When I took in Maia, I had just visited my parents in Mansfield and I was on I-71 back toward Akron when I got a call from my friend, Nate Longstreth. He prefaced the call asking, "Do you want to save a life?" He went on to tell me that a kitten had been coming to his house in the freezing cold, so they had been feeding it. I had just been enjoying the company of my childhood cat, Pepper, at my parents' house and had coincidentally been thinking that it would be nice to have a cat of my own, so I agreed.
When I picked up Maia, it was quickly apparent that while she was a kitten, she was also pregnant. I brought her back to my rental house at 539 Stratford Ave., concerned that not only did the lease prohibit me from keeping a cat, but it certainly prohibited me from birthing and raising a litter in my house. I took her to the vet, and the vet recommended that I not only have her spayed, but that the litter be terminated. The vet indicated that it would not be easy to find homes for all of the kittens, and that it would be expensive for me to have them all spayed once they're born. She said that some shelters will pay for the animals to be spayed, but there are plenty of kittens in shelters as it is. Plus, with Maia being so young, she wasn't clear that she would do particularly well birthing the litter. I didn't know what to do.
Being a born-again Christian, I have strong convictions against the abortion of a human fetus. The Bible says, "For You have possessed my inward parts; You have covered me in my mother's womb. I will praise you; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Your works are marvelous and my soul knows it very well." Psalm 139:13-14. So I didn't know what to do. Maia isn't exactly a human, but it's pretty ironic that I was attempting to justify the abortion of a feline fetus(es) out of mostly my own convenience. I called my parents. They reminded me "And let [man] have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the heavens, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over all the creepers creeping on the earth." Genesis 1:26. God said to man, "And have dominion over the fish of the sea and the fowl of the heavens, and all animals that move upon the earth." Genesis 1:28. Being that I was still a drinking fool, I had a bottle of wine and gave the the matter some consideration and a good cry. At that same time, I gave God one of only few genuine prayers during several years.
I decided to rightfully exercise dominion over Maia; I packed her in a covered laundry hamper and took her to the vet to have the litter terminated.
Maia was and has always been extremely low maintenance. I got some kitten food, a litter box, a scratching post, a bag of catnip, and she was set. She has always enjoyed sitting on the laps of others, and she doesn't claw up our furniture because whenever I play with her, I use her scratching post to play a sort of peek-a-boo. She learned quickly that the post was for her to tear up, and she always uses it to sharpen her claws. I reward her good behavior with catnip on the top of the post, which she has taken to quickly. She has always used the litter box, despite the fact that her owner sometimes lets the landmines pile up. Bless her heart. She gets a little crazy flinging litter when she buries the excrement. This resulted in my getting a box with a hood to keep the litter in.
When Liz got her first instant message on the computer from me, my buddy icon was a picture of Maia's face. Liz at first thought it was a joke, but she quickly learned that I owned a cat and thought the world of her. Liz loved kittens, but adult cats were not her thing. Especially keeping an adult cat for up to 20 years as a pet. That all changed after Liz & I got married and Liz fell ill for a three day period. I had to work each day and the only thing that kept her company was Maia. Maia stayed with her on the couch day in and day out. That turned her feelings fondly toward the cat.
Until we have kids, we like to *act* like crazy cat people and pretend that she's our only child. She doesn't equate to raising children in our eyes, but it's funny to talk about her as such in the presence of others. Liz and I like to personify her when we're sitting around the house. Just the other day I was telling Liz how Maia lost her motorcycle license because she kept crashing it. She never had problems on her moped while she was growing up. Picturing her doing human activities is just funny, especially since she has a pot belly (my nickname for her is Chunker) and buck teeth. She has a tiny frame but a round belly. Whenever someone sees her, they always comment "She's gotten fatter since the last time I saw her." No, she is just fat. She hasn't gained any weight since I took her in.
She is an intelligent cat. She knows her name and also specifically responds to singing and whistling. She knows when she's in trouble and does a pretty good job following boundaries around the house. She likes to eat any thin, synthetic plastics, be it leaves of phony plants, ribbon, and bows for presents. She otherwise just hangs around around the house, sitting in sunlight and licking herself (she's getting cleaned up for the prom).