The Cat's Meow

You may have noticed the adorable kitten at the end of yesterday’s post. For those who have not been inundated with pictures of his cuteness on my facebook feed, this is Higgs-Boson, our newest family member.



Higgs started his life as a semi-feral stray near our swim club. Mary, the woman who runs the place, feeds a crapload of feral cats that live in the surrounding woods, and she catches/vets them as possible. She makes particular efforts to capture new litters of kittens so they can go to good homes with people who will fuss over them and get them shots and special operations.



Just after my last blog entry before November’s blitz-to-be, Mary had caught two of the three kittens in a litter. One was a sweet little calico female and one a tan and white tabby. The cats are mixed DSH and Maine Coon Cat, unknown percentages, a lot of calico females and the males generally invisible, other than one friendly fellow named Prince, who deigns to be petted by anyone who will get close enough. The tan and white boy kitten looked a lot like Prince, and is a similar color to my personal Cat Hall Of Fame leader, Rameses, the tabby I had from age 17 to age 34, transcontinental relocations and all. Adding to his already almost irresistible appeal, he was ultra cuddly and ultra sweet. All he wanted to do was snuggle and purr. So we brought him home.



I decided to name him Higgs-Boson because we already have a Figment, and he’s bigger than a particle, but smaller than a Biscuit. He has a luxurious coat, incredibly soft. (He also brought fleas, which we are still working on vanquishing. You can apparently hide a lot of fleas in a coat like that.) He has a smaller version of the gorgeous Maine Coon ruff, the ear tufts, and tufts of hair between the toes of his incredibly big and adorable feet.



As an adolescent kitty, he is less inclined to cuddle unless it suits him but it suits him often enough, and he can often be persuaded. He has a huge personality, and a ton of confidence. He’s got the most beautiful tail, and he carries it high and proud. His purr is loud enough to be heard across the room. He’s almost done trying to climb me without warning, and has successfully negotiated the “all claws and teeth” phase of kittenhood. Figment is pretty much over him, but they get along well enough that Figment came into the bathroom for a concerned investigation last time we had kitten-bathing time. Biscuit tolerates him, and I think Biddy is terrified of him. He was terrified of Lily initially, but I think he’s decided she’s just a big, funny looking, odd smelling cat with no tail.




I told Bob I should have named him Derek Zoolander, because he really is really, really, ridiculously good-looking.