my life with Cat... Cats!!!

So I recently moved to Manchester NH and had issues with feeling that this was an empty house so I did what many single women do... I got a cat. Koneko was my first baby here. He stole my heart at the Manchester Animal shelter when I walked in looking for a DOG. His little face and his beautiful hair just caught my eye when I walked by to the dog cages... I wanted something small like a minipin or schnauzer, maybe a pug or a daschund. Something that would lick my face when I walked in the door and I could play with in the summer outdoors. I was excited.... but.... saw this beautiful medium hair Grey faded Tiger...Koneko... and fell in love.... well his name unfortunately was BILLY BOB at the shelter and that just had to go so we don't often mention it! Koneko means Kitty in Japanese and I had just come back from NYC after testing for a japanese martial art called iaido... art of the sword. something I've been doing for some time now but that will be a post for another day. Anyhow... SO I had Koneko who did everything I wanted.... ran to the door when I came home. Played with his string endlessly when I want to play with him and snuggles up in bed with me (he's very cute with bedhead) to keep my feet (and sometimes my head) warm. BUT it became a little obvious to me that Koneko needed a friend. He started getting upset with me when I didn't play with him immediately when I got home. PEEING ON MY BED one day when I got home and cooked dinner for myself and friends and obviously not giving him enough time. He was starting to drive me nuts and I was tripping over him multiple times and occasionally thinking I was going to break his ribs by mistake from stepping on him. Well Friday my cousins called me from the Bedford Animal Rescue League and left a message on my machine mentioning a black cat at the shelter I just had to look at cause she was super cute and my little cousins were working hard on their mom that she couldn't be left at the shelter cause she was too sweet. My cousin had already been the route of having 4 cats at home... she is down to 2 now and didn't want to repeat the endless cat litter frenzy at home so she called ME knowing I was thinking about a little friend for Koneko. Well I went to the shelter not knowing what cat they were looking at but my cousing Sandy was going to meet me at the shelter with the 2 kids in tow. Well before they got there I entered the cat room and after looking at about 5 black cats I came to Maggie's cage. That was her name and it fit. she was such a cute little girl and gave a little meow and a purr when I stroked her ear through the bars. There was a sign on her cage saying she wasn't allowed visitors but I JUST HAD TO SEE HER so I asked the shelter folks and they explained to me that it was yesterday's sign as she had just been spade but she was able to play today. I got to hold her and it was love at first cuddle. she purred.... I ooh-ed... I turned her over and rubbed her belly holding her like a baby and she just kneaded my shouder and fell asleep. I couldn't resist. My cousins hadn't gotten there but I had chosen my second cat. I told them I'd take her if they let me. I had filled out an application earlier and had been pre-approved... it's pretty complicated and honestly I think It'd be easier to mortage a home or adopt a child sometimes..... 3 pages of application for a cat that was in a shelter! go figure... anyway... so I picked her and she picked me. I put my cat carrier down on the floor in their visiting room and opened the door. She crawled in without being coaxed or as usual for cats forced in the door... she got comfy on the little pad I had in there... kneaded herself comfy and curled up ready to go home. She stayed in there till I finished all paperwork and made my credit card smoke a little more and then I closed the carrier. We traveled home quietly without so much as a meow and came home. The first day was a little hairy... Koneko was excited to have a little girl around but Maggie was less than excited to see someone else around as she was not used to the new surroundings. She growled and hissed a little. she got her own room for the night to relax a little but they enjoyed breakfast together and in only 2 days she and Koneko are best friends. They are playing and snuggling as though they were of the same litter... well sometimes... when Koneko isn't chasing her tail and she isn't swatting at his face for jumping at her. So my life with cats... GREAT! Until last night when Maggie decided she preferred the guest bed to the litter box and this morning when she found my IAIDO GI was a good spot to PEE!!! well I closed some doors and cleaned up the random piles of clothing in corners and washed the blankets and sheets... I had enough blankets on the bed that the mattress was spared! thank goodness!!! She used the litter box during the day and so far so good with her bowel habits. hopefully that will be it and we can go back to snuggling together all 3 of us on the bed. well time for bed... PEACE!