Happy Birthday, Stanley!

 

 It has been a while since I last gave you an update on my sweet boy, Stanley, so I thought today, being his birthday, would be a good time. Today he is six years old. I am so happy that the last 4½ years of his life have been very good ones, and with me. As a dog person, owning a cat has been filled with a lot of surprises, and much delight. However, owning Stanley doesn’t make me feel as though I have truly owned a cat, because he’s very un-catlike in many ways. First of all, other than the bed, he never jumps up on anything. He will not get up on my lap, he will not allow me to pick him up, he flinches if I move too quickly, refuses to see anyone other than me (some people don’t believe I have a cat because they have never seen him), and totally freaks out if I yell at baseball. That is unfortunate, because I love yelling at baseball. Second, he refuses to play with any toys (trust me I have tried them all), and refuses to use any type of scratching post (we’re not going to talk about some of the furniture), with the exception of a circular rug that I have under the king chair in my bedroom that I decided to give to him to use on his claws. The rug was inexpensive, and it’s well worth it to me to have to replace it every couple of years so that he has something of his own.

He’s not all that enamored with poached chicken or salmon, but I can absolutely own him with a piece of cheese. He can be anywhere in the house, and all I have to do is open a package of cheese, and he is standing right next to me. He doesn’t get people food, mind you, but I do like to give him a treat on his birthday.

 

He does like to snuggle with me when I’m watching television. I will stretch out on the bed, and he will snuggle right up to me, insisting that I put both arms around him. If I don’t, he will reach out with his paw, grab it, and pull it towards him. He has brought me so much joy... and so much cat hair. That was a new experience for me, having only ever owned dogs. Cat hair has a life of its own. It’s so lightweight that it freely wafts through the air. It has also required the purchase of different types of cleaning equipment that I find I use regularly in order to keep things at bay. I don’t know how cat owners deal with all the cat hair, particularly if more than one cat is involved. Still, that’s a small price to pay for so much furry love.

Despite all of his strange little quirks, I know he is happy with me. It’s calm, and quiet, and he feels safe. This cat, whom the owners of the shelter told me was the type of cat likely to spend his entire life in a shelter because no one wanted to take a chance on such an abused creature has really been the one to rescue me.Happy Birthday, Stanley!