Bonus Blog Post: Freya is Twelve

 

Yes, yes, I said bi-weekly, but I want to take this time to wish Freya a Happy Birthday. As I mentioned in the last blog, we got Freya from the Humane Society.  They are the ones who gave her the birthdate of December 1st, so we celebrate her birthday then. Yes, I am that person. 

It's no big deal really. Just an excuse to spoil my cat. So this is how we spoil our Freya for her birthday. 

Breakfast starts with tuna. Yes, I know. But it's only for special occasions and I get the lowest sodium content I can find. I read the labels. She won't eat the kind made for cats. She gets to run around naked. (No collar) 

I usually have to work, so I make sure to give her extra cuddles before leaving. This often means she 'makes biscuits' on my skin while I sit on the toilet. It's TMI, but that is her preferred place to snuggle. Also, if you see me with red marks and scratches on my neck and chest, those aren't hickeys. Freya's claws are sharp and her love hurts sometimes. I have a red shirt I always make sure to wear on her birthday. It has a gathered front that she likes to suck on. I know...I'm a weird cat slave. 

When I get home, I devote all my time to whatever she wants. I used to take her to the pet store on a harness and let her choose her toy, but she doesn't enjoy car rides at all anymore. She associates them with vets and death. 

There is always a vast amount of treats involved. Greenies, Temptations and Squeezables. ESPECIALLY Squeezables. Before Squeezables were a thing, I used to give Freya chicken baby food as a treat. I got the tip from Modern Cat magazine and it was her favorite thing in the world. You have be sure, it's pure chicken--you don't want kitty ingesting onions or anything else they can't have. 

As I mentioned Freya is twelve, and her birthday is in the winter, so these days it's especially important to have warm towels from the dryer. Freya was found as a stray, and sometimes I imagine her, her siblings, and her poor mama kitty trying to survive in the dead of winter. Did they survive? It hurts my heart to think about it and it's one of the reasons I still leave a bowl of kibble in the shed.  Freya has some arthritis, and I wonder if her early childhood is the reason why. 

I used to give her catnip too. She can take it or leave it these days. Here's a photo of her enjoying it a couple of birthdays ago. 

I started giving her Honeysuckle. She LOVED that stuff, and now I can't find it anywhere. With my luck it's been taken off the market. I hope not. Not only did my cats love it, but I don't want to think I gave them something harmful and they grew to love it more than nip. 

So this year, the nip wasn't all that amazing, and she didn't really care for the crinkle banana. But she really loved all the butt scritches and the towels fresh from the dryer. Bit of tuna, bit of Squeezables, and she was a happy kitty. 

Happy Birthday to my pretty Freya. I hope we have many more birthdays to come. And I promise to publish the blog about Freya's first week, next week. In fact, I might need a few parts for it.