Duckie and Stephanie Leeper: Furry Friends Fur-Ever
“I have had cats all of my life, and adopting Duckie, whose original name was Bailey, made my current kitty count rise to four,” says Stephanie.
“In the past 18 months, I’ve adopted three other kitties from Furry Friends -- two bonded females, Dolly and Winnie and one male kitten, Leo. Because Leo was so energetic compared with Dolly and Winnie, I wanted an equally energetic male kitten to be his companion. Enter Duckie, who’s as adorable as he is active!
“It took Duckie a few days to get acclimated to living here, but soon enough he was pawing at the door to get out and meet his siblings. My other three cats adapted to him immediately, making it an extremely easy adjustment for them all. Duckie has an energy that’s infectious and he’s brought so much joy to my home. He’s constantly getting into something, running and jumping, and always causing mischief. As he’s gotten older, though, he’s grown much cuddlier, and he now loves being held.
“While Duckie loves his kitty siblings Dolly, Winnie and Leo, he’s still not sure about his canine siblings. Fortunately, they have plenty of space to co-exist on separate floors of the house. Duckie and Winnie especially love to run around before their breakfast and chase each other down the hall. Duckie likes to cuddle up with Dolly for naps and wrestle with Leo. Duckie fits in more seamlessly than I ever thought he would.
“He loves automatic toys that spin -- anything that makes noise. He also loves wands and has a favorite string toy that races around. I keep buying automatic toys that charge, and I’m constantly charging them because he plays so hard. He’s never seen a toy he won’t play with!
“Duckie loves to play first and foremost – if you’re with him, he wants to play. Too energetic to cuddle on the couch for long, once he’s played out, he loves pets and purring around. Among his cuter quirks is the fact that he loves stealing things and hiding them under the bed: a toy mouse … a receipt that fell on the ground … a catnip ball … all hidden under the bed. Every few days I clear everything out so that he can collect them again. Luckily, he never eats anything, he simply enjoys the ‘art’ of collecting.
“He’s a bit of a night owl and particularly likes playing at night. Then, he usually sleeps on his little couch.”
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Furry Friends Fur-Ever Stories are compiled and written by Nomi Berger who is the bestselling author of seven novels, one work of non-fiction, two volumes of poetry, and hundreds of articles. She is a volunteer writer for Furry Friends in Vancouver, WA and also volunteers her writing skills to animal rescue groups in Canada and the USA.
