Rough and Rudy

Excuse the cheesy play on words but it's time, finally, to write about Rudy, the senior pet in the Rede household.

Rudy is 12 years old now, more than twice as old as either Otto, the Jack Russell terrrier, or Mabel, the gray tabby. And this is how he's taken to greeting Lori when she comes home in the afternoon -- seated primly at the base of a table near the front door.

We got Rudy as a kitten, just a few weeks old, when he could fit into a child's baseball cap. In retrospect, he was probably separated too early from his mother. After all, he was the runt and could have used the extra time under her care.

At first, Rudy was pretty timid. During the early years, and especially as he grew older, he would hang out with Juneau, our pure-as-snow white cat. And by hang out I mean they groomed each other daily and whenever one curled up to sleep, the other was there as a companion. When Juneau died in 2008, we could tell Rudy was thrown off. Gradually, though, he became more social, although not to the point where he would hang out with Mabel in the same way as with Juneau.

Since moving to the condo, however, it seems he's become a different cat. All the staircases in our new place have meant more exercise for Rudy, and he's noticeably lighter and thinner. He's also way more affectionate than he's ever been, making himself at home on the lap of just about any guest who comes to visit. We can hardly sit down to read or watch TV without him jumping up to join us.

The latest thing? Now he's decided to sleep with us, too. That never would have happened while Juneau was alive. They'd snuggle up into a black-and-white ball of fur, oblivious to anyone and anything around them. Now Rudy makes himself at home between us or sometimes near Lori's head. At least he's not kneading dough on us in the middle of the night.

The ironic thing about Rudy? We named him after Lori's father, who disliked cats and surely would shooed Rudy away. I'm thinking, though, that the way Rudy is behaving these days, his namesake probably would have let him onto his lap too.

Photo by Lori Rede