My Crazy Feisty Kitty, Elroy

My Elroy.  My crazy, feisty Elroy.  I love him even when I hate him.  He will be 2 on May 1st and I just can't believe he's been in my life for that long already, it feels like yesterday he was this tiny little kitten with a two-toned nose that stole my heart.

Elroy came into my life in a very, well, deliberate way on my part.  I had moved to my new apartment (the one I still live in....) and I knew that I wanted a pet in this one since I had lived for a year in my previous apartment without one.  I was quite lonely without one....I grew up in a house where we had at least two animals at all times.  So I knew I wanted a pet, and while the decision was hard, I decided early on that Cody would not be moving to Dayton.  He is just too happy at the farm and with the other animals for me to take him away from that.  I figured a cat would be aloof enough to be ok when I was gone all day at work while being cuddly enough to curl up with at night, so I decided to pick a kitten from one of the spring's litters (side note....we have a couple of pregos now on the farm and I can't wait for the kitten as I'm probably getting another one this spring!).

Elroy has a very specifically chosen lineage on my part.....His mommy was Ellie, her mommy was Lilly, and her mommy was Lo.  At the farm I had two cats in the barn that would come to me as soon as they heard my voice, Taddy Cat and Ellie.  Taddy was Lilly's sister and they looked a lot alike, but Taddy got sick and passed away right about the time that Ellie was born.  Ellie hated everyone but me, she wouldn't let anyone touch her or pick her up but me.  She had one litter when she was about three, and only two kittens in that litter, both survived.  Elroy and Bleach Spot (hey, she seriously looks like someone poured bleach on her gray coat!) were those kittens.  I'm going to be honest, this isn't nice, but I picked Elroy not for any other reason than he looked adorable.  This sounds so bad, but you know how people with Down's can have very specific facial characteristics?  Well, Elroy's face reminded me of those for some reason.  He was toooo adorable!  His nose is two different colors which isn't normal for a cat, he has his mommy's green eyes now too.  I love him.

While I adore my kitty, I fully admit to a very unnaturally close relationship with him and he can be very annoying.  He eats the most RANDOM things --- cough drops, Doritos, heads off of my angels, a magnet, and soooo much more that I can't remember right now.  He chews on my metal bed in the mornings to wake me up usually.  I have gone through a ton of phone chargers because he chews the cords.  I quite literally have teeth markers in the corner of my laptop because he chews on it too.  Oh!  And the tv in my bedroom has teeth marks too.  Pretty much anything he can get his mouth on, he chews.  He hates thunder and lightening; one summer storm when I first got him, he was sitting at my front door and all of a sudden a strike of lightening hit right outside with thunder *right* after and, well, I've never seen him run so fast!  I do have a very unnatural relationship with him though, one of my besties said it best when at Christmas I took him to see Santa and posted the photo on Facebook, she said "You're crazy about that cat!"  I am.  He loves me when I'm at my worst.  He's been the constant in all of this turmoil in my life.  He's my baby. 

And without further adooooo, here's my baby!