Friends, I believe you are all familiar with Miss Peach. But I don’t believe you’ve met my first baby. Minnow, my cat.
Good old Minnow has been a most loyal pet for more than 10 years, sleeping on my pillow every night, extending a wee furry paw to say, “hey, I’m here and I love you, even if you haven’t shaved your legs in a week.â€
Minnow in all of her benevolence begrudgingly let my sweetie into our house and now even lets him feed her every night. True–she has been known to hiss at any new person who comes in the house, but she’s almost always sweet and loving towards me.
I must admit I was a bit concerned about how Minnow would react to a newborn. We were told that we should have the cat not sleep with us and to break her of her pillow habit as soon as I became pregnant, but I felt I needed to give Minnow as much love as possible up to the day before the Peach came, knowing that the old cat was going to be thrown a loop when her favorite sleeping spot was taken.
And I must admit that having a baby did cut into my cat cuddling time.
Here is poor Minnow, kicked out of her favorite chair by me and the baby, sulking near her toys. Doesn’t it break your heart?
Minnow tried to sneak back into the forbidden bedroom by wedging herself into my sock basket in my closet. This is what I found one morning, while looking for my favorite argyles. Which I did find, albeit covered in cat hair.
But Minnow persevered and found her way near me, even when I was holding the baby. Exhibit A:
You see, Minnow and baby can co-exist. Minnow has even come up purring and sniffed her little head and even in her little cat brain, I think she knows how special the Peach is to me and has respect for her and me.
Fast forward two years and now Miss Peach calls Minnow HER kitty. What can I say? She’s completely obsessed with the cat.
Minnow is Edward from Twilight rolled in cat fur to the Peach. The Peach squeals like she just saw one of the Beatles, she is that obsessed. She is vice president of the Minnow fan club. The Peach nearly faints when Minnow enters the room and looks around for the closest writing instrument to have Minnow write her name on her widdle tummy. IT IS THAT SERIOUS, PEOPLE.
It would be the perfect relationship if only Miss P knew how to properly worship at the altar of Minnow. Instead of petting our cat, the Peach thinks it’s so much fun to try to pull Minnow’s fur off. I guess the Peach is trying to get a memento of Minnow to put under her pillow. But bless Minnow’s heart, she hasn’t try to swot at the Peach.  Instead Minnow just hisses, which we’ve translated as “Please leave me alone right now. I’m not in the mood to play. Thanks, Peach!”. What a good little kitty I have!
How is the relationship between your pet and your kiddo?
Oh, Minnow…she’s so sweet! She probably thinks that they are sisters. : ) I don’t have any kidlets yet but have always wondered about that transition of bringing a baby home to pets.
Zelda was the same way. But yeah, she thought it was fun to grab Ralph’s ass. He was not amused. At two, I put her in charge of brushing and feeding the beast. Now, she calls him her furry brother and the admiration is mutual.
I love it! Furry brother! Tee hee!!! Genius!
Minnow certainly looks very tolerant! Kashrut hasn’t fully forgiven us for bringing the extra hairless beast home, although she is willing to sleep on the bed with us again (now that baby is in his own crib), and jumps in my lap while I’m feeding Ari at his highchair. She tolerates from a safe distance. Zorro on the other hand took to having a baby around from the beginning. He was willing to sleep with all three of us on the bed, often chooses to sleep next to the crib, and flops down to let Ari clamber on him, despite the fur pulling. Ari squeels with delight when either cat comes into the room, and if he’s on the ground, scoots along after them.
I love this. Sadly my kitty Chuckie passed right before Wolfie was born, and Spencer our doggie passed a month into Wolfie’s birth…..which was really tough.
We have since had a cavalcade of cats enter our lives….all strays….Tuxie, Kiki, Sizzles and now….O’Malley. Wolfie adores them ALL…..he’s a big animal lover. We are still dying to get a dog. We dog sit my pals brown lab, Henry, who is a doll.
YAY MINNOW!
Alix, you MUST tell the story of Tuxie and O’Malley! I beg of you!
mary ann and truman grew up together. around age 2.5 he created the game that he called “kitty fast” where he chased her all over the house. she is EXTREMELY loyal to truman and sleeps on his bed every night. now when harry cries (she started this when he was born) she comes and gets me and if i am not there fast enough she LOSES IT. she is a good cat mama.
I’m crying laughing over the “kitty fast” game!
What a good Mama cat. I WISH Minnow was that sweet to be a Mama Kitty!
i would put an end to “kitty fast” but mary ann is extremely overweight, he’s like her trainer! so i just let it happen.
LOL oh my god…..hahahahahaha. amazing.
My B is the same way with our 2 kitties. Its like tiny Elvis has walked into the room. She got one scratch across the nose when she was just old enough to pull herself up to the ottoman and screetch with glee that she was face to face with the cat. But since then, the cats are pretty agreeable to her adoration now that she’s 2. They even lean in when she gives them their good night kisses and sometimes kiss back. We’ll see how that changes now that I caught her carrying the declawed grandma cat. At least it was carrying her under the arms and not in a headlock.
Eliza is petless, but she does simply adore any other pets she visits. She approaches them all with a great deal of cautious delight, something I encourage. And Ralphie was nothing but sweet to her.