Fur Daughters: Aurora and Jasmine

Really, I should have stopped with just two cats. Two cats is the perfect number. But of course, two wasn't enough, and so soon there were three. Aurora is an F6 silver spotted bengal cat from my good friend Karen Soeteber.

Aurora was nothing like Athena and Gaia. Even as a kitten she was extremely dominant - a trait she's maintained to this day. At 5 years old, Aurora is 12 pounds and a total mama's girl. She's the only one of my cats that truly seems jealous of the baby, and if we forget to close the door to his bedroom she will sneak in there and meow as loudly as possible until Aidan wakes up and starts wailing. I can't fathom why she does this except that she finds it amusing. It's like having an eternal toddler living in the house who can and does get into everything. Aurora is by far the smartest and the naughtiest of my fur daughters. She can open all the doors and knows just how to get our attention when she feels ignored. She gets on my nerves sometimes, but I love her all the same. She's cuddled with me every chance she gets, and usually ignores everyone else (unless they have food, of course). She also owns everything in the house...except the ottoman, which clearly belongs to Athena. I, of course, own nothing.

You can imagine her annoyance when I got a laptop, and Chad got a flat screen monitor. No more heating pad to sleep on (aka SRT monitor)! Fortunately (for them) all the cats have recently discovered just how warm the top of the fish tank is, and we gave up trying to keep them off (pick your battles, right?). During the winter they also spend a good amount of time on top of the fireplace.

And last but certainly not least is Jazzy Jasmine, the cat I'm not supposed to have :). Jazzy is a silver marble bengal cat who's so far removed from her ALC heritage I can't even count the Fs, and is also from Karen. Jazzy is unique in many ways: she is my only cat with the marbled pattern, and she is the only cat I obtained with the explicit intent of breeding.

Jazzy is as submissive as Aurora is dominant (they are actually related: niece/aunt). When she first arrived, all the cats went into their normal hissy fit and I was bogged down in preparation for it to last at least a month, as it had with prior additions. Within two days it became clear, though, that Jazzy was very, very different. Jazzy is one of those pure soul beings incapable of any unkind thoughts. When the other cats would hiss at her, she would just purr and rub against them. "I'm so cute and sweet, surely you must all love me". And more quickly than I could have ever imagined, they did.

When Jazzy was a bit over a year old we sent her out to stud for a week, and fortunately for us, she came back pregnant! Her six kittens were some of the most fun I've had. They were born in May 2006 right in time for my birthday, and by September they were all sold and in their new homes. I still get e-mails from kitten buyers on occasion and love hearing how well everyone is doing. I loved raising kittens but Chad did not. He did have a valid point, though: our townhouse is tiny, so there's really no escape from the cats when there are so many (4 adults + 6 kittens = 10 cats in my house). Part of me would love to do it again some day...but that day will not come for a LONG time. In the meantime, I am happy with my four fur daughters.

One final note about Jazzy: technically, she was supposed to be rehomed when I was done breeding her. This was an agreement Chad and I originally made before she came home. Maybe I would have rehomed her, but she's such a sweet cat that I just couldn't bring myself to part with her. She never causes any trouble in the house, so Chad agreed that she could stay. I do feel badly that I let her get terribly overweight after she was spayed, but we're working on that now! She was up to 13 pounds (which is HUGE on the frame of a cat that was 8 pounds when she got pregnant), but we have her down to about 10.5 pounds now, and she's doing really well on her diet. I hope to get her to at least the 9 pound mark, but we'll see. My neighbors joked that she had postpartum depression from missing her kittens. I think she just enjoyed all her gourmet meals and didn't want to give them up. C'est la vie.

We actually put everyone on a diet here, which didn't make them too happy...but they're healthier for it and making due. Trust me kitties, I know how you feel!

So there you have it: my four furdaughters! I love them like my own kids and wouldn't part with them for anything! I do feel a bit bad that they haven't gotten as much attention as they're used to since Aidan was born, but I fully intend to rectify that this summer. Come hell or high water, they're getting their outdoor playpen this year!

Next up...Aidan Ryan, the fiery little king himself!