Pete and RePete and Jennifer Baker: Furry Friends Fur-Ever
“I notified Furry Friends that I was looking for a bonded pair of cats, met Pete and RePete at PetSmart on a Saturday afternoon and promptly adopted them,” says Jennifer
“Now answering to Pete and Re-Re, their adjustment to my home was fairly immediate. They settled in well, but it took awhile for their personalities to come out. Re-Re seems to spend much of his days either on the bed, in the bedroom cat tree looking out the window or on the heating vent under a dresser. Pete is either on the bed, in a cat bed by my desk, flopped in the middle of the floor where I’ll step on him, or begging for love while I’m on the computer. They both seem to enjoy the wood stove, and as it gets colder, I’m sure they’ll spend lots of time in front of it in the chairs – with or without me.
“They both love anything that rolls, drags or makes a bell noise. Not only are there toys scattered all over the house, they’ve even found a few I’d forgotten about, and anything with catnip is a big hit. They’re also the best cuddlers ever!!! Both love to be petted. Pete likes to be picked up and he loves his belly rubbed (like a dog). Re-Re, who doesn’t like being picked up, will tolerate it for a short time. He’ll also tolerate belly rubs briefly, but much prefers head or butt scritchies. Both cuddle up, usually one on a side in bed and keep me pinned all night! They lie there and purr and make biscuits for hours. My days off are great when I can sleep in and let them purr me back to sleep. They hate it when I get up early and head out to work. (Remarkably, when I wake up in the morning Re-Re is nearly always in the geometric center of the bed, while Pete and I are on the sides).
“Pete goes face down and ‘inhales’ catnip when it’s sprinkled on the floor. It’s absolutely hilarious to watch him get his ‘fix.’ Re-Re is much more circumspect about it, but he also loves his ‘nip. They both come running for treats. In fact, all I have to do is crinkle a bag, any bag, and Pete’s right there. He also likes chewing on things -- me, my phone, my glasses, the charging cord for my phone, the corner of a book, the tube from tube treats (churus) if he thinks it’s not being dispensed swiftly enough. Re-Re doesn’t have any bad habits that I’ve discovered … yet.
“He won’t, however, take treats from my hand. I have to drop them in front of him, whereas Pete will get so excited, he takes my whole hand! Because he’s bitten me several times in his excitement, I now drop their hard treats on the floor. They love churus and hate sharing them. The solution: each gets a few licks and then we switch cats. Both can be fairly vocal, especially Pete when, for example, his food dish is getting empty. Re-Re will just walk around talking to himself at times. He doesn’t respond when I call to him, and they’ll both ‘yell’ at me when I try to stay up ‘past bedtime.’
“At night now, they have free run of the house (other than the spare room that I try to keep cat-free for guests) and can sleep anywhere they please. But now, if they sleep in bed with me, Pete’s developed a habit of sleeping on my arm while Re-Re likes to curl up at a hip or knee … he has to be touching me, probably because I’m warm.”
______________________________________________________________________
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.
