Girl on Fire: Cats are big, but fun, responsibilities

[As seen in Creston News Advertiser, September 4, 2014]

For those who don’t know yet, I recently got a cat. He’s a black and white thing, about a year and a-half old, and is named Pawter (since I’m a big Harry Potter nerd and love puns).

He’s definitely good to have around the house, now that I live in the country, because he was a farm cat before he became mine and likes chasing mice. But, like I said in my previous column, he’s definitely a responsibility.

Pawter, like all cats, is automatically a responsibility because he needs fed and watered, and his litter changed often. Also, like other cats his age, he’s still young and requires so much exercise.

During my week-long vacation in August, I took him with me to visit my parents in Centerville. Somehow I had managed to talk my mom Karen into letting the cat sleep inside, even though she only ever allowed our dog inside during the winter months.

Pawter had a blast, spending the day with my mom and exploring the two-story house complete with nooks and crannies for him to get lost in. Even though she will probably deny it, I think my mother grew attached to the little guy, and even calls him her grandson.

Most nights, he decides to play with his catnip birds, running up and down the hallway and jumping on and off the bed every minute or so. Then, most mornings, he wakes me up well before my alarm buzzes by nipping at my toes and climbing all over my face. It’s wonderful, since I don’t need lots of sleep anyway.

Pawter also likes chasing bugs. At night, moths find some crack in my windowsill and flutter around the lights. The cat will stare at the ceiling, watching the bugs bump against it, and then jump up at them or climb on the dresser to get closer to them. I suppose for him, the dresser is like the stairway to a heaven filled with things to play with.

I’ve also recently discovered Pawter likes watching TV. The other night I turned on the movie Finding Nemo to fall asleep to, and woke up after an hour or so to Pawter laying on my feet staring at the vibrant colors flitting across the TV screen. I think he may want me to get a real fish one of these days.

Even though I grew up in the country with pets, none of our animals were strictly indoor pets. I’ve realized it’s different when you keep your pet inside: making sure he can’t get into anything dangerous to cats, keeping him clean and healthy and protecting things you don’t want him destroying.

Despite all the responsibilities though, I’d never want to give Pawter up.

Sidenote: I swear, I couldn’t come up with anything better write about and I didn’t want to be controversial this week, and that’s why my cat became the topic of the week. I am not a crazy cat lady. I swear.