My New Royal Family

For a while now, my mom has been talking about getting a cat. I've never really known her to be a cat person, but her good friend Jinna started a cat rescue (called Purrfect Paws) a few years ago, and after several years of prodding from Jinna, Mom finally decided to adopt. On Sunday, she went to the rescue in Manhattan and brought home not one, but TWO cats!

Mom and Cliff had gone to Purrfect Paws with the intention of picking up Kingston, a cat Jinna had matched Mom up with months ago. However, when they got there, they also met Princess Patches, who was apparently a good friend of Kingston's. Cliff suggested that they should take Princess home as well since the kitties liked each other so much, and Mom agreed, although she sounded a little unsure about the decision when she called and left me a message later that evening! Kingston is a pretty young cat--only about 16 months old--but mom says he's very calm. She has no idea how old Princess is because she forgot to ask and never planned on taking her home in the first place.

While I know that cats aren't nearly as time consuming as dogs, I still worry that my mother has bitten off more than she can chew. Since she is still commuting from Topeka to Emporia State almost every day, she is generally very tired (who wouldn't be?) and doesn't have a lot of spare time on her hands!

Honestly, while I'm trying to get excited about the new family additions, I'm not really a cat person at all. I try to like them, but inevitably, as soon as I start holding or petting a cat, they turn around and bite me. I don't like it so much. Cat owners tell me that's normal, but I can't quite see how that behavior is appealing in a pet. It also frustrates me that you can't really train a cat to stay off of the furniture and countertops. At our friends Bill and Lindsay's last weekend, their cat Harry jumped on the kitchen counter like 5 times trying to get the pizza that was sitting there! He didn't really care how many times he got yelled at and thrown off (and he didn't really care that it hurt when he bit me later in the evening!).

Despite the fact that I'm obviously not a cat person, I'm definitely going to give my new feline "siblings" (they are my mom's kids, you know) a chance. Hopefully soon I can get over to Topeka to visit the pair--I'm looking forward to meeting them (and hopefully liking them) and taking some pictures!