Annecy: The Keeper of the Cats

This is India, our incredibly intelligent, long-suffering black cat who is an AMAZING hunter (meaning maimed birds, snakes, and rodents are often brought inside to us as gifts):



This is Pearl, the "baby creature" of the family, our Persian cat princess-in-training of lovely disposition:



Annecy considers herself to be the "sister" to these lovely creatures. She reads books to them, rocks them to sleep at night, in general is "talking them through" their formative cat years as a mother would her children. A few nights ago, while putting Pearl to sleep, I heard Annecy telling her,

"Pearl, you are growing up, learning so many things, and you haven't caught any mice yet but don't worry, you will . . . you are getting to be bigger every day and you can almost read . . . You should be so proud of yourself." This while stroking Pearl's jaw and caressing her long, fluffy tail.

Then she turned to me and whispered, "I am just trying to make Pearl feel like she is a big girl cat."

The cats are given several types of food each day and each has her own special blankets, toys, books; Annecy even thoughtfully purchased a goldfish so that they would have something special and interesting to watch while she is at school.

As far as the lives of housecats go, I would say that India and Pearl are doing quite well.