Desktop Kitties

A friend has alerted me to a new product that is tailor-made for Cat Ladies who office at home, either permanently or from time to time. The company Opulent Items has introduced a desktop cat bed, pictured here. The product’s tagline reads, “Your cat rests while you work,” which makes perfect sense given the way the feline world works.

Much as I am intrigued by this product, I need to consult my checkbook. At $40 a pop, I’m looking at an investment of $240 to buy six cat beds. I wouldn’t want any one of our cats at home to become jealous, and I have a very strong suspicion that Lucius would hop from cat bed to cat bed, making sure that he observes me from every possible angle.

Maybe there is another manufacturer on the market that can meet my specific needs. What I have in mind is a single tower that holds six beds at varying heights. The effect would be similar to that of this exquisite work from the museum’s collection of Indian art. Yes, that’s it, a kitty version of Shiva Nataraja! And just like the figure that is the Hindu temple sculpture, I would perform a blissful dance, grateful for pleasing my charges.

Query of the Day: Would you read product reviews by this Cat Lady?

Still Life with Champagne and Cat Chow

As we were ringing in a new year at Catland, I found myself wondering whether cats, like humans, make resolutions for health and prosperity.

For instance, did Lucius vow to wean himself of neediness, to be less demanding in his senior years? Did L.B. say, “I’ll lose 11 pounds in 2011”? Did Alvar take a deep breath and promise to befriend Lucius? And so on and so forth.

This still life with champagne and cat chow will not win an award for artistry, but I like the composition for this simple reason: I am reminded of who I was, and of who I have become. In the B.C. days, I had more time to attend art-gallery and exhibition openings, where champagne and other forms of bubbly were poured freely. In my current state of being, as Cat Lady, I am like the waiter at those art events from ten years ago, passing the hors d’oeuvres and checking attentively on refills—only my “customers” are cats.

Sitting at our kitchen counter on New Year’s Eve, surrounded by the cats’ plates and bowls of food, made me appreciate even more the basic necessities of life. Yes, like most people, I get a kick from champagne, but it is a luxury, after all. The love and companionship of our felines is an indispensable daily pleasure.

Query of the Day: Do you keep ample inventory of Piper-Heidsieck and Purina?

To All the Cats I've Loved Before

I never dreamed, way back when in 2000, that by the year 2010, I would be living with ten cats. I also never imagined that I would have the privilege of rescuing another seven cats, or that I would reunite a lost cat with his owner, or that I would introduce a cat in need to a couple that did not know they needed a cat to complete their perfect family.

During the past ten years, I have relied on a simple mathematical formula: One person rescues one cat equals magic, fireworks, connections! There is nothing like the warm body of a cat to bring comfort during the cold, and there is nothing like the cool sensibility of a cat to warm the heart.

To all the cats I’ve loved before—and with apologies to Julio Iglesias—I’m yours!

Here’s to another feline-filled year.

Query of New Year’s Eve: Do you plan to expand your feline family in 2011?

Great Expectations

The look in his eyes said it all: I found my forever home.

This is a heartwarming tale about a cat named Bleu, and I like to think that Charles Dickens might be smiling in heaven when he reads my version of Great Expectations.

I first met Bleu this past February, shortly after I rescued a stray cat whom I named Saint (for the Super Bowl-champion New Orleans Saints: Go Saints Go!). Dr. O.’s clinic generously agreed to let me board Saint until she was adopted. Every day after work I visited Saint, who was perched in her “cage/suite” above Bleu’s. There I was, cooing over Saint and working with her to rebuild her trust in humans, and there was Bleu, rattling the door of his cage as if to ask: Will you take care of me, too?

Saint was adopted within a month, and as I returned to Dr. O.’s clinic regularly during the spring and summer and fall to purchase Lucius’s much-needed meds (kitty Prozac, anyone?), I noticed that Bleu was always there, looking forlornly at me.

