Lennox
is just over a year old now, but I found him when he was only two weeks
old. At the time, I was living with a friend, and her cat had been spending a
lot of time staring and meowing at the floor in the back porch. Then one day
when my friend and I were outside, we saw a cat come out from under the porch,
and thought we should check and see if the cat had been living there, which
would explain why her cat was always staring down at the floor.
When we crawled under the porch, we heard a lot of tiny meows, and discovered
that the cat we saw was the mother of a litter of kittens. There were four of
them in total, and they were the tiniest kittens we'd ever seen. Their eyes
were barely even open! We put some blankets under the porch and left some
food out to make sure the mother got the nutrition she needed to raise her
litter, and left them alone for the night. When we got up in the morning, we
checked under the porch and found that the mother had returned and moved all
but one of the kittens away after eating all the food. When we got home from
work, the lone kitten was still there, so we waited until nightfall to see if
his mother would come back for him. At that point it was getting chilly, and
he was still there all alone, so we took him inside so that he could stay
warm.
We had purchased a tiny bottle and some kitten formula, and had to feed him
every few hours (even through the night!). We put some blankets and stuffed
animals in a box for him to sleep in, but all he did was cry when we put him
in it - he was just desperate to be held and kept warm against a beating
heart, so at night he would curl up on my chest and sleep with me. During the
day, he came to work with me and slept in my pocket all day while I sat at my
desk.
Lennox is special because he had such a tough beginning in life and has grown
up to be a wonderful, loving, and cuddly cat. He still curls up and sleeps on
my chest when I am lying in bed, and I am reminded of those first sleepless
nights after I brought my baby into our home. He was named Lennox after
Lennox Lewis, how appropriate considering what a fighter he turned out to be!
He is best friends with our German Shepherd (her name is Domino) and most of
his favorite games involve playing with her. He is very good at hiding
around corners and pouncing her when she least expects it. He also enjoys
lying as flat as possible on the edge of the bed, chairs, couches, or anything
else that's higher than her, waiting patiently for her to walk past so he can
drop on her before she suspects a thing.
He spends his days alternating between romping with the dog, sitting on his
perch staring out the window, playing in his cardboard army tank, or sleeping
on the nearest human. He also still plays like a kitten - attacking anything
that moves (especially if it jingles or rattles).
I think there is a part of him that's certain that he is a dog - he has been
successfully trained to "sit" on command. He has plenty of attitude but is
remarkably obedient as far as cats go (part of what makes me think he's trying
to be a dog) - if he looks like he's plotting to jump up onto something he's
not allowed to jump on, all it takes is a stern "Lennox, no" and he'll stop in
his tracks, twitch his tail, let out one short "meow" and turn and walk the
other direction. He is very well behaved at bath time - I have to bathe him
every few weeks because I am a bit allergic. He is also an angel at the vet -
the last time I took him for shots, I was asked if he's really a cat.
Speaking of his army tank, here is a link to a video of him playing in it:
