Boo, Pooka & Solitaire

Someone posted a comment asking how I tell my two black kitties apart. Boo and Pooka are actually quite different--both in looks and temperament. Pooka is stocky (chubby) with big feet and medium length fur. He waddles when he walks. The vet is not going to be happy with his weight the next time he goes in. Boo is more pear shaped with small, fine boned feet and short fur. Their faces even look different. I managed to snap a shot of the two together though I couldn't get them both to look at me at the same time. Pooka is on the left and Boo on the right.

Pookie is a very vocal and needful kitty. He was being spoiled by a preteen girl before she had to give him up for adoption. He looks to me (as a female) to give him the same amount of attention he got before. Doesn't happen. He would be happy to sit in my lap every time I sit down. There have almost been cat brawls between him and Boo over who gets to sit on my lap. They're not interested in my husband's lap.

Pookie follows me around constantly, gets underfoot, complains first thing in the morning if HIS crunchy bowl is getting empty (there are 3 bowls), pesters me every time I answer the phone, likes to bite strings and cords in two, has pulled the power strip off the computer desk several times, and generally gets himself into trouble. He loves red toys. He'll play with others but he's always trying to steal any red balls of yarn I have. He keeps trying to make friends with Solitaire. Every time she rebuffs him he goes off meowing like he's lost his last friend in the whole world. He's very melodramatic!

Boo is much more self reliant. When he wants in my lap he comes and looks at me with blinky eyes until I tell him it's ok to jump up. When he was small he was an ankle biter. In the summer he stills likes to nip. Boo gets SADDs in the winter. He likes to come for light therapy under my Ott light. Pookie helps keep him occupied too. He's taught Pookie all his bad habits. They run through the house sounding like a herd of elephants, hiss, yowl, and roll each other. Boo kicks Pooka in the stomach and Pooka bites Boo's feet. Boo has recently grown a white whisker. If you look closely at the picture of him in the chair, you can see it on the bottom right side of his mouth. He wasn't thrilled when I snapped this picture.

At night, Pookie sleeps at my husband's or my feet. Sometimes I wake up and can't move because he's laying on my feet. Boo sleeps between our heads. When I first go to bed, he usually wants to go under the covers and snuggle next to me while he purrs and kneads my stomach. If he wants to get my attention in the morning he whiskers me in the face or gently pats me in the face. When that doesn't work he's been known to grab my hair in his teeth and pull. Ouch!

Solitaire is the smallest. She's a very petite little girl. Size-wise she is smaller than most adult cats. I am always amazed at how small her feet are. Her nickname is "Little Toes". She's very well proportioned and definitely has some Siamese in her. She has a very flat and rusty sounding meow. She's afraid of everything and panics at the slightest thing. When one of the boys faces her down, she closes her eyes, hisses, and waves her paw blindly at them. LOL! Just like kids, the boys pick on her because they know they can get a rise out of her. She in turns tries to get them in trouble when they haven't done anything.

Here she is sleeping in her winter quarters on our couch. It's a cat hut that zips together with velcro. If you put a hand inside, it's toasty warm from her body heat. Just the way she likes it.

White Kitty, who died last fall, was always cold too. His favorite spot in the winter was leaning against the base of our wood pellet stove and gazing into the flames. I always worried he would singe his fur but he never did. The heat must have made his arthritic bones feel better. White Kitty had a big wicker basket to sleep in near the pellet stove. As he got older he couldn't jump up on the furniture anymore. I filled the basket full of squishy knitted pieces and polar fleece for him to snuggle in.