So when this December rolled around, I thought I would try to make Bleu's Christmas dream come true. My friend and colleague Emily happened to mention that she and her family were fostering a stray cat. I had to pounce. I suggested to Emily that if she was ever interested in adopting a cat for her two sons, I knew of an orphan who desperately needed a home. And several weeks later, Emily writes with absolute authority that Bleu—renamed Blue to reflect her and her husband's long-standing Texas roots—is resting very comfortably while “negotiating” territory with their Corgi. I was not surprised to learn that Blue responds to affection and is so appreciative of attention. Apparently, he likes to tickle the ivories, too.

I love this photo of Blue leaving Dr. O.’s clinic to embark on his next stage of life. He has great expectations of his future, and I am a grateful Cat Lady for the kindness shown to him.

Merry Christmas to all kitties and Cat Ladies, and to all a good night!

Query of Christmas Eve: Blue, can you play "Blue Christmas" for me?

Those Were the Days

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care, in hopes that Cat Lady would soon be there.

Santa has nothing over me. He arrives only once a year, whereas I make my presence known to our ten cats 'round the clock. I ask you: Is there such a person as a non-omnipresent Cat Lady? I cannot imagine.

Catland is fully decorated for the holidays, and the countdown to December 25 has begun. Here is L.B. waiting eagerly by the Christmas tree for his gifts to arrive. Just a few more days! He and all of our cats know that there will be plenty of wrapping paper and ribbons and boxes to play with, and that this Cat Lady will be cleaning up for several hours after the gift-giving session. Kickoff occurs about 5:00 a.m.

And here is Lydia many years ago, when she liked to show off and race up the tree like an athlete carrying the Olympic torch to its final destination. Those were the days, my friend, when Lydia was young and super-energetic and fancy-free. I have to admit that I miss seeing her swing from the tree's branches like a monkey, although I do not find myself reminiscing about watching our hand-picked collection of vintage ornaments fall to the floor, one by one.

Query of the Day: How long does it take your cats to reach the top of your holiday tree?

Birds of a Feather

Much as I wish I could, I can’t feed every stray cat I see, and I am always saddened when I find evidence in our backyard that a cat has made a bird its prey. But some fine-art birds are meant to be captured, and was it only two weeks ago that bibliophiles were still stalking an original edition of John James Audubon’s Birds of America, yearning to bring home one of the most coveted rare-book trophies in the world?

Audubon’s book has now entered the annals of auction history, with the final gavel price of $11.5 million. Going, going, gone! Meanwhile, the stray cats in our neighborhood keep coming, walking up and down the streets in search of sustenance of the feathered kind. I see a grey tomcat making the daily rounds, as well as a tortoiseshell who arrives for nocturnal visits. The scruffy felines may lack the glamour of the hedge-fund managers or retail heiresses or wealthy Russian and Japanese collectors who were purportedly bidding on the Audubon book, but, just like art collectors, these cats do know how to hunt, very well, and in secrecy.

Part of the value of the Audubon book was determined by its scarcity. For the cats forced to live as orphans on my and neighboring streets, the scarcity of food is simply a fact of life, not a thrill. Yet for both hungry cats and the avaricious winning bidder of Audubon’s masterpiece, birds are a status symbol. I know what happens to birds trapped by cats, but I wonder whether the proud new owner of the Audubon will ever release his birds from his treasure trove.

Query of the Day: Does your cat suffer from ruffled-feather syndrome?

Barbie Vet

When I was a little girl, which was a very, very long time ago, I loved to play with my Barbie dolls. I collected several Barbies, and I enjoyed dressing them in their different (and, now that I think about it, “out there”) outfits. I can’t remember Barbie resembling a career woman, at least based on the wardrobe choices available in the 1960s. There were no power suits back then.

Enter 2010, and here comes Barbie the veterinarian, scrubs and accessories included. My husband and I recently bought Barbie Vet for our niece, whose fraternal twin prefers Thomas the Tank Engine. Getting back to Barbie, what else would a Cat Lady choose as the perfect gift for a four-year-old girl who loves kitty cats?

Barbie Vet is packaged with a plastic kitten who meows on cue. I wonder if I had been given my very own Barbie Vet in my youth, would I have gravitated sooner to a life consumed with cats?

Query of the Day: What do you think of Barbie Vet?