Scrabble, the Cat-Dog

Scrabble is another addition that was not wanted by the hubs. There appears to be a trend.

We were a month out from our wedding and stopped by the barn where we kept our then TWHs (long story on those) to get an RSVP from the BO. When we pulled into the drive we were met with a sickly little black and white kitty.

He came running over to the truck and I grabbed him up. He was about 8 weeks old and had a nasty upper respiratory infection. One look at my face and poor Dusty knew he was screwed.

Scrabble came to live with him and then us when we got married a month later.

We already had Smokey at the time and she was terrorizing the only cat Dusty has ever really loved - his blind long haired grey kitty Anakin. Ani wasn't much for playing and Smokey was, so Scrabble actually really helped out a lot. He was just about Smokey's age too and the two of them became good friends.

Scrabble has always been more like a dog than a cat. He is the first, and most days the only, member of the household that meets me at the door when I come home. In fact he greets everyone happily.

He loves to snuggle, but only stays for a short period before he moves off of you and prefers to sit next to you rather than on you. He is amicable with everyone he meets, human and animal, and will follow me around the house all day long.

If I go outside, he will be in the window of whatever room overlooks me. He really is my best bud.

Scrabble always has been obese. We put him on a diet and restrict his intake and yet he still gets fat. He will always be fat. It annoys Dusty to no end.

He is an easy going guy who doesn't know how to hold a grudge. If you ignore him he just waits patiently for his turn later on. He has chosen me as his human friend and is always within eyesight. He could care less about Dusty, but will use him for company if I am gone.

He waits for me in bed when Dusty and the dogs get up with Wyatt in the morning and joins me in the shower as well.

He really is a great cat. He is neutered and declawed. Before anyone goes off on me about the horrors of declawing your cat, understand that I fully know what it means, how it is done and what the complications can be. He had no signs of pain and was back to the litter box and running around like an idiot the following day. He got declawed because even with tons of scratching posts, other cats and a dog to play with and trimming his nails on a regular basis he decided that absolutely shredding the furniture was the only thing that would do. It was declaw or get rid of the cat.

He is about to turn 12 as well this year and is mostly doing very well. He has one non functioning and atrophied kidney and had an infection earlier this spring in the other that made me fearful for his life, but he came back quickly and vibrantly. Scrabble is such a constant in my vision daily that his brief time spent in the hospital on fluids made me very aware of how vital he is to my every day life.