Family Matters

Okay, so I'm a proud 'parent.' I have four wonderful 'kids' that bring so much happiness into my life. I'm speaking of my four cats, Martha, Riko, Cinnamon, and Sirius.

Martha is the queen of the household. She was born in a horse barn and absolutely hated being outdoors. Our friends Charlie and Laurie would do their very best to keep Martha outside (where they thought she belonged) but she wasn't having any part of it. During a visit, Martha came right to me and batted her beautiful eyes. I scooped her up into my arms and the rest is history. I knew I had to have this cat!

Riko is a rescue cat. He was one of the first 'residents' of Friends of Michigan Animals Rescue when the rescue was still operated out of the home of Pete and Marcy LaFramboise. (my in-laws) Riko had a pretty rough childhood until he was brought to the rescue. He lived in the engine of an old van. The owners of the van decided to do some work and make the van operational again only to find Riko living in the engine area. When they started the van, Riko was shaken and slightly injured. He was taken to the rescue to receive necessary medical attention and hopefully find a home. A home he did indeed find! He is the mirror image of my long time friend Spooky who was laid to rest after a brief battle with stomach cancer. Through his first year, Riko had several medical problems. He's now healthy, (you can see by his size he's a bit "too" healthy!) and living the good life.

Cinnamon was another rescue cat. She was born in a household of a woman that had well over 40 cats that she couldn't afford to take care of. Cinnamon (as well as most of the other 40) was rescued and she was very sick. She was very frail and had an awful eye infection that matted her eyes shut for weeks. I would go to the rescue and I could hold Cinnamon in the palm of my hand. She was so tiny. Pete and Marcy nursed her back to health and we adopted her into our home. Cinnamon had an eating disorder. She would literally eat anything and everything in sight. The Vet told us that it was her way of survival since she never knew if the food would be available again. She would go for days on end and not eat at her previous home. Being the weakest and smallest cat the others would push her out of the way and she would go hungry. She certainly isn't hungry any longer! She is now (along with Riko) on a weight management program to reduce the waistline a bit! She's a big girl but she's the most dainty cat I've ever met. She's quite a lady.

Sirius is the newest member of our family and he is the 'wild child.' He was born to a stray cat that was taken in and thought to be a male. (hmmmmmm) As the stray began to grow, it was realized that 'he' was a 'she' and 'she' was going to have a rather large litter of kittens. Indeed she did. She gave birth to six beautiful kittens who have all found homes through the animal rescue. Sirius is named obviously after the Sirius satellite radio. I had never dealt with newborn kittens before and used to call into Tracie Hotchner the host of "Cat Chat" on Martha Stewart Living Radio for advice. She walked me through the care of the kittens as they were growing up and getting of age to be taken to the rescue.

All of our kids have their own unique personalities. No two are alike! It does get a bit crowded in bed sometimes when everyone decides to grab a place on the bed to sleep! In their own way they like to 'help' us when we are working on a project around the house. Have you ever tried to paint and keep four cats out of the roller pan at the same time?! It can often be a challenge!

They each have their own stocking at Christmas and Santa is very good to them. We'll be adding a stocking for Sirius this year. Our first Christmas with him. This could be interesting with his energy level and a well decorated tree! You do the math. It's a recipe for potential disaster!