My furbabies, Stewie and Leela, are now officially 8 years old.

In May of 2002, we found a lady with 3 siamese litters born within a 2-4 day period (13 kittens total)  in Schenectady, NY, and so we drove from college to select our little ones.  When we arrived, only 4 kittens were left: 2 boys, 2 girls. Leela, a tiny, opinionated, strong-willed, vivacious little blue-point selected us and then we asked her to select the brother she wished to bring with her. Of the two boys left, both were seal-point and both were nursing from Leela’s mother (the only blue-point mom, and the only voluptuous one, which is definitely Leela’s body type). Leela’s pounced on Stewie’s tail and we chose him.  Since we were graduating within a couple of weeks and they were barely 6 weeks old, we paid up-front, and the kittens as a writhing mass taking over the bathroom were basically gone, the nice woman held onto them for us, using a terry hair-tie as a collar for each. The day before graduation, we picked them up in one carrier and their little mews in the car for the entire hour drive were adorable.

Eight years and four moves later, their mews have turned into yowls, which is far less adorable on a 6-hour car ride, and Leela has gone from being the larger, voluptuous one to the larger, slimmer lady while Stewie has just gotten more peculiar and, although he was slim for years, still really likes his food and now has gotten chubby (although the licked-bare belly does accentuate it). Although they no longer fly several feet in the air to bat at a dangling object, they still have some very kittenish moments and are extremely loving and cuddly.

Cat products state that cats are in their “senior” years at age 7, which is a very scary thought considering the amount of time I spend worrying about, loving, arguing with, or talking to my fluffies. However, considering they are strictly-indoor cats and in fine health (especially if Stewie can slim down a bit and stop the belly-licking), I imagine they’ll be a part of our family for another 5-10 years.

Stewie & Leela together, age 4

Leela, age 4, getting into trouble

Proud Stewie, age 4

Stewie & Leela, age 8