My Cat Has the Heebie - Jeebies

Do you have cats living with you? We do - we have two cats who have graciously allowed us to open our homes to them. Romeo was rescued from our local dump when he was about 5 weeks old, in April 2006. We brought him home, fed him from a bottle, and watched in amazement as he grew...and grew...and grew.... He is now the size of a small panther. Seriously. He's a black-and-white tuxedo cat with a very 'confused' personality. The problem is, when Romeo was a kitten, his only "role model" was our dog, a Shih-Tzu, named Cocoa. Romeo now thinks he is a dog - he has no idea how cats are supposed to behave. Our vet has called him a "puppy-cat" - I just think he's very, very brain-damaged.

Our second cat, Juliet (duh!), was rescued from a Kohl's parking lot in June 2006 - she was about 6-8 weeks old at the time. She's a beautiful gray tabby/persian mix - her fur feels like velvet. I don't know if having to survive in a concrete jungle of a parking lot at the tender age of 2 months old was easy or not - but whatever the case, she is the most jumpy, skittish cat there ever was. 

After much observation of my cats and my dog, I have come to the conclusion that if I were to ever be reincarnated, I want to come back as a cat. They have it made....don't they? Sleep...eat...yawn....poop...sleep some more....eat some more.... Day after day after day. They don't have to wag their tails when they see you; they don't have to sit up, beg, or roll over to get treats. They just have to "be". How easy is that??!! 

Unintentionally, though, Romeo has become somewhat of a clown. Last night, he went into one of his periodic, sporadic "heebie-jeebie" attacks - as I call them. He was chasing and pouncing on....nothing. Nada. Zip. Nothing there - but you would have thought he had cornered the world's juiciest, tastiest mouse. He's pouncing - he's chasing - he's swatting - at...nothing. Then, he'd look over at us to see if we were watching him, and to make sure we were making all of the appropriate admiring "ooh's and ah's" so he'd know we were proud of him. Which of course, we did - in between all of the howling with laughter that we were doing and not letting him see. It was freakin' funny. 

They say that if you pet or stroke a dog or a cat, your blood pressure lowers...animals are actually good for your health. I don't know if that's true or not, but I do know we, as a family, get a lot of enjoyment out of our pets. Besides the laughter and love they bring, they sometimes remind us that all we really need to do is just slow down...and simply "be".

Be sure to do your part today to save the world - one act at a time, one day at a time.

Peace.