The Great Cat Compromise

THE MID-1990S found me in my mid-30s living with many cats in a converted chicken house on mom and dad's property. We'd lived there off and on over the years. During this latest stint, I was recovering from tough life lessons, heart-broken, disillusioned and financially, mentally ¬and spiritually bankrupt. We lived an idyllic, if rustic life there for a couple years. Mom helped me care for the cats. With her typical open-arm policy, she embraced and loved them wholeheartedly, in lieu of any grandchildr¬en I might have owed her.
     In the late 1990s, her health began a downward spiral and I felt the winds of change. I asked myself, "What will I do with all these cats if I have to move?" Finding a landlord to rent to someone with even one cat is impossible enough, let alone a houseful. Getting rid of them was out of the question. Each is a beloved friend and irreplaceable member of my family.

- THE HOUSE -
     Dad and his mother co-owned a house on the north edge of town which rented to members of my mom's family who needed housing over the years. It's a large, sturdy, functional, two-story farm house which was moved into town in 1909. It's a "fixer-upper" in the best (or worst) sense of the word. After almost 20 years, the day came in 1997 when no relative needed it. Dad was anxious to be free of the responsibility. He considered burning it and selling the three lots.
     I asked if they'd let me have it. He gladly gave me his half and Grandma sold hers for $1000. Some hard-core cleaning and fixing made the house livable. Dad built a covered pen attached to the house with the breakfast nook window as its "gate." On Oct. 6, 1997, 1 slapped a “Support Your Local Cat House" sticker on the front door and my “family" and I moved in.
     It didn't take most of them long to adjust. They love all the space, racing ¬up and down the open stairs. They love our oversized studio/bedroom, and quickly claimed it as Cat Central. It's also the office where I write, pay bills and do desktop publishing. It has a bed, TV, computer and laser printer. It also sports two litter boxes, a virtual carpet of cat toys, the main food and water dishes and a very colorful and fashionable layer of cat hair covering everything.
     In December, 2000, my vet made a house-call to administer rabies shots. He said ours was the second best set-up he'd seen for a multiple-cat household. (The best being in California where a lady had a full-grown and courtyard inside her mansion underneath a huge domed sunroof!)

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