As a Kitty Grows Older... A Few Words about Tina's Cheshire Cat

My oldest cat, of three, is Cheshire Cat, Chessie for short. He turned thirteen in May. He is an orange tabby, I like to call him Corgi-colored, because he and my Corgi Robbi are almost exactly the same color. They also match our red clay soil, which comes in handy, they never look dirty!

Chessie has had a few posts written about him, you can find the first one here:  http://goldcountrygirls.blogspot.com/2009/10/cheshire-cat.html

Chessie spent the first ten or eleven years of his life silent, except for wild and crazy purring. Then he discovered his voice, and mostly it is a whiny annoying meow when he wants something to eat (we call it nummles - not sure how to spell it - pronounced numb-uls). He seems to want to eat all the time and yet is thin as a rail. His teeth are getting worn out so he doesn't like the dry food very often, and we are constantly tailed by him as he whines and twines around our feet. As irritating as it is, it is still a great feeling as you give him his spoonful of food, he is always so grateful and you feel like the best person in the whole world for dragging yourself to the fridge and dipping into that can!

Chessie was born in Diamond Springs in 2001 at our former house where we lived for sixteen years. My son and his family were living there at the time, and their mama cat had her litter in his Jeep. Below is a photo of my granddaughter Natalie enjoying the kittens from that litter. Chessie is the orange one.

Chessie has never been a super hunter, but occasionally he will leave a gopher head at the front door for me. He always eats the whole thing except the head. (I can always tell which cat caught the gopher by what is left at the door, and where: Chessie the head at the front door; Luna the whole gopher at the front door, at least until she sees I have noticed it, then she eats it; and Ishi the whole thing on the ground by the back deck stairs.)  He tolerates the dog and the other cats, and although he used to hide when company came over, he now is the only cat a visitor sees. He used to sleep with me cuddled up by my side all night, but now he prefers to sleep downstairs on a chair after eating his nighttime nummles. He does cuddle up on my lap whenever I am in the living room in my armchair watching TV or reading, or if I am using my laptop he snuggles in by my left arm as close as he can get to my lap, purring loudly. Neither of my other two cats purr much, Luna almost never, and Ishi very seldom and quietly when he does, so I think Chessie is extra loud to make up for that!

Chessie says: "Have a PURRfect day!