King Butterscotch

King Butterscotch

I posted before about Harvey, our newest staff member. He's been with us for just a few months. Butterscotch is at the other end of the spectrum. He has been with us for most of his ten years. Because of his seniority, he is the Cat in Charge; otherwise known as "the King," "His Majesty," or "Your Highness." He rules with a velvet paw, and most of the cat show due respect. Except Elizabeth, but she breaks all the rules. Butter is proud (in an "Aw, shucks" sort of way) and can be very affectionate when he deigns to cuddle with us mere humans. But he is also a "Cat of the people" and he gives us the benefit of his affection quite often. In fact, he is always ready for an audience with his poor human subjects whenever his is on one of his favorite thrones--either curled up on one of our beds, or in a chair, watching TV. His favorite cuddle time is when he wakes up from a nap. He looks for me with big sleepy eyes and churrs at me until I sit down and hold him on my lap until he is fully awake. Even the most powerful heads of state need a cuddle now and then!

Hello Harvey!

I awoke this morning to the sound of the alarm clock, and sat on the edge of the bed, trying to will myself to get up, dress, and do everything else I needed to do before I went downstairs to feed the cats. A little orange head popped under my arm and the little orange body followed, flowing into my lap; the whole thing preceded by an enormous purr. Harvey relaxed into my lap as if designed for it, and stared up at me with those enormous golden eyes. He was hungry, but in no hurry to get me downstairs; not if he could be petted and cuddled first.

Harvey is our newest “staff member.” That’s what we call the cats that we have adopted, or more to the point, have allowed us the honor of adopting them. Harvey came to us at the ripe old age of eight weeks. He’s a red tabby with white and he has a wonderful friendly, loving personality. In other words, he is absolutely adoptable—one of the easier-to-place cats. But at his first vet visit, Doc noticed something seriously wrong with his heart. He thought it unlikely that Harvey would live to adulthood. The tests that would show, definitively, what is wrong with his heart can’t be performed until he is six months old, and nobody could say, for sure, if he’d even live that long. Since we believe that every cat deserves a home, we decided to give him one.
People often ask us about that. “Don’t you want to keep them all?” No, we don’t. We already have four permanent feline members in our family, and they have put their paws down. NO MORE SIBLINGS. Yes, they do know the difference between cats who are adopted into the family and cats who are up for adoption. But Harvey had no place else to go, and being an affable little guy, they don’t seem to mind having him around. Now, regardless of what the tests show in another couple of months, he’s staying.

Update: In March, Harvey saw a veterinary cardiologist. We showed him the x-rays from December, and the heart was definitely enlarged. He gave Harvey an ECG, and found ABSOLUTELY NOTHING WRONG!! Harvey still gets sniffly and wheezy now and then, but it looks like he will have many healthy years ahead. Now we have to find a job for him. Let's see: Butterscotch is Head Cat. Elizabeth is in charge of Security. Morrow is our Assistant Adoption Coordinator. Halo is in Director of Hospitality. We'll make Harvey Chief of Public Relations. He is "purrfectly" suited for it.