From the time he was a kitten, Oreo yearned to be outside. When we picked him up from our local cat shelter in California, he was eight weeks old. My three kids were allowed to pick out two cats. They picked the two most vocal, social cats in the place.
Oreo (whose name my kids chose over his shelter name, Snickers) was the one cat who wanted out the most. He meowed and meowed at us and stuck his skinny arm out of the little squares in the grid wire door to paw at us as we walked by, as if to say, “Please, get me out of here!!”
His brother from another mother, Cloudy (aka Charles), was not quite as adamant about getting out, but he talked just as much as his soon-to-be new sibling did.
My kids were three, six and eight when we took the kitties home. We brought them both upstairs, each to a separate room to get used to the house and the next day we introduced them to each other.
They seemed to get along great and soon had free reign of the house….and our toes. Those first couple of weeks they’d jump up into bed with us and attack our feet through the sheets with their sharp little claws, then go and hide under the bed.
Cloudy had a few hiccups along the way, namely mistaking one of our board game boxes for his litter box. Yep, # 2! Had to throw that game away. Guess that’s life…it was Life actually– The Game of Life. He also tried to pee in his food bowl (caught him scratching around in his kibble and squatting before I grabbed him and put him in his actual litter box)!
Cloudy never really learned to eat dry food either. After a couple of days he seemed like he was starving and I resorted to giving him wet food, which is what he’s gotten ever since (maybe he knew what he was doing 😉 ). Despite these things, he is the most loving, patient cat. He will jump up on my hip when he’s really hungry. He learned pretty quickly (due to my high pitched yelps) that he can’t have his claws out when he does that ;).
In the morning he’ll come up and lay by me until I’m ready to get up and feed him. He’ll plonk down on his side and roll himself into the cutest poses. He likes to have his belly rubbed and will even tolerate a paw massage.
I started thinking maybe I should have named him Prim as he often sits so prim and proper, with his tail wrapped neatly around his front paws.
Cloudy likes to nuzzle his head up against my kids’ heads and gnaw at their hair and he is a great snuggle-buddy. The best is when he “asks” to go under the covers to cozy up next to me when it’s a bit colder outside.
He was found on the streets, with one eye fused shut. Before we met him he’d had to have surgery to cut it back open and clean it out. I almost told my kids, “No” when I’d learned he’d need drops and ointment for two weeks, and that they weren’t sure if he’d need another surgery in the future. But my daughter turned on the waterworks, and we took the rascal home.
In the end, the vet did not recommend surgery for Cloudy. He likely doesn’t have the best vision in that eye, but it doesn’t seem to bother him. He’s very good at keeping it clean, but it’s still noticeable and he’s known around our neighborhood for his “bad” eye. Doesn’t stop him from doing cat things outside, though.
We were told Cloudy was found without his mama, which I think is probably why he still kneads our wooly pillows, purring and drooling with contentment.
When we got Cloudy and Oreo we lived in Southern California, land of coyotes and birds of prey. They are no joke (our family sadly lost some cats to them when I was growing up) and so we did all we could to keep them inside. We even built a “catio” with a catwalk for them.
Despite that, they still managed to catch lizards and mice (always a pleasant surprise to find small creatures in the house ;-). I tried to save them when I could) and Oreo–-Houdini that he was–-still managed to get out!
He once climbed a tree so high that we had to use a ladder and tuna on the end of a pool skimmer (with the pole completely extended!) to try to get him to come down!
Oreo loves climbing and will climb anything: ladders, hat racks and trees (to help him get up on the roof of the house)– even our Chrismtas tree!
About a year after we took Cloudy and Oreo home we decided to move to my husband’s home country, Sweden. Yep, that’s right- our cats went international! The paperwork was a bit of a pain and it was stressful bringing them on the plane, but where we live now is Heaven on Earth for them.
Living here– on a cul-de-sac next to a park, has allowed Oreo to blossom into the “walker” he is today. When my daughter was younger, we’d hang out at the park a lot. Oreo would join us, jumping up on the large rocks to sit next to me as I watched my daughter go down the slide. He’d even climb the stairs on the play structure to be next to my daughter up there. When she learned how to ride her bike, he’d chase right behind her.
When she goes on the big, round “nest” swing he’ll hop up there with her. Same with the trampoline. He doesn’t like the swinging or jumping (imagine that ;-)), but always wants to be where she is.
Oreo is very independent, but I feel like moving to Sweden has allowed him to become the loyal, loving cat he is today. Here, we no longer have to chase him to get him back inside, so he can relax around us and be with us on his own terms. He’s not a lap cat, but he loves to be with his people.
For me, the most endearing thing is when he walks with my daughter and I to school in the morning. Her school is about a half mile walk down the bike path.
If he’s inside with us, he’ll follow us out the door and trot right alongside us, his tail straight and stiff. I sometimes think that if his tail was just a little longer I could use it as a leash ;-).
If we start off walking without him, he’ll appear out of a bush, meowing incessantly until he catches up. He’ll take his time- not like we have to get to school on time or anything!
He used to follow us further, but nowadays walks with us to the last house on the edge of “our” park or to the dirt soccer field just across from that house. He’ll find a nice spot and just hang out until I come back. Sometimes I’ll head past the school to go walking or grocery shopping and come back an hour later, where he’s still waiting– loyal as ever.
He will, of course, sometimes stop to roll around in the gravelly dirt or stare down a rattling bush– he is an actual cat after all. But he’ll always return to my side, with his determined yellow eyes and gravity-defying tail to walk with me the rest of the way home.
