Maggie

Maggie is three years old and the alpha cat at 4 Boys and a Lady.  She is the alpha because she was there first.  Nico and Virgil calmly accepted her rule, but Nermal doesn't know quite what to make of the situation yet.  Now Westley has joined the clan, but he seems to be fitting right in.  Maggie sometimes bullies Nico, maybe because he is such a laid-back cat.  Maggie is a real snuggle-bug with the Mom and sleeps with her every night.  She gets a bit jealous if any other cat comes up while she is snuggling with the Mom and whaps him on the head.  She will also try to take a toy away from another cat if he seems to be having a lot of fun with it.  She wants her privacy when using the litterbox and really gets upset if another cat walks into the room while she is using the box.  She likes to test out her water before drinking.  She taps the water with her paw, then licks her paw.  If the water meets her high standards, then she will drink from the bowl.

                                 Maggie is the alpha -- she is in charge.
                                 She's very feisty, but not all that large.
                                           One thing dismays her:
                                           Nermal never obeys her.
                                 He just won't admit that she is in charge.

Maggie

Here is Maggie in action.  I love this picture because it shows how active and playful Maggie is.  This is important to me because Maggie had a really rough start in life.  Yesterday I told you about the neighbor's cat who was let roam without being fixed and got pregnant.  Huggy Bear and Josie are from her first litter.  The young couple still didn't get her fixed and she had two more litters.  She had four the second time and they all found forever homes pretty easily.  The third litter was enormous.  When Jasper's Mom and Dad finally figured out what was going on, they discovered that the poor little momma cat was taking care of thirteen kittens.  Jasper's Mom and Dad think that momma cat may have adopted some other babies abandoned by their own mother because the didn't see how so small a cat could have possibly had thirteen babies by herself.  By this time the young couple were merely leaving food and water out on the back porch and leaving momma cat and her kittens to fend for themselves.  Jasper's Mom and Dad were always looking out for them and giving them extra food and water and discovered that all of them were sick with some kind of infection that glued their little eyes shut.  They were also covered with fleas.  Jasper's Mom and Dad rounded up all the sick kitties and momma cat and made sure that they were weaned as quickly as possible.  Then they took in momma cat and had her spayed before returning her to the young couple.  With the help of a very caring vet, they cured all the kittens and the great kitten home-finding began.  They found homes for all the kittens except the smallest, who had been the sickest.  This little kitten was named Maggie and joined the family on August 15th, 2005, after she had to have her right eye removed because it was so badly damaged by the infection.  Huggy Bear thought that Maggie was the greatest thing ever and took to her right away.  Josie and Jasper took a little longer to warm up to her, but they are all a happy family now.  Because she is so small, Maggie wears a collar with a bell, so the people can hear her coming and be very careful not to step on her.  Maggie occasionally finds a way to ditch the collar and hides it.  The limerick is about one of those times.

                                                Maggie hung her collar on the Christmas tree,
                                                Way in the back, where no one could see.
                                                         She went collarless,
                                                         Which caused her some stress,
                                                 Till Dad found her collar on the Christmas tree.

Maggie

This is Maggie.  She was adopted in late April 2006 when she was six weeks old.  Her Mom works in a large pet supply store and a lady came in wanting supplies for a new kitten.  The lady mentioned that she got her kitten from a friend of hers and her friend had two more kittens who needed forever homes.  Maggie's Mom-to-be got excited when the lady said that one of the kittens was a calico, because she had wanted to adopt a calico kitten for quite a while.  The lady left with her purchases, but came back later with Maggie.  It was love at first sight.  Maggie only took one night to get used to the idea that she had a new home.  A few months later, Maggie was joined by Molly, a tuxie kitten, then a while after that Lucy, a pug, joined the family.  All three of them get along quite well now, but Maggie is the boss.

                                             Maggie thinks she should be in charge here.
                                             After all, she was the first to appear.
                                                        Then along came Molly,
                                                         And Lucy, by golly.
                                             All in favor of Maggie, stand up and cheer.