Betty Pets: An Elegant Old Lady

Marnix, Sarre and Annis each has a Siamese cat.

Thanks to Betty Lulu, who shared the story and a marvelous photo of Pepper, her $2,000 stray, back in June.  The lovely lady pictured here (who knocked $2K to the ground and kept right on climbing last fall, during the big IBD-or-is-it-cancer scare), is the Jonkheer's Favorite Girl.  He grew up largely without pets (military family on the move), where my childhood held litters of pups, old, blind spaniels, indoor/outdoor kittens and cats, chickens, turkeys and guinea fowl, one pig and yes, an elderly donkey -- and more.  He did not believe me when I assured him that Siamese cats shriek like the spawn of the netherworld, and when he found one in need of a home at our local shelter, I acquiesced graciously.

And let me tell you, I love the now-17-year old Jojo (she came with the name) as much as I love just about anything.  She is a lap cat par excellence, and the minute either of us sits still, she is there, waiting patiently for a hand up.  When I get home in the evening, she leads me to the bedroom, jumps up onto the bed, and then keels over onto one side to indicate the flank that requires immediate, and extensive, petting.  Lately her purring has quieted considerably, but in her prime you could hear her over the vacuum cleaner.  Yes, her vocal exercises make me yearn for an inconsolable eight-month old with teething problems, and yes, my vow to the Jonkheer that I was long ago done with cleaning up animal -- uh -- leavings has been broken countless times (IBD=irritable bowel disease, if ya know what I'm sayin'), but gosh, I just adore this six-pound, 38-inch long (when stretching fully, nose to back paws or end of long tail) furry bundle of delight.

Big yawn