Best Friends

Shortly after Alison was born, we had to put our very old cat Jake to sleep. Jake had a brain tumor that was pressing on a nerve that affected his ability to stand or walk. It was extremely hard to see him suffer and it was even harder to make the decision to end his life even when they told us he would only live a couple more days. Our younger cat Milo had an even harder time with the loss of Jake. We knew we had to get Milo a kitten to play with but the timing was not ideal. I don't think I would recommend to new moms adding a kitten to the daily challenges that come with a newborn. But adopting Sammie (aka Smoochy)was the best decision we made. He is a huge blessing to our family. I'm sure some people reading this blog are rolling their eyes right now thinking, "Geez, it's just a cat." Well, to those people, I say just watch this video and you'll see exactly what I mean. While we know Smoochy is the absolute dumbest name anyone could ever think of, it encompasses this cat and fits him to a 'T'. If you pick him up, he rubs his nose on your face and puts his mouth up to yours. In fact in the video he comes and kisses the camera. He obeys when we give him instructions. He has all of his claws, but he's never scratched or shown any aggression. These things are just the tip of the iceberg. Smoochy is Alison's best friend. If you've watched the video of Alison laughing, that's what she does whenever he comes in the room-she loves him! She will pull his ears, whiskers and hair out by the hand fulls and he just lays there and purrs. Every night while Alison's in the bath he sits there and watches her. She's even pulled him in a couple of times! Today I learned to appreciate this friendship even more. I had Alison in our room while I was putting some laundry away. She picked up a cat toy and began waving it in the air. Smoochy played with the other end and they sat for a long time just playing together. Who needs to pay a baby sitter when you have a Smoochy!