(post “after the jump”)

The pictures above are, in fact, of two separate kitties. The one on the top is Digit, and the one on the bottom is Norm. Norm and Digit joined us over the summer, not very long after we lost Harry and Murray. They are brothers and came to us from the Northeast Animal Shelter in nearby Salem.

I was devastated to lose Harry and Murray, and I still find myself bursting into tears once in a while, but in the wake of their loss I felt like I did not want to have a big empty space where they used to be, making me feel all the worse. So we checked into a couple of shelters and one evening went over to Salem to see the cats they had for adoption. The cats we’d seen on their website were not as appealing in person, and the shelter wanted more money for kittens than we could swing, but all three of us liked these two guys. Their original family called them “Pirate” and “Scar”, and their shelter names were “Bettencourt” and “Bromley”. They’d only been at the shelter for about a week, but they looked like they were ready to be someplace else.

They’re about the same age that Murray was, so they’re still basically juveniles. They are brothers, and it is very difficult to tell which is which unless you can notice some of the details. The one crucial difference is that Digit is polydactyl and has great big “thumbs” on his front paws. After thinking on names for a few days, it was ultimately the thumbs that led me to decide on “Digit” as a name. As for the other cat, his paws are normal, and so we agreed on “Norm”. There are other differences that become noticeable once you get to know them — Digit is bulkier and heavier than Norm, and Norm has a very triangular head that I think makes him look like one of the Gremlins from the same-named movie. Norm is kind of neurotic and doesn’t settle down easily, while Digit is a meatloaf who loves to cuddle up and purr. They have a couple of less-appealing defining characteristics as well: Norm has a loud and grating meow and is constantly making noise. He even talks to himself, making all sorts of little cat “mrow” and “prut” and “mrph” sounds all the time. Digit has a problem with flatulence, and could make your hair curl with his powerful stink. I’ve gotten them to switch over to a diet of mostly canned food, which has helped to reduce the frequency and stinkiness of the gas, but he can still clear a room with one now and then.

Because they’re juveniles, they’re still prone to some craziness and engage in some destructive behaviors. The toilet paper has to be kept well-hidden at all times, we’ve had to remove anything breakable from the tops of the bookcases, and a squirt bottle is kept filled with water and ready for action in our bedroom for middle-of-the-night cat-scapades. Lately they’ve figured out that it is fun to tip over the water container on the back of their drinking fountain and watch the water glug out all over the kitchen floor. Charming. The day will come when they don’t do any of that stuff anymore, obviously, and we’ll probably miss it when they do, but for now it sometimes is annoying as all get out.

Norm and Digit are the first cats I have ever had who did not come into my life as kittens, and I feel the difference in my bond with them. I like them, but I don’t feel like I’ll ever love them as deeply as I did Harry or Murray or Esmé. Time may prove otherwise, but for now it just isn’t the same. When we were looking at adult cats at the shelter, my reaction to most of them was “this is someone else’s cat”. Many of the older cats were animals that had to be given up by elderly people who could no longer care for a pet or had been compelled to leave their homes and couldn’t keep them. Some were straight-up abandoned. By adopting cats that were only about a year old, I felt, the feeling that I was just taking care of someone else’s pet might not be so great — my in-laws adopted their current dog a couple of years ago, and she was already five or six years old and very much the product of someone else’s rearing, and I did not want that sort of experience at all. So far, it has worked out pretty well. Once they adjusted to being here, Digit and Norm settled in well and everybody gets along nicely. As I’m writing this on Sunday morning, Digit is sitting with me in my recliner, and Norm is snoozing on the desk chair a couple of feet away. They’re pretty good cats.

I waited a while to talk about them online, because of the ambivalence I had about them, and because I still feel the loss of the other cats so much. Every time I watch Norm and Digit sitting in a window looking wistfully at the outside, knowing as I do that they’ll never be able to enjoy what should be a cat’s natural space, and knowing exactly why, it wounds me all over again. So many compromises have had to be made, so many losses endured, and even the simple business of having cats is now part of that diabolical calculus. I hope that sharing a little bit of them with you will make everything a little brighter.

Waaaaaay back in the ancient days of BKO, lost to the archives but well-remembered by me, I posted a video of a cat born with a second face. The cat’s name was Frank & Louie. Well, now, many years later, Frank & Louie is celebrating his 12th birthday AND being recognized as the longest-surviving “Janus cat” on record. I Can Has Cheezburger has a congratulatory post that somehow manages to completely eschew LOLCatSpeak.

The adults come off sounding like morons, so feel free to mute the sound.

Not content simply to EAT every kitten in Canada, Prime Minister Stephen Harper has gone so far as to sign up for Google Plus so he can taunt the good people of the Great White North with pictures of kitties. See for yourself. In the very first photo, poor little Stanley begs for his life, knowing that he could soon be an appetizer. And with opposition leader Jack Layton laid low by cancer, who can stop this evil, evil man?

Canadian Prime Minister and noted “cat lover” Stephen Harper has set out on his nefarious plan to eat every cat in Canada, just as I predicted on the day of his election victory a few short weeks ago. He has acquired his first sacrificial victim and is presently taunting the people of Canada by demanding that they pick a name for the kitty before he devours it live on national television during the presentation of the Stanley Cup. So far, the most popular suggestions have been “Stanley”, “Majority”, “Liberal Pussy” and “Stew”. As usual, a group of angry protestors from the Bloc Québécois are expressing outrage and demanding he call it “Poutine”. NDP Leader Jack Layton spluttered admirably for a moment or two then returned to stroking his fine mustache.