Little people in fur coats

The lady from whom we adopted our cat looked devious enough to make David Copperfield look like honest Abe. She told us, "this little ball of fur is just one big bundle of fun. She'll be more fun when she gets fur." And the amazing part is that we believed her. Sure, a few weeks later, she had a little fuzz, but she wasn't any more fun. The only difference between then and now is the amount of destruction she causes. We still rue the day we adopted the little monster. As feline lovers say, cats are just little people in fur coats.

When we first brought her home, she was litter box trained. Sort of. After the first three accidents, we decided to lock her in the bathroom at night. Of course, SOMEONE had to leave the seat up. Apparently cats don't see as well in the dark as the experts claim. The next morning we had a very wet, stinky kitten. An easy explanation was immediately apparent, but an investigation is ongoing. Obviously even the fuzzy little people aren't always as observant as they need to be. As they say, cats are just little people in fur coats.

We named the cat "Tess" because Bessie is too traditional and Tessie sounds like a kind of axle grease. Anyway Tess loves to drink out of the faucet. She'll hop on the counter and meow and meow until someone comes and turns on the water. Even after we give her a drink, she will countinue to purr and rub against the faucet. A few months ago, after showing our off our cat's "drinking skills," a friend told us that letting cats drink out of the faucet allows them to get air bubbles in their stomach, which will eventually cause them to become sick. No worries we said. After all, she never gotten sick before. Apparently, my friend jinxed us. A few day later Tess left a gift for us at the top of the stairs. We haven't let her drink out of the faucet since. She didn't handle the withdrawal so well. Even now, she still sits on the counter staring at the silvery faucet. Apparently, even the fuzzy little people have trouble breaking addictions. As they say, cats are just little people in fur coats.

Although you wouldn't know from the outside of our house, our family is very big on Christmas decorating. We don't drown our yard in lights, but we do enjoy putting up our indoor decorating in celebration of Christ's birth. Apparently, Tess does not. On her first "decorating day" a few years ago, she watched in horror as we exchanged her soft couch blanket for a itchy Christmas quilt. We then moved her scratching post (which also happens to be our end table) and replaced it with our tree. On top of that, we took away her favorite blue food dish and put a snowman bowl in its place. Happy with our work, (and completely oblivious to our cat's malcontent) we high-fived one another and went to bed. That night we awoke to the crash of a falling Christmas tree. After turning on the lights, we realized how unhappy our kitty was with the new house arrangments. After much careful cleaning up of the broken ornaments, torn garland and chewed snowmen, we went back to bed. We decided to give kitty her way, and we did not replace any of the Christmas decorations that year (with the exception, of course, of the tree).

Yesterday was "decorating day." Last night the Tess confusion returned to our otherwise peaceful household. You can fill in the blanks. After much careful cleaning up of the broken glass balls, torn tree beads, and chewed angels, we realized that tolerance, would not come with our cat's maturity. Tomorrow we plan to replace the broken Christmas decorations, although we will probably keep the three wise men high on the mantel, and the snowmen and angels out of her reach. Even the fuzzy little people need to learn to accept change. As they say, cats are just little people in fur coats.

My family has learned a lot from Tess's mistakes. Even the fuzzy little people aren't perfect.