CoD V2.0: Cats!

I don't believe I've written anything about my cats yet. It would seem that I've become one of those famous 'cat-ladies', except i'm not a lady, and only have two cats. It all started innocently enough- i went to Tim's house one day, and learned that the village children had found a little kitten in the bush near Tim's house, where they were playing. At the time both we (the guys) and the girls were having rat problems, and were, in fact, in dire need of a cat. Well, being all gentlemanly, biased and partial, the Tanners offered the girls the cat, which Monica promptly adopted naming her Kili, short for Kilimanjaro.
Not to be outdone, I determinedly set forth for above mentioned tall grass intent on finding a kitten of my own. It seems I was determined enough, and found Kili's brother, a little lost kitten (which we later figured must have been around three weeks old at the time, same litter as Kili), which I even-more-promptly-than-Monica adopted and named Macavity (or Mac for short), after TS Elliott's mystery cat, a poem which no North American person I've yet met (including an English teacher) seems ever to have heard of, more's the pity.

Well, between keeping this kitten warm at night (he was determined not to sleep in his nice box, and would only sleep snuggled up against me), feeding him homemade kitten formula through a dropper till he learned to eat solids, and having him follow me around everywhere for a few months, we developed a bit of a tight bond, and Mac became more than just a walking mouse-trap, he became a full-fledged pet!

Seeing the success we had with our kittens (which wasn't very evident at the time, the average rat could've had Mac for dinner and asked for more), the Couches got a cat from a family in the neighbouring village too, which they named Ne-ema (Swahili for Grace). Sadly, they had to leave shortly thereafter, so I inherited Ne-ema, found out he was really male (Ne-ema is a female name), and changed his name to Piper, for various reasons. So I have two cats now! Mac must be around seven and a half months old, and Piper around ten months now, and after the initial jitters, hissing, batting, scratching, posturing, chasing, tumbling, growling and hitting, (which they didn't really mean) they now get along great!


The rat deterrent worked! Our home is not only rat-free, but it's also kept clear of lizards, roaches, mice, bats and small birds. As an added bonus, i have two furry blobs to keep my feet warm on cold nights...