For Obvious Reasons

Cats are quirky.

I get that.

Being a feline aficionado for pretty much, well, forever - I totally know that cats are very unpredictable, quirky and even a bit wild...especially when still in their "kitten" stage.

But...THIS cat...ACK. He's driving us totally crazy.

If you remember back, from this blog entry, we somewhat became the proud (???) parents of this cat when he decided that he belonged to us and no one else and followed us home from a walk in the woods by our house. Sometimes that happens...when the animal decides who his "people" will be, and that's that.

And it's funny...because when it's the ANIMAL who decides...then the people aren't changing it...no matter how hard they may try, as we've found out.

We initially named him "Shadow" - as he constantly shadows us as we meander through the house...but thinking that we couldn't keep him, due to three other pets in the house, we looked into getting Shadow a new home.

We first gave him to my sister and her family, who promptly renamed him "Truman" (after the University of Missouri's mascot) - and then promptly returned him. It appears sister's Hubby is deathly allergic to cats...huh. Who knew? Apparently not them.

So Shadow/Truman came back to our house, where he stayed until September...at which time, my son decided that Shadow/Truman would make a good pet in his apartment at college. So Shadow/Truman went off to college, where he was renamed "Velcro" (for obvious reasons) by my son and his roommates.

Unfortunately, it appears that one of the roommates is deathly allergic to cats, so Shadow/Truman/Velcro was back home - with us - by Thanksgiving.

At this point, I renamed him "Boomerang" - due to obvious reasons...as we can't seem to get rid of this darned cat. He keeps coming back.

He really is a sweetheart...but he's extremely ornery - to the point where it drives us CRAZY. He's extremely curious, and intelligent, and energetic, and sociable...and when you put that all together, combined with his young age, it just leads to disasters. So much so, that Hubby recently renamed him "Mayhem" - for obvious reasons, of course.

Yesterday was a particularly wild day for Shadow/Truman/Velcro/Boomerang/Mayhem...last night, Hubby decided that perhaps he should be renamed "F5" - as in an F-5 tornado... but at this point, I don't think the cat particularly cares what he's called - and really, what cat does? This poor cat probably thinks his name is "NO!!!" because that's pretty much all he hears...for obvious reasons.

So...anyway...it looks like when this cat chose us as his people...it was a lifetime commitment...and he's here to stay.

The other day, I gave him a stern look and said, "We'll eventually settle on a permanent name for you, once YOU decide to eventually settle down and start behaving."

He yawned...and then went off to look for more trouble. I'm not sure if he gives a darn...for obvious reasons....

Peace.