CLAY AND WATTLES

My Pretty Kitty

Bitty often gets ignored because she is so well-behaved and ladylike. Even her swipes at Oscar when he's being unusually obnoxious to her are delivered after patiently waiting for him to go away and leave her alone. When he doesn't, he learns who's boss. Bitty was Amy's cat that she got when living in Jonesboro in 1996. She was born in May of that year, so is a pretty old kitty and for having been an outside cat, with frequent visits inside when it's cold, wet or she wants her canned food treat (which drives Oscar crazy), she is in really good health. Last year she had an infected tooth that had to be extracted. We keep her shots current and our sweet neighbor Virginia missed Bitty having her collar and tag on recently and told Paul. Bitty had just escaped from her collar (one of those with a safety feature) and we had never put it back on. But we did then. It also keeps the birds from being surprised. Bitty is a regular visitor to Virginia's house and loves the good treats she gives her. In the summer Bitty looks like all her fur is being pulled out daily by handfuls - she sheds really bad and look sawful. But when fall comes, her coat gets full and thick and I have to keep a watchful eye out for wads of fur that get matted up on her underside. She's the proverbial curious cat. If any of us, including Oscar, are in the back yard and she knows it, she has to be with the crowd and is climbing over the fence! She tolerates Oscar well, as I said, very unlike their first meetings when he came to live with us. There was a time she refused to come near the back door, but now runs in right past him. They occasionally check each other out, but the nose-to-nose greeting is all she'll tolerate. He just can't understand why she won't play!



She heads to a safe spot under the redbud and grasses.