Welcome to the Pack, ROWDY!

Due to a horrible, puppy induced accident a few weeks ago, our little kitty Bronco died :( This left a very large hole in the Pack and Frankie's little heart. Because Frankie you see, is a cat person, like his Grandpa, and he loved his kitty Bronco!

Believe it or not, I am not much of a cat person. I know, who would have thought? If it weren't for their excellent hunting abilities and the fact that rats and bats abound here, I wouldn't even think of getting one. But the most compelling reason Bronco was because of my little cat lover. The boy NEEDED another kitten! And so, I obliged.

There was quite a bit of debate between me and my mother over letting Frankie name the cat. I didn't want to. I do not believe that small children should be allowed to name family pets because they often end up going through life like poor Ms. Dave. Or worse. But in the end, I caved and let Frankie name the cat - but only because I liked the name he came up with!!

So please, meet the new member of our Pack, ROWDY!

We had gone to see Rowdy and his beautiful siblings several weeks ago when he was five weeks old and too young to leave his mother. He was the plainest cat but Frankie claimed he was his favorite. We were going to wait until they were 8 weeks but then this week the lady that had them called me up and said, "Can you take the black kitten?" The other two PRETTY kittens had been taken. So it all worked out and I brought home Rowdy.

What was fun about it was that I didn't tell the kids and I surprised them!! Now, I generally suck at keeping a secret so this was really hard for me. But I did it! I actually had told them the day before that I was getting them a surprise (see? I really can't keep a secret) and Ella said, "Oh, a kitten?" and I just laughed at her like she was stupid and I was all mysterious. Yep, I'm a good mom like that ;)

But come Tuesday afternoon the kid really had no idea what I was bringing for them!! Frankie's generally NOT very hard to surprise, being as he's not as snoopy as his sister, so he was tickled pink that I'd brought him a kitten :)

Rowdy, giving what for to Arnie the Lamb

Not sure why the cat was in the travel pillow but he didn't seem to mind!

Now is this one pleased little cat loving boy or what?!

Some guys keep a parrot perched on their arm, others keep a small cat

A couple of boobs watching the boob tube together

This is my cat training device. This little cat was causing problems for himself because he was TOTALLY overreacting to the dogs and hissing and spitting at them while they were fast asleep. This would wake them up and naturally they'd want to stop him! Sanyu was taking it personally that he was growling at her and Bill wanted to play with him. Not good.

So, I took it upon myself to put a stop to the behaviour. I mean, you can't be yelling at the dogs all the time when the cat is instigating it! He's MUCH better since he was on Tuesday but I figured that I should just treat him like a dog - if he exhibits behavior that I disagree with, I squirt him. This also redirects him and with one swift squirt at the curious dog, redirects them as well, in a painless and screechles way.

The gun also works for instances like this. I don't agree with this behavior ;)

And, well, some of us still think that a good dog is hard to beat!