious she either didn't know the food was up there or she didn't care. The next day, I put my step stool in front of the fridge, then picked up my enormous cat, and put her on the fridge. She ate a bit and hopped down. I haven't seen her go back for more.
Ellie
That's a picture of Ellie, growling at my other cats. She's got strange coloring for a cat, according to the vet - chocolate brown and white. I found Ellie near the beach a few weeks ago. She looked like she was starving and she was very sweet, so I brought her home. Once inside my apartment, she sprang out of my arms at Raiden, howling and brandishing her claws.
She's behaving so badly, I'm thinking that I should have named her Hillary. Since her first attack on Raiden, Ellie's spent a lot of time locked in my bathroom, hopefully thinking about being a nicer kitty. When I let her out of the bathroom, she terrorizes my poor cats. Here they are, hiding:
At first, I thought the trouble with Ellie was normal cat behavior, because cats always hiss at each other a bit when they first meet. Then I got Molly. Molly did some hissing, but she's not a mean little bitch like Ellie.
When Ellie's alone, she's an incredibly sweet and lovable cat. She purrs and cuddles and if she likes you, she'll kiss your nose. I've been doing everything I can to find her a new family but I think I'm going to have to take her to a no-kill shelter instead. Her latest move was a nose-dive into poor Raiden, howling and scratching as she flew.
Molly
Molly's named for Molly Ivins because I found her in Texas. She's a kitten, about six months old, probably a tabby/Maine coon mix. I was leaving dinner with a friend and Molly was in the bushes outside the restaurant. I pet her for a little bit, and when I started to leave, she followed. I pet her some more, and when I tried to leave she followed again.
The restaurant called a cat lady who lived nearby to see if Molly was hers. The cat lady begged me to take Molly - she said she'd been wandering around the neighborhood for a few days. So I did. I told myself I'd give her to a co-worker in Texas and I wouldn't take her home to California with me. Yeah right.
Molly behaved incredibly well in the hotel, then in the office with me on my last day at work, and on the plane ride home. I let her out of her cat carrier in the office and she napped in my lap or at my feet for most of the day (with the exception of one escape under the cubicle wall to scare some co-workers).
Molly's almost made friends with Raiden by now, although Meg's still growling at her. And you want to know something? Writing this diary about my cats was just as productive towards beating McCain in November (maybe more so) than the Democratic primaries - or at least the media's coverage of them - over the last month and a half.
