Our babies before baby

It’s common knowledge that Tim and I are well and truly ‘under the paw’ when it comes to our three cats, Josie, Tiger and Eva. Yes, we are those weird ‘cat people’ who talk to, sleep with and occasionally dress up our furry babies.

Josie has been my kitty companion since long before Tim and I ever met. She was rescued by my mum, Wendi, as part of an unwanted litter. When the owners of Josie’s mother adopted her they were told she had been desexed, but got quite a surprise when she gave birth to four tiny kittens. Unable to keep them, they called the local vet who in turn called Wendi and we collected them from Wombarra at the age of 6 weeks. As soon as I saw her I absolutely had to have her (call it love at first sight?). She’s now 8 years old (but still a kitten at heart) and of the three cats is the Princess or Alpha Cat.

Josie enjoying the sunshine

We had been talking about getting Tim his own special cat (Josie wasn’t into being shared at that stage) and in August 2008, as we were preparing to move into the house in Newtown, I was sent an email with pictures of a litter of kittens. The kittens and their semi-wild mother had been rescued from the streets of Blacktown by WLPA and were in foster care. With his stunning bold stripes and gorgeous big eyes I knew he was the kind of cat Tim would fall for so the following week, we went to visit 9 week old Tiger and his sister. Although he was still very frightened at this stage, the bond was instant and it was clear that we would be taking him home. Tiger and Josie got along well from the beginning, although being a rambunctious kitten, he copped beatings from the ‘iron paw’ on more than a few occasions. He eventually fell into line and now is the most placid of the three. He loves to curl up on the bed in between us at night and is notorious for stealing and hiding the kitchen sponges (and has now moved on to baby’s clothes). Tiger has the most incredible bond with Tim and we are sure he thinks he is Tim’s real son.

Who could resist this face?

Tim and Tiger have a strange relationship

We weren’t really intending to get a third cat however in 2009 a group of adorable, tiny four week old ginger kittens ‘fell into my lap’ (as they do in my line of work), and along came cat number three - Eva. Another rescued kitty, Eva was born to a mother cat who had been dumped in someone’s backyard in Dundas in Western Sydney. We brought Eva home to the unit in Alexandria at 6 weeks old and she immediately adopted Tiger as her mother and Tiger eagerly took up the role. He has been looking out for her ever since and they are still like two peas in a pod. Eva is probably the quirkiest of the three with her bizarre love of breath mints and will keep herself occupied for hours on end with just a scrunched up piece of paper.   

Baby Eva

Eva with her surrogate mother, Tiger