Slumbering Scamps

Let sleeping cats lie writing prompt

A photographic tale inspired by Beth Bach’s prompt.

A young Silver yawning. All photos by N.E.

I suppose I best give a extremely abbreviated update from my last Catness post from about this time a year ago, Engine Trouble:

We ended up rescuing another 3 kittens over that summer, all boys, bringing our kitten total up to six. Late autumn a tomcat was dumped on on our land and meowed at our door for days before I caved. He had no desire to leave, even after the vet neutered and vaccinated him. After outdoor tomcat Coby passed we spayed his mate Goldie and let her stay inside. And somehow our youngest and tiniest kitten managed to get pregnant right before we had all those young males neutered early this spring. (The adults were already fixed.) So 12, yes TWELVE felines ruled our coup until recently, when dear Figaro succumbed to liver failure.

So we are “down” to 11. I really do want to rehome most of them. Problem is I’m picky. These are indoor cats only. Everyone ‘round these parts just wants barn cats. Theirs tend to succumb to coyotes, rat poison, extreme heat, roadkill, etc, etc. To them, these dear family members are just a common commodity. :(

Anyway, without further ado, let’s bring on the slumbering scamps!

Cats blissfully sleeping: top row: Cassie and Benny. Middle row: Hemi and Goldie. Bottom row: Evans and Tessy. All photos by N.E.

Below is Hemi demonstrating the yoga stretch pose our felines so love to do in our two fuzzy chairs that are obviously for felines only. Silly humans.

Hemi. (short for Hemsworth. Yes, as in Chris. Yes, I have teenage daughters who named our cats.) Photos by N.E.

The Cat Curl. Known to emit calming vibes throughout an abode:

Clockwise from top: Coby (RIP), Mya, Meeko, and Figaro(RIP) in full Cat Curl bliss. Photos by N.E.

The Dreamland Snuggle. Cue warm fuzzies:

Evans (Yes, named after Chris Evans, natch) and Hemi: an ultimate bromance, from tiny kittens on. Also a picture of Cassie and Mya as wee ones. Photos by N.E.

Let me just mention here that I had over 200 sleeping cat photos, and managed to whittle that down to these gems. So I’m doing ’em in batches and just tossing ’em in this tale (tail). I hope they bring you all a bit of joy, as they have me.

Anyway, here is a three-picture-tale entitled Our Bed Has Shrunk:

Cassie and Mya in their cat bed; a growing Mya still managing to fit, a grown Cassie and Mya usurped by Evans. Photos by N.E.

Once Benny magically appeared on our front doorstep (Hence the name Benny, after Benedict Cumberbatch, AKA Dr. Strange. Again, a teenage daughter thing) Evans decided he was the new cool cat to hang with. Which in the cat realm, means snooze with:

Evans and Benny sleeping on cardboard, in mid-play (!), and on a gaming chair. All photos by N.E.

Cats take spooning and cuddling to a whole ‘nother dimension. Drifting off to dreamland duos:

Clockwise from upper left: sister Mya hugging Cassie; newborn twins Chrissy and Trissy; Silver and Evans; Evans thinks Mya’s a great pillow; Cassie and Silver head-to-head in the loft bed. All photos by N.E.

Here’s a six-pack of sleep-in-action shots:

Top: Cassie and Mya in puzzle box; Benny with stack of stuffed animals on him; 2nd row: Figaro asleep belly-up half under sofa; Evans in mid-superman; Hiddleston (he’s black… look carefully to see him. And yes, he’s named after Tom Hiddleston.), Hemi, and Evans suckled the chair until they fell asleep; Chrisy in a pop box. All photos by N.E.

Our felines aren’t very particular in sleep partner selection or pose, as highlighted via these gems:

clockwise from top left: Meeko and Bubba (RIP) in a yin-yang spiral; Meeko reaching out for Benny; Chrisy and Trissy up and down; Evans hugging Hiddleston’s foot. All photos by N.E.

clockwise from top left: Meeko and Figaro(RIP) on couch and on bench; Cassie and Mya (twice). All photos by N.E.

A couple photo groupings featuring those feline favorite fuzzy chairs:

Clockwise from top left: Cassie between Hiddleston and Evans; Evans atop Hiddleston and Hemi; Evans, Mya, and Hiddleson hanging over; a Mya-Evans-Hemi sandwich. All photos by N.E.

In the Pink chair: Silver (with blue collar), Hemi, Evans, Hiddleston, with Cassie and Mya in final photo. All photos by N.E.

There’s just something about having random arrays of cat clumps about an abode that is just so calming. Also amusing at times. Some last group shots:

Top: Cassie, Hiddleston, Evans, and Silver on a blanket; the three boys as babes: Evans, Hiddleston, and Hemi; bottom: Hiddleston, Meeko, and Figaro(RIP). All photos by N.E.

Single sleepers still stir up smiles and sighs:

Clockwise from top left: Cassie in the pink chair; face-planted Mya; a couple of Trissy just being her adorable self. All photos by N.E.

It’s been an amazing blessing to watch these sickly babes grow under our TLC. Here’s a Hemi progression. He was dumped on our steps near death. Full of fleas and worms, and unable to eat solids. We bottle feed him for weeks before he finally caught on to eating kitten food:

Hemi with remotes; Hemi snoozing with a toy; sunbathing by the window. All photos by N.E.

Since he was so sickly, I asked Ella to grab a young barn kitten to be his snuggle mate. The girl kittens were quite a bit bigger and wanted nothing to do with him. She grabbed a clueless orange tabby. Evans proved to be just what Hemi needed, and is a favorite of mine. Yup. He’s my spoiled baby boy! Here’s Evans in full snooze:

Evans from fresh-from-the-barn to couch perch-sleeping today. All photos by N.E.

I’ll wrap up this sleep-a-thon with one final collage:

Top: Figaro in bed and covering face; middle: Meeko with astronaut; last three are of Benny. All photos by N.E.

(With much thankfulness and love to Louise Peacock and Bruce Walker, two outstanding Medium gems.)