Pritty Little Kitty!

      Hi all! Alix here. Two cats came with Kenilworth when we bought it. At first, they are just Black Cat and Rico. Way too plain, in all our opinions! Now we have Totorico (you say “toto” really fast and then, without a pause in between, you say “rico”). Totorico’s nicknames are Toto, Rrrrrrrrrrrico, and Rikki – tikki – tikko. All of them are used when calling him.

       Black Cat has a very … interesting? Is that the right word? … name. It is Lion Perfect Paws Target Black Cat Saldana Orr. Whew! I shall explain all the names, starting with Saldana. (I don’t think explaining where “Orr” came in is necessary)   The previous owners of the house, who also owned the cats, their last name was Saldana (Sal – dan – ya). So that’s where that came in. Black Cat was the name the Saldanas gave him. Before we knew they had names already (we just heard there were two mousers who came with the house) we elected names for the cats. Guess what Rico’s was? Toto. But Black Cat, who we call Lion, well, he received two names. The boys and I wanted to call him Target, but the girls wanted to call him Perfect Paws. So there’s the Perfect Paws Target part. Lion came in when we met him. First of all, he is mostly Persian cat. In other words, he’s GIGANTIC. For being so big, furry, and black, he’s very timid. The other reason we called him Lion was because when he purrs, grrrr! He sounds precisely like a lion. You can tell they’re related, anyway.  Rico is pretty friendly, as long as you don’t make any loud noises around him. Yesterday we were singing (more like bellowing) happy birthday to someone on the phone while I was holding him. The “HAP ..” came, and he was outta there! I didn’t see him again till dark. However, if I’m all by myself (or at least for all he can see), and I call “Rico, kitty kitty! Rico!” and crouch and pat the ground in front of me, he comes right up. I just pick him up and take him back to the Cobhouse (which is what we lovingly call our shed, where the cats live).

    As I said, Lion is timid. He doesn’t like many people around, or he hides either behind a pile of stuff in the corner of the cobhouse or behind his big yellow bucket. However, if I put a little twist on his plans, (and his appetite) I can hold a little piece of lunchmeat or his favorite kitty treat, he timidly comes out. Ever-helpful Rico just sits there, like the lazy fat cat we like to playfully call him.    

We first found him in a lower  cupboard in the garage; we had accidentally locked him in the night before. Poor kitty! I crooned to him, and then when he finally came over I picked him up and set him on the counter with the cat food. I just stared at him; he was HUGE!! (and still is, of course) Now I’ll relieve you of my rattling and show you some pictures of Rico. I’d have some of Lion, but I haven’t seen him for a few days. I guess he found a mouse house and is getting fatter than before.

     Rico refusing to stand for the picture …

    Guess what? Rico is a polydactyl. He has thumbs!

   Even for a polydactyl, though, Rico is unusual. 5 claws on 3 paws but .. 6 on the other! His left forepaw.

Can you see the sixth claw? It’s in between his “thumb” and “forefinger”.

 

Smile, Rico! In this one and the top pic you can see the back of our cobhouse and Lion’s beloved tarp pile, and also Rico’s cardboard-box-cathouse.

He loves to have his belly rubbed, but I think he was feeling a little self conscious of the camera. I probably would, too!

I’ll snag Lion sometime for his lesson on photography; he’s handsome and he knows it! Usually, though, he’ll  only show off his uppity side if there are only a few people around. More than 3, and he drops the act and high-tails it, or low-tails it, as the case may be, to his beloved bucket. You’ll have to come pet both cats for real, sometime; you can shake paws with Rico!