An Ill-Advised Move

If you've kept up with the blog, you may have figured out that I'm a crazy dog owner. The kind who buys little gourmet treats every time they're at PetSmart for dog food, the kind who special orders fancy dog collars and leashes online, the kind whose dog has a special bed in every room of the apartment. We take pictures of him like this and show them off to people like he's our child:A couple of weeks ago, a friend of mine was taking out her trash and found a tiny kitten hiding under the dumpster, mewing loudly. She took it home, bathed it and fed it. She decided it needed a home and started calling around.After one person backed out, she contacted me to see if I wanted a kitten. Absolutely not, I said. We're dog people. My husband and I have always owned dogs. I'm allergic to cats, with hay fever and asthma within hours of contact. I do not want the cat--I was firm.She was persistent. You have a bigger apartment, she said; we already have a cat, we can't really afford it, and we don't really have room, she said. Just take the cat for a night, she begged me; I'd rather know the cat went to a friend than to a shelter.My husband said no, we don't want a cat, you're allergic, and what if J-dog doesn't get along with it? Absolutely not.And so, the great cat experiment began about two weeks ago. We brought home a tiny kitty, weighing about 1.5 lbs. He's probably a Siamese mix; he's got long beige fur with dark ears, legs, and tail, stripes down his legs, and bright blue eyes. He has a few annoying habits, like climbing up our pants legs, biting our toes, and eating dog food.We initially thought he was a she, and so we hunted for a girl's name. Since my husband is a space geek, we looked into moons, stars, and constellations. We eventually agreed upon Callisto, which is one of Jupiter's moons; we'd call her Callie for short. We bought a purple collar. The vet disagreed with us, though, and assured us that the rather ambiguous genitalia indicated an XY genotype. Thus, we switched to a name that satisfied both our geekiness AND kitty's masculinity.

So now I have a dog who's having accidents in a corner, snapping at a kitty who climbs my scrub legs and nips my chin. My bathroom is dominated by an enormous mechanical litter box, and some nights I can't sleep due to the kitty crying in the bathroom, but I can't sleep with him climbing all over me and biting me in the underarm.There are some moments, like when he purrs under my chin and nuzzles up to me to take a nap, which is where he is right now. Who knew kitties were so soft? Or that purring was so endearing? The dog is just going to have to lump it, at least until I go crazy with all the animals and I take them all to the SPCA.