And then there was Timmy........

Back in April of 2008, a coworker/friend/neighbor adapted a kitten from the Humane Society.  She wanted it for an Easter present for her three year old.  You gotta love people who treat animals like a children’s toy for they know not what they do.  Shortly afterwards she and her husband had to leave town for medical and we ended up babysitting for a couple months.  When they did take him back they soon discovered small kids and small animals are rarely good companions so back he came to our house. 

Sierra & Baby Timmy

I’m not sure if it was the days he spent at their house fearing for his life and dodging an over-exuberant 3-year old or getting yelled out for attacking baby hands and feet as they wiggled about but our Timmy is a scrappy little thing.  I’m sure he has some feral genes not too far back in the family history as well because he can be a little spitfire. When he first arrived he was only 6 weeks old and teeny tiny.  Oscar & Piper wanted nothing more than to be his new best friend.  They wouldn’t give him a moment’s peace so he had to quickly learn to set his boundaries.  It didn’t take long before they were all playing and roughhousing and wresting non-stop.  Even now Oscar plays a little rough and poor little Timmers sounds like he’s being tortured but he is usually in the instigator. 

Outside he is a holy terror.  He can race up a tree in seconds – we have a feeding platform he likes to frequent but sometimes he heads up a good 20 feet or so.  Coming down is a little harder and I’ve seen him fall more than once but it doesn’t phase him in the least.  He sticks out like a sore thumb outside because of his coloring but he takes cover in the brush pile out in the greenbelt behind our house.  For being such a balsy little guy he’s also very much a scardy-cat.  If he hears people talking he hides and between the kids next door and people walking on the foot path along Duck Creek he spends a fair amount of time under the brush.

Inside he is also a holy terror.  He loves to snag bare toes.  One morning recently I was stepping out of the shower as he laid in wait behind the shower curtain.  He saw my toes and knew it was time to strike.  He had the element of surprise on me as my face was covered by the towel.  I knew he had gotten me but it wasn’t until I saw blood streaks on my new lightly-colored rug that I realized he incurred real damage.  His other favorite attack spot is under the bed as you are making it...for the same reason.

Who could resist this???

His new favorite resting place is on top of the DVR.  It gets nice and warm and he curls up to snooze.  He’s a little cat and even though he is full grown he looks like a kitten.  He squirms around and rolls into a ball and looks very cute....when he sees us walking by he beckons us to come scratch his chin.  He loves that but goes from ecstasy to fighting mode in half a second.  He has his daddy wrapped around his little paw and he knows it.  “Poor little Timmers,” I hear constantly as daddy seeks to make something else right with his world.  



Timmy and his best friend

His favorite food is pork and beans.  Not the beans themselves but the sauce they swim in.  You open anything with the can opener and you can be sure  our wiry little warrior will be there in a second, making his presence known.  He is very loud.  He is also very fond of ice cubes in his bowl of water.  And Oscar’s food.  Since the days of his Purina kitten food I haven’t actually even seen him eat cat food.

He absolutely adores Oscar...sometimes to his detriment.  Anytime Oscar is laying with me in the chair Timmy wants to join us and love on him.  He purrs like a chain saw and wants to lick and nudge and pretty soon Oscar puts an end to that.  Our family just wouldn’t be complete without the little Timmers.