Mike Rowe: Biogrpahy of a Cat

Mike Rowe is celebrating his first birthday somewhere around here. We got him last summer around this time although he was already about 7 weeks old so I suppose that his birthday was more around the end of May or so.

I love this little cat.

He is totally different than Dexter or George W. Those cats loved snuggling .

**Update on George W. He has officially packed his bags and moved to the back side of our street. He crossed the street, went up over the neighbor's fence and found himself a new family!!! HOW RUDE!! Sometimes cats do this and there is no changing their habits or their desires. What we think happened is that either Simba (next door) and he got into a territory show down and G. W. didnt win OR he just got tired of having kittens around. Ironically, the family he picked are tremendous animal lovers...you can sooo tell. However, they asked us if he was our cat and said they enjoyed him and loved having him around and didnt mind him being at their house etc...George is in his hey day never having to come inside. I miss him terribly though we see him frequently.**

Back to Mike Rowe. He is sleeping right now up on our plant shelf...in his snuggly little blue bed, warm and fuzzy. I want to go wake him up and his ball and ask him if he likes it when I wake him up in the middle of his sleep to play ball....he does this to both E and I at random times during the night. He wants to play ball!!! Very funny cat.

He also is a sink sitter...not in the sink as Dexter and George did, but on the sink...as in , "Let me sit here while you put on your makeup and brush your teeth so that you can worship and pet me during your morning toilette!" OH MY!

While his origins are most certainly diverse (his mother had a litter of 5 and ever single one of them was a different color and texture of fur!!) he most decidedly has some Siamese in him. You can tell by the slope of his face and how it is a bit more sleek than the average cat. He is also a tremendous "mouser" (read ball chaser) which is one of the characteristics of the Siamese. (why the heck he couldnt catch our mouse in the wall is what I want to know, although to be fair, it WAS in the wall!!!) And...you cant miss his blue eyes. All that said, his markings are just a mix-mash, of browns, and whites and grays. My favorite mark on him though is his one gray toe...thats it....just one. Its so distinctive and funny to me!!

Speaking of Siamese cats...I remember a story of Dr. Paul Brand who was a missionary/doctor in India working with those who suffered with leprosy and it's myraid of ailments. This is gross, but true...one of the problems those with leprosy have is that they cannot feel in their fingers and noses and ears. India ,being a third world country and having tremendous poverty, has many people sleeping in make shift homes etc. One of the issues that the lepers would encounter was that during the night things would bit them like rats or mice or bugs and they wouldnt feel it due to their leprosy and it would get infected. Dr. Paul Brand, being a smart guy, gave every patient he could a Siamese kitten or cat to help protect the people. He said when he started doing this, he saw a marked reduction in these types of injuries. Isnt that interesting ( and a wee bit gross, but, still) GO CATS!!

But, back to Mike Rowe...here's his gray toe. I LOVE HIM!!