 |
| Meet Kira. She is beautiful, wild, and an incredible huntress. (Photo by Esther Bouchard) |
We got her as an 8 week old kitten two years ago in May. It was to help satisfy my ever-stronger growing urge to be a mommy. It lasted about 7 months. :) But, it was actually a huge step for us. We had been married almost 5 whole years, without ever committing to the care an animal requires. Having a pet is a big commitment, so we finally took the plunge. On top of that, Andrew is quite allergic to cats. Yup. Itchy eyes, runny nose, sneezing constantly, the whole nine yards. So even though I really liked cats, I had resigned myself to the fact that we would never own one.
As it so happens, a few of the staff members at the center we work at are also allergic to cats, but had noticed that when they got a kitten, they seemed to grow accustomed to that one cat's dander, and didn't have any problems with their cat - that they raised from a kitten. This happened in two particular households, so we thought maybe it would work (though Andrew was very doubtful).
Then, our friends' daughter got a kitten, and we were informed there were more available..... They kindly offered to keep our kitten, if after a couple months, Andrew didn't adjust to it. Okay, he agreed.
BUT, Andrew said, we would get a male (cheaper to get fixed), AND, I had to agree to a set price he named that if it were to need medical help (say, a surgery or something), we would put it down instead of spending that amount of money. I practically cried just thinking about it, but, okay, it was reasonable enough. After all, I can barely count the number of cats I had growing up that either were hit by a car, disappeared, or were probably eaten by a larger species of the cat family that roamed the hills near my home. The length of a cat's life can be quite unpredictable.
The terms were set. We had a backup plan in place. Off we went, to pick out our kitty. There were 5 left. I didn't even look at the females, because getting a male was one of the conditions. I was trying to decide which of the two were cuter, when Andrew comes over with a little female kitty. She's snuggled up in his hand, looking absolutely adorable. He holds her up, "Let's get this one!" "Um, but it's a girl." "Yeah, I know, let's get her!" That's about how it went.
Here she is riding home in his lap.
She pretty much became a daddy's girl right away. I could never get her to sleep in my lap; however, she had no problems snuggling up with Andrew. That is, when she wasn't running and jumping and playing like crazy. She's always been extremely active.
She has also become our cat-dog. She knows her name. She is very aware of what "No" means. She comes when we whistle. She does multiple tricks for food. She goes on walks with us, staying close by the entire way. She loves to ride along when we go canoeing or kayaking. She sleeps in her basket each night,
all night.
Though she doesn't snuggle much, she loves to be around people, be scratched under her chin, and in the mix of what's happening. She is often purring.
 |
| A quiet, cuddly moment. Rare, but lovely. (Photo by Esther Bouchard) |
Kira lost her purr when Isaiah arrived. For six long weeks, she didn't make a sound, no matter what I tried to do. I think she was depressed. Or at least certainly not handling the change in our family well. Suddenly she got a lot less attention. I felt pretty sad for her, in the rare moments during Isaiah's first few weeks of life that I even remembered we had a cat....
Around six or eight weeks, she perked back up and went back to her normal purring self. She doesn't pay Isaiah much attention, which is okay with us. She does seem to have become a bit more of a trouble maker. Most parents childproof their house/cabinets from their kids. We are having to childproof the house from our cat. :)
Even though she's no longer the center of our attention, we do love Kira, and she is indeed--and will remain--the 4th member of our little family.
