Feline Family

Dinner time is a production at our house. It begins around 4 pm, an hour before food is served. The vultures circle their master warily, not wanting to anger their benevolent goddess before dinner arrives. They wait, they watch, sometimes they meow as if they haven’t eaten in days.

When the magic hour of almost 5 pm strikes, the moment they see me head towards the kitchen becomes the most exciting part of the day. They begin pacing through the kitchen, getting right in the way of the door I’m trying to open to retrieve their food, hidden away high in the pantry since they have a tendency to eat through the bag if it’s left on a lower shelf.

Some nights, all three felines ferociously consume their nightly meal. Other nights, the pretty princess void kitty decides her highness needs to eat alone and waits for the other two to finish their meals before deigning to eat her own. Other nights it’s the grumpy old man who waits for the ladies to finish their food before lazily strolling over to his own plate. It’s usually clear within seconds of putting down plates what kind of night it’s going to be.

• Neo is our brown tabby, the grumpy old man of the group who prefers hanging out by himself in his favorite spots throughout the house.

• Mavis is our black void kitty hiding behind the curtains above the bookcase, also known as the pretty princess. They all love taking turns staring at birds out the window, but she is the most frequent visitor of this perch so she can reign supreme above us all.

• Dahlia is our newest addition, a snowshoe kitty rescued from an attic during a record-breaking summer. She is a momma’s girl with all the energy of a growing kitten, frequently tearing around the house when kitty zoomies strike.

I love my kitties so much. Each found their way into our life as a rescue of some sort, and I love how they each have their own unique personality. Much as I love them though, the production that is now dinner time can be quite the chore, a labor of love so they all get a chance to eat instead of one kitty eating it all. (Yes, that would be the cute little one.)