Will and Grace

For one reason or another, it just never seemed to happen -- the time wasn't right, too much was going on around here, it wasn't "kitten season" (generally the spring), etc.

Finally in summer of 2000 I decided that once and for all, I was going to have a cat.  I made a trip to Petsmart in early August 2000 and bought all the supplies -- food, litter box, litter, carrier, and a few toys.

Next part was to actually get a cat.  I called home and asked if Mom knew of anyone that had kittens.  She asked around at church, and got back to me that one of the members had a few kittens they were trying to get rid of.

So Labor Day weekend 2000 I made a trip home, cat carrier in tow, with the intent of checking out the kittens and possibly bringing one back to Philadelphia.

Back in my home town, my parents own several apartments.  As it happens when you're a landlord, it becomes necessary to evict tenants.  Shortly before my return home that weekend, my parents had evicted a set of tenants from the apartment that we as a family had lived in for several years when I was a kid.

Sometime on that Friday, I arrived home.  I'm not sure of the exact timing, but basically, one of the neighbors discovered that there were two kittens in the basement of the apartment.  Dad immediately went down to the apartment and brought them back to our house.

What he brought home were two very small kittens -- a boy and a girl -- they couldn't have been more than a month old and they were starving.  Mom and I immediately fed them milk with eyedroppers.  They were so hungry and adorable!

The debate of course now began as to what to do with the kittens.  I knew that I wanted a kitten, but I didn't want one that was so young, nor did I want two of them.  A kitten that is only a month old still needs its mother, so I would have to devote a lot of time to it.  I thought about taking just one of them, but I couldn't bear the thought of separating the two.

As I warmed up to the idea of having two kittens, I was still reluctant to have them both because they were so young.  I thought maybe Mom could take care of them for a month or so, and then I could come back and get them.

Heh.  So I thought.  Mom said she wouldn't have the time to take care of them, and that I should just take them.

Ok fine.  As I thought more about it, I began to realize that it would probably only be a hassle for a couple of weeks.  I live pretty close to work, and it wouldn't be too much of a problem to run home once during the day to take care of the kittens.

That settled, I had to come up with names for them.  Originally, I had wanted to get an orange cat and name him "Simba" (no... not Tigger as you might think :), but now I had to come up with names for both.

I went through several possibilities... and finally it occurred to me... my current favorite TV show!

And thus, 'Will' and 'Grace' entered my life.

The first couple of weeks were a lot of work.  Will and Grace were only about four weeks old, which really isn't old enough to be away from a mother cat.  They needed to feed and nurse more frequently than an older kitten as well as they couldn't eat solid food just yet.  In the mornings I would feed them with an eyedropper, go to work, come home for lunch, feed them again, go back to work, after work I'd feed them again, have my own dinner, and feed them once again before bed.

Eventually I could feed them some solid food and not have to run home and feed them mid-day.  Also as they got older they started to explore more and more of the apartment.  At first, I confined them to the kitchen.  Next they could wander around the downstairs, and eventually they learned to climb stairs and could go wherever they wanted.

Will is the orange and white tabby.  He is a BIG cat.  He's 15 pounds compared to his 9-pound sister.  He constantly chases her around the apartment, and he can be a bit of a goof.  He's not big on sitting on my lap, but he likes to be close by.  Will's favorite toy is the plastic ring off of a milk container.  Whenever I open the fridge, Will is usually there, hopeful that I'll have a toy for him.  Will also has a strange fascination with the toilet.  He will sit on the lid and stare at the tank.  Will also likes to walk in between the shower curtains while I'm taking a shower.

Grace is the gray tortoiseshell.  While Grace looks mostly gray from a distance, close up you can see that she has a fair amount of white and orange in her fur.  Grace is a total Attention Whore.  She loves to sit in my lap, or right in front of me when I'm working at my desk.  She also tries to bat at the mouse pointer on the screen.  Grace's favorite toy is a small fabric ball that is full of crinkly plastic.  She likes to play "fetch" with it.  Grace will drop the ball next to or behind my chair, and then she will meow or purr or jump on me or claw at the chair to get my attention so that I will throw it so she can chase it.  Just like a dog she will retrieve it, drop it, and want me to throw it again.

Both cats are extremely friendly, and love to check out visitors.  They are not the kind of cats who run and hide when new people come to the apartment.  Though Grace has to make up her mind first that she wants to check someone out.

Ah... but listen to me gush on :-)  Anyways, they're my babies, and I love them dearly.

For more pictures of my cats, check out Pictures - Pets.