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Mittens

by David Yehudah, Bellflower, CA, USA

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Well, Mittens made the trip fine. By the time he got here, the tranquilizer had pretty well worn off. I thought we were getting a short-haired varmint critter, but, knowing my aversion to long-haired cats, Patty neglected to tell me this thing has fur like a Persian. But I have to admit he is gorgeous.

When Patty let him out of the carrier, he just stood there and blinked, taking in the new surroundings and especially all the eyes trained on him and all the noses sniffing from a safe distance. Samantha laid her ears back, hisspit, and jumped into a chair to loathe him from afar. Mac and Toby just watched, tails wagging cautiously.

Patty carried him around and showed him the litter box, where he spent a few minutes, then showed him the food dish and the water dish, both of which he partook. Directly he went upstairs to be alone.

Toby couldn't allow that. He bounded up the stairs after Mittens (Puppity, puppity, puppity), and a moment later we heard "Bow-wow-wow. . ." followed by, "Hissss, WHAP!" and "Yipe!" Toby set a new record coming back down the stairs.

Mittens soon came back down, jumped onto the couch for a skritch from me, then jumped into Patty's lap where he was joined by both Mac and Toby. In no time all three were snoozing blissfully while Patty sat there with a big goofy grin, hands dancing from one to another giving them gentle strokes wherever she could touch them.

Brethren and cisterns, that just tore Samantha up; she couldn't stand being left out, but she didn't intend to share. She growled deep in her throat and jumped to the floor, eyes locked on the intruder. Mittens looked up, Sam hissed like an unfriendly teakettle, then Mittens reminded Madam he is only declawed in front. He still uses his back claws to get traction when he jumps. He hissed and jumped, Patty squealed and jumped straight up, scattering pooches to the floor in the process, and Samantha suddenly found herself eyeball-to-eyeball with a critter that is probably a lot meaner than she is. Mittens locked eyes with Sam, who suddenly remembered urgent business elsewhere, and stood there alone, astride the disputed ground.

Mittens didn't press the attack, and this morning all seems to be forgiven. The kitties aren't best buddies yet, but I had to wait until they wandered off before I could type this. Both were claiming my attention, side by side, but there were no growls nor hisses from either as I skritched their ears.

Once again there is peace and harmony in Chez Yehudah.

I want to thank Hazel and Grace from the bottom of my heart for their help getting Mittens out of his miserable living conditions and into our home.

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Editor's note:

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