I Heart Max

For those of you who have never had the pleasure of meeting Miss Maxine Louise, you're missing out. (In her trademark sweet sassiness, she wouldn't cooperate for a good photo, so I'll have to catch her off guard.)

Max is our precious kitty. She came to live with us in October 2001 and has been a very, very loved member of our family since.

Being home today reminded me of why I love Max. She's so caring. She's a mommy at heart, though she never had kitty babies of her own. She thinks Mitchell and Noah are her babies, and she loves all the attention they bestow upon her, no matter how rough they become.

Here are 10 reasons I love Max:

1. Max is just sweet. She is a snuggler, and nothing makes her happier than to be curled up on the arm of a chair or in a lap or in bed with me.
2. Max is gentle. She has never even as much as raised a paw at my boys - even though they've ripped out clumps of her hair in attempts to love on her.
3. Max has a notch out of her left ear. We have no clue how it happened - she came to us that way. It's her signature flaw.
4. Max has spots, not stripes. Most tabbies are striped, whereas our Maxie Lou has thousands of spots that come together to form stripes.
5. Max believes in the power of love. Somehow, she can sense when you need a cuddle.
6. Max licks! That's right - our cat licks. And her tongue is surprisingly soft. I oftentimes joke that she thinks she's a dog.
7. Max has good manners. She rarely assumes she can jump up with you. Instead, she waits for you to pat your lap or the chair to tell her it's OK to join you. This is actually really annoying in the middle of the night, as she is a chatty Kathy and will fuss to remind you that you need to invite her up.
8. Max only eats cat food. That may seem like a strange reason to love her, but it's so nice to not worry that she'll eat the boys' snacks if they leave them down low.
9. Max doesn't get on countertops or tables. But, she does like to walk around on the railings at the second floor, teetering 20-something feet above the ground.
10. Max knows that it's better to have company than to be alone. She's oftentimes my little shadow, especially when it's just us girls.

Now, a few reasons Max sometimes drives me crazy.

1. Max is a talker. She enters the room making noise and is loud until she settles down.
2. Max has really, really bad breath! It's true, and it's baffling, considering her strict diet (see No. 8, above).
3. Max wanted nothing to do with me - the one who drove down to the animal shelter to pick her up, the one who told the vet that yes, we did still want her even though she wasn't a boy (she was so skinny that the shelter folks thought her hip bones were little boy parts) - for the longest time. She only loved Paul ... until I got pregnant with Mitchell. I almost had a heart attack when she jumped onto the sofa and snuggled me the first time.
4. Max is allergic to the rabies vaccine. This drives me crazy because it take a lot longer for her check-ups and annual shots. We have to arrive early to they can hook her to an IV to deliver fluids and kitty Benadryl. Then we have to stay after so they can observe her. When we first brought her home, the vets thought she had severe kennel cough from the shelter. A year later, during her annual vaccines, we learned about her allergy. (Due to her allergy and the fact that she never goes outside, the vet is really nice to let us have her vaccinated every other year instead of annually. Thanks, Dr. B!)

I guess that's about it.

We've had some work done on our house recently, and this morning, our construction super told me how cool our cat is. He said that they were instant friends when he started coming over. I told him about how she waits to be invited into a lap ... and he actually asked if it was OK for him to sit on our sofa when he's here on Monday so he can invite her up! How cute is that!

He's not alone. I've had lots of people tell me "I'm not a cat person, and I love her." I even had one friend who doesn't like cats but said if she could guarantee one like Max, she'd give into her daughter's constant requests for a kitty.

BTW: Max was named so because they thought she was a boy at the shelter, so we named "him" Max. When we found out he was really a she, we expanded it to Maxine. And, Louise is an homage to my grandmother - it was her middle name.

So, sweet Kitty Girl, I love you! (And, I hope you'll pose nice for a photo soon).