..."cat napping"

awww... so sweet....
unfortunately....
NOT very
"true-to-life"...
especially...
at my house...

I have "slept"
with kitties for years...
some have tried
to sleep on my feet...
[not for long...]
or worse...
between them...


some slept
in THEIR bed...near me...
[what a concept...]
some have insisted on sleeping on top of me...
[also, not for long...]
some have slept on my pillow...
or at least, the pillow I wasn't using...

when it is warm...they like the window sill...
when it's cold... they are "heat seekers"...
[and it's MY heat they seek...]

but when it's too cool for open windows...
but too warm for me to use the down comforter...
[it's a GREAT insulator against "making beds" with SHARP claws...]
it's a battle of wills...and I always lose...




[Piglet on "her" bed... aka "my" bed... ]


in the fall of 1998... I rescued a kitten from my school...
she was brought to me in late October...[a birthday present...? ]
probably just hours from death ...
due to starvation, dehydration and mistreatment...

I knew that she was in trouble when I first held her...
she was just skin and bones...
with the spittle from an abusive student...
still glistening on her face...
[a kind-hearted student had rescued her from being "kicked"...]

I offered her food and water... she wasn't interested...
and she felt cold and limp to my touch...
I rushed her to my vet on my "prep"...
and he told me that she would not have survived the night...

while I went back to school, she got an IV to re-hydrate her...
and some nourishment in small amounts, as she was so weak...
I took her home after school ...
and made her a warm nest in my bathroom....

this way, she was isolated from the "herd"...
and could be safe to regain her strength...

for the first week, I had to pick her up
and put her in front of her dish...
where, because she was so weak, she would eat, lying down...
after about 2 weeks, I introduced her to the "herd"...
but she never really fit in and soon was a bed room kitty...

at the most, there were 6 kitties who,
"didn't play well with others"...
they isolated themselves from the herd
and "lived" in the back yard...
coming into the bedroom at night... [there are only 2 left...]
[I keep the bedroom door shut
to accommodate them...
and keep me from being
squeezed off my own bed at night...]

I named her Samantha at first...
but that didn't really fit...
as she "got healthy"...
she developed a round body, on stumpy legs...
that reminded me of Piglet from Winnie the Pooh...

her tail had been broken in several places...
[my vet said she was probably kicked repeatedly...]
and it healed in a zig-zag shape...
[like Peek-a-choo...]
so her name just became "Piglet"...

I have immortalized her in 2 Catmas Carols...
[Carol of the Cat,12/20/07 & Unholy Noise,12/19/07]
and she has made an "appearance" in a couple of other posts...
she is, ..."legend"...

she is known as,"Piglet, Queen of Everything"...
and she takes her position seriously...
especially... when it comes to her "position" on the bed...

her "accustomed place", is next to me...
[or if I allow it...half on top of me...]
with her paws and chest on my left shoulder or arm...

if I have been "elsewhere"...
and she is asleep in the nest...
when I come to bed...if Fluff decides to curl up next to me...
Piglet is awake instantly...
and asserts her dominance by giving Fluff,
"the bums rush"....
assuming her "rightful spot" on my left...

she used to insist on my stomach...
but I put a stop to that...
after she would repeatedly "leap"
to the window...then back...
ALL NIGHT LONG...
but, I digress...

so, after making beds in my side/arm for several minutes...
all the while, purring in my ear
like a drag racer, gunning his engine...
she will burrow in...still purring...
and drool on my shoulder as she dozes off...
accompanied by twitching and little catly dream noises...
eventually settling in to snore like a chain saw...on "idle"...

when it's cold... the comforter shields me
from being eviscerated...
when it's warmer...she is like a heating pad...
often making me way too hot...
if I move, AT ALL...
she leaps up from a dead sleep...
often using me as her pommel horse in the vault...

she makes the rounds of all the windows in the room...
[there are 4...]
rattling mini blinds and muttering...if she's really upset...
she calls me vile names in "cat"... and bounces back and forth...
often landing on me for "emphasis"... reiterating her complaints and insults...

just as I'm about to drift off...she's baaack...
and the entire "set piece" begins again...
the "bed making"...the purring...the burrowing... the drooling...
this can go on all night
and is the reason I'm sitting here now...
writing this at 3:02 AM... instead of sleeping...

if she's tired enough to get deep in sleep...
then I get to sleep well too...
but, often as not... if that's the case...
then she's up at the crack of dawn...
rattling blinds...pacing...
and demanding her "immediate release"...

when I finally "retire"...she will be asleep in MY spot...
snoring lustily.... and chasing something in her dreams....
I'll have to move her...and probably Fluff too...
just to get into my bed...
then, it will begin, all over again...

sigh...