I haven’t posted about my cats for a while

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This week’s prompt was for books with animal companions. I don’t read many books that fit the description, so I’d end up trotting out the obvious favourites (Northern Lights, A Song of Ice and Fire, Famous Five, The Knife of Never Letting Go etc.) and get stuck at five that didn’t feel very interesting. I feel conscious of talking about the same books all the time!

All I’ll say on stories with animal companions is that nothing is guaranteed to make me cry more than an animal companion dying. When people’s beloved pets die, it just cuts me to my core.

Instead, I have decided to talk about my animal companions! I haven’t featured them on the blog for a while, and I have a stupid number of photos on my phone to make this fit the brief!

If you’re new here, I have 2 cats. They are the best cats. Especially Valentine, she is just basically the perfect cat. Kitler is great too, but she’s the naughty one and the reason I can’t wear nice clothes, or have cool house plants and was cleaning up vomit at 7 am.

Reading actually plays a big role in our routine. Kitler and I have a routine, which if I break, she is not happy about, where we go up to bed around 9-9:30 pm and I read for an hour or so while she sits on me and gets as much in my face as possible. Valentine sometimes joins us, but at this time of night, she’s more concerned with whether she’s had crunchy cat food put down for the night.

We love the Kindle because it provides the perfect hard edge to rub their heads and gums on. The image above is how I am reading every night!

Paperback books just are not as good for this.

As indoor cats, they need quite a lot of attention, so when they aren’t napping, they’re usually following me around with whatever I am doing. This is lovely – who doesn’t feel special with the attention of a cat? – but also very inconvenient for working from home! Often, my left arm is out of action because a cat is resting on it. Sometimes I have to shut them out, or I’d not be able to get any work done!

Kitler has also developed a new game of wanting to ride on my shoulders while I use my under-desk treadmill… It’s not as fun as it sounds!

That is really my own fault because I’ve somehow trained her – or she trained me, actually, that might be more accurate – to let me pick her up and carry her around the house.

This started in the winter when I think she just wanted my body heat… and now she wants to always be on me while I’m at my desk. She actually loves weekdays because she knows I’ll be in the same spot all day, a lap there for her convenience!

Valentine cuddles are much rarer! She doesn’t like being picked up or held, but she does love – and insist – on sitting on a cushion on my lap if I’m on the sofa. She’s quite the pampered princess.

I love these silly little cats, they really do make our life better!