Six Months of Sugar

It’s been six months since I first visited Miss Sugar, then named Kitty, at the London Humane Society. She had a cone around her head and was recovering from a stomach bug, and even though she looked rather forlorn, I knew I had found our next fur baby. 

I wouldn’t be able to pick her up for a few days, until she recovered. That happened to be my birthday, and what a gift she was. Chubby, timid, with fur like wire, she was definitely in need of TLC. At ten years old, there wasn’t much information about why she was surrendered. But now we think we might know why.

She’s got the table and toilet manners of a lumberjack raised by wolves. 

Frankly, I don’t really care. Once you’ve had a few animals, you’ve pretty much experienced it all. But even our Vet mused that some people might not be as tolerant of having to tidy her up. It’s definitely not a deal-breaker for us. In fact, we chose seniors specifically because they were being overlooked by everyone else in favour of kittens. Miss Sugar’s messiness just means she needs us even more. She’s a little high maintenance. Oh well.

Spice was overweight and had brittle fur when we got him and he has slimmed down and has a coat as soft as down now. He turned 15 in February. Miss Sugar also now has a beautiful coat thanks to frequent brushings, but she’s bigger than ever. We lovingly call her our Little Tugboat. While Spice likes to prowl the house as our Head of Security, Miss Sugar would rather nap, stretch and nap some more. The litterboxes are downstairs, or she’d never do much more than walk to the food bowl and back, and leap up onto a chair for another nap. I discussed the risks of obesity with her but it hasn’t made a difference. She acts like she doesn’t understand English. 

She’s Sugar because Erin Davis suggested it – Sugar and Spice – and Miss Sugar because Derek calls her Missy. She’s got the sweetest personality and a raspy little meow. Spice sometimes gets jealous. In those brief moments he will assert his alpha-maleness by letting out a battle cry and leaping on her, and she takes it like a trooper. The next thing you know, they’re napping together on a bed or Spice is submitting to an ear-licking. Mealtimes are calm and respectful. We didn’t know what to expect so in our estimation, this arranged cat marriage has turned out well.