Five in a Bed and Bathroom Lovin'...

That pretty much describes our life with cats...

On the average night, we'll have the matriarch, Penny(wise, or Mrs. Grinch, as Gina's been calling her lately) wanting to perch on a hip or chest. Usually Gina's. And she can get cranky when thwarted, or when pillow's think they are entitled to repositioning themselves. God help us when she wants under the covers. Choji, who has delusions of male lion status but is more like Penny's footman (he even sleeps down at one of the corners of the bed) will usually take up his (bulky) position. Then we'll usually get either Lucifer or Gulliver hopping up, looking for a place to plop down. Which would be fine, except that they often have this overwhelming (for everyone involved...) urge to get some love in the middle of the night. They can be very persistent. Very. Sometimes, I think the collective is worse than a baby in the night...

Now, when we've brought a new cat into the home, they've usually ended up spending the first day or two shut in a bathroom. That way, all cats can get accustomed to one another's smells and presence without starting off first thing with a squabble, and we get a chance to observe them. Make sure we don't see something untoward, since we've often saved strays and the like. Sort of like putting 'em in quarantine. We'll go in and spend time with them. The side effect is that our cats often associate bathrooms with safety, security and positive attention. Which is all fine and dandy until you are in there trying to take care of some urgent business and so are they. 'Course, they don't see your urgent business as being as important as theirs. They want to be held. Now. Petted. Now. What's extra special fun is when two or three of them get the same idea at the same time. And Choji prefers to get his drinking water in the form of running water from the bathtub water spout. Its a lot like having toddlers. Whoever thought their bathroom would become Grand Central Station?...