Day 9: Yes, please!

I just read the topic for Day 9 and it goes a little something like this: Talk about your pets, past and present, or the ones you'd like to have.

My reaction?

ARE YOU KIDDING ME!? THIS MUST BE MY LUCKY DAY! I COULD WRITE 17420946420980 POSTS ABOUT MY KITTIES!!!!

And then I regained my composure and decided maybe I should clean up the cat vomit in the living room before I started on this topic. Too much info? To be fair, I mentioned in a previous post that I would save my cats and their vomiting habits for a different day...and this sure seems like the perfect opportunity!!

Just kidding. I won't overshare in this department. But they do vomit a lot. I think it's God's way of preparing me for my eventual motherhood (of humans).

Serious Cat and Mr. Pickles. Those are my babies. Serious Cat is all business, all the time...unless someone has a hair tie, twist tie, or a bottle cap. Then he is a full-on lovin' machine who can't get enough human contact. Until he gets his toy. Which will eventually end up in the water dish. He has also recently gained a TON of weight...probably putting him around 22-ish pounds. I don't know for certain because we don't have a scale, but gauging how fat Mr. Pickles used to be and how much HE weighed...I think Serious Cat wins.

Mr. Pickles is a little more complicated feline. He used to be FAT. Like...really fat. That was back when the fabulous Edgells lived with me back in Kentucky and we had a 4 cat circus in the house. Mr. Pickles didn't care for the hilarity of the circus, however, and let us know it by developing a habit of overeating. Granted, the 2 self-feeders probably didn't help, but really...have you ever seen a cat with jowls? Or neck rolls? Or a cat that was so ashamed of his weight that he hid behind sheer curtains?

Let's just say that his weight dropped dramatically when the Edgells moved away (sad panda) and he stopped eating ALL THE TIME. But that's also when he started vomiting a lot, so I'm not sure if he just became bulimic to deal with his weight issues or what. Either way, he slimmed down dramatically. And his disposition is much brighter, too.

My babies are natives of Clarksville, Tennessee. They are litter-mates, and were born 3.5 years ago. Mr. Pickles originally belonged to Jess Bray and Serious Cat belonged to me, but with the departure of Jess Bray to Afghanistan and my multiple moves, we realized that the cats probably could never handle being separated. In fact, I think they'd probably spontaneously combust from the stress and anxiety. Mr. Pickles is definitely still Jess's cat though, he is all over him the second he sits down in our house. He loves him. Kind of like how he feels about pink blanket.

They are BFFs to the extreme. We're pretty sure they were weaned too young, because they used to suckle on each other alllllllllll the time. It was gross. And hilarious. But they've outgrown that habit, and tend to just lay around in very inappropriate positions together these days. Or, my personal favorite, when Serious Cat sits in the arm chair like he's a person...with his arm propped up on the rest and everything. I have photo evidence of it around here somewhere that I'll post soon. (EDIT: Here it is. Thanks, Jessica!)

They are my babies and my pals. They have been with me during the three most important years of my life. They have seen me through breakups, breakdowns, new beginnings, sad endings, new relationships, and life changing events. They have joined me in joining a new family. They have accompanied me with every change in the past few years in an ever-so-supportive way that only pets can manage. The thought of anything bad happening to them can bring me to instant tears. And they are great road trip companions.

I miss them when I'm not home.

It's quite possible that this entire post makes me sound like a Crazy Cat Lady, but maybe I just don't care. Now, please excuse me while I go clean up more vomit.

(You have to admit, they must be pretty awesome cats if I accept the vomiting and incessant torrents of shedding so easily)