Wednesday, July 18, 2018

Meet Our Pets

When we were dating, Andrew reconciled himself to the fact that one day, we would own cats. Elizabeth has always loved animals: growing up, her family had dogs, cats, fish, a hermit crab, hamsters, a pet mouse, turtles, and birds. It was only a matter of time before we got pets as well. Andrew isn't a huge animal person, but he doesn't hate them, either. He was definitely not up for getting a dog, but cats were tolerable. Elizabeth was fine with this, as she has always preferred cats.

When we got ready to buy our first home, Elizabeth was on full speed "find my cat" mode. So when her mom's cat got pregnant, Elizabeth declared "first dibs" on her pick of the litter. Momma Kitty delivered her kittens April 17, 2015. Due to an unfortunate accident, only one of the kittens in her litter was born living. Elizabeth jumped in right away and named her Ayah (after looking up names that mean miracle - this one, apparently, is Arabic. We're pretty sure we're not pronouncing it correctly, but the meaning and intent are there).


Baby Ayah, 1 Week Old
Baby Meg, just over 1 Month Old
We bought our first home a month later. While waiting to turn in the keys for our last apartment, Elizabeth decided to browse a nearby pet store to waste time until she was supposed to meet the manager. While there, she saw another litter of kittens, two of which were calicos. Elizabeth is a HUGE sucker for calicos, and they were just so cute!! It took her two days to convince Andrew that two cats were better than one cat, and that it was a good idea for them to get one of the two calico kittens.

Although we technically "owned" Ayah first, the calico kitten was the first to come to our home. It took us longer to come up with her name than Ayah's. After the kitten climbed all over the David Weber section of our bookcase, Andrew suggested the name Megara, named after a character in one of the books that was named after one of the Greek Furies. We call her Meg for short.

The two kittens weren't so sure of each other at first (Meg was excited for a playmate, but Ayah wasn't having it) but are now close friends.



Friends



Ayah:

Ayah is basically our "dog cat". She loves belly rubs (forever and ever without biting or getting annoyed), is extremely friendly and sociable, is good with kids, has been trained to sit for treats, and enjoys playing fetch with small bells, tiny pom poms, or little toy mice. 





She can never get enough love or attention from other people. She loves making new friends when people come over, and is extremely curious and intelligent. Her preferred human is whomever is available to give her cuddles at any given moment.

She loves to chill with Andrew while he's reading, and has a weird thing about licking peoples' noses with her sandpapery tongue to show her affection.




Meg:

Meg is definitely the more "catty" of the two. She will deign to sit for treats, but makes it obvious that it's *her* idea and that you aren't able to boss her around. She is pretty sure she's the queen of the household, and we are the staff that keep her food bowl and water filled. She lets us know when we are failing at that job.







 She's very specific about who is allowed to love on her and when. Basically, she has to be the one to initiate it. When she does decide that she wants cuddles, though, she is SUPER cuddly and it's nearly impossible to shake her. Elizabeth is definitely her preferred human, but she will occasionally decide that she wants her cuddles from Andrew.






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