First up, meet the furballs. Pt1: Squeak
Everyone loves cute and we have lots of that!
Hi! I always figure that a good introduction involves telling people about our furballs. We have 1 dog and 3 cats, so expect cuteness and silly stories on the regular!
Going in age order (which is also the order we got them):
First is Squeak!
Squeak is about 8-9yrs old now. She came to us (literally) at about 2.
Cuddles’ mother (also known as the Screaming Fucking Martyr, SFM for short) had decided to adopt a cat that one of her carers was giving away, because she was moving in with her boyfriend who had rottweilers who were not cat-friendly.
Cat arrived, was let out, took one look at SFM, who lived downstairs on a hospital bed, and bolted upstairs for Cuddles’ room and refused to leave. There she stayed, and when I arrived for my usual visit a few days later, I was adopted too. She was originally named something else by Cuddles, but I started calling her Squeak because that’s the noise she makes. No meow sounds, just varying levels of a squeak. I’d hear her talking down skype to me when chatting to Cuddles and it was super cute, so Squeak stuck.
She’d been kinda neglected in her last home. It was clear she wasn’t used to having anyone around during the day, because she’d perk up every night at 8pm, like that was when someone would come home. But she started learning a new routine pretty quickly. She never demanded food at set times, and she didn’t even know how to play with toys. We basically had to teach her how to cat.
She’s a bit neurotic, is our Squeak, understandably so. We’ve had to cone her before, just to stop her from biting off all the hair around her butt. And she didn’t react well when we brought other animals into her space, after Cuddles & I moved in together. But she adapts pretty quickly, and we know she trusts us even if she doesn’t like what’s going on.
Story: we had real trouble with fleas after we moved in together. It happens sometimes with pets, so we got some spot-on stuff. Didn’t work. Tried a different brand. Didn’t work. Last ditch before going to a vet was a spray treatment. Now that worked wonderfully, but the first time we treated Squeak, she bolted out of the room, up the stairs, and hid in the bottom of a bedside cabinet, peeking out and glaring at us. Then she came down, hid in the house on her cat tower, and glared at us some more (but deigned to eat some treats). Fortunately, she forgave us eventually!
Some of the names Squeak also goes by:
Squeakerbutt
Queen Squeak the Magnificent
Queen Squeak the Magnanimous
The Fabulous Squeak
Old Lady Squeakerbutt
Grumpuss
Grumpy-arse
The names should tell you most of what you need to know about her personality… She’s a little imperious, likes to do that cat thing where she stretches out and rolls around on the bed, is a grump—but a happy one, and requires some extra tlc in some areas.
She also adores us, though I’m unsure where we come on her list of favourite things (which includes KFC chicken, any other chicken, pig, cow, combs with the Comb of Power, and cuddles) but we’re on there.
She’s hit that age where she’s slowing down a bit, but she still enjoys some late-night chases and playfights with Cally, the youngest cat, and can sometimes be persuaded to play with a toy. She does enjoy ripping kitchen roll to shreds though, but it’s a dangerous game for my poor, scratched-up hands.
Our Queen Squeak, aside from being the only monarch we recognise at Cuddle Towers, is a comforting, loving, albeit shielded and neurotic, thing who enjoys being carried like a baby. And she does the cutest lil happy tail flicks. Just a gentle ticking of the end of the tail, often as she lies on Cuddles' hip at night, so I get tickled with every lil swish.
We love her, hopefully you will too!
Next time? Doofus, our long-legged staffie rescue.
Woohoo! Welcome to substack. :) Nice to see you here! Do you know about the feature that lets you read your post to your readers/listeners? My friend Lauren uses it and I love listening to her every Friday morning, it's part of my morning routine. :) Congrats on your first post!!!