Happy Caturday! It has been a couple of months since I last blabbed about cats. I figured I'd mix things up today and feature some new feline faces: my parents' cats, Ignatius, Stanislaus, and Aloysius. If you think those names seem a little rich for cats, it's because all of their pets have saints' names. I actually named Rosie after Saint Rose of Viterbo, the patron saint of Viterbo, Italy--the city I studied abroad in four summers ago! We aren't strict Catholics (if you could even call me a Catholic anymore, ha!), but it's a fun family tradition that my step mom started.

Ignatius (nicknames: Iggy, Iggs, Piggy, Ignoish, Ignaysh)

My step mom has a thing for brown tabby cats. It all started with her first cat, a brown tabby she named Augie. Iggy is the third brown tabby we've had in our family. He's a feisty boy that loves to hunt, go on car rides, and be close to my dad in any way possible. My dad is his favorite person, probably because he isn't much of a cat person--they're always drawn to those people, aren't they?! You can often find him napping on top of my dad's convertible. (I'm pretty sure Iggy is why he got a cover for it!) Iggy is the heaviest of the three cats and is currently working on getting down to a healthier weight. Surprisingly, he's the one most likely to walk away from his food and have it snatched up by one of his brothers! He was best friends with our dog Lucy and even guided her around the house when she went blind. How sweet is that?! Even though he can be temperamental sometimes, he is a gem of a cat. The whole neighborhood knows him and adores him, and we are lucky to have him in our family!

Stanislaus (nicknames: Stanley, Stan, Stinky Stanley, Stink)

Stanley was adopted from the humane society shortly before I adopted Rosie. He had come into the shelter as a stray with a severely broken front leg; it was apparently dangling, and instead of amputating it, they decided to stick in a metal rod to straighten it out. The $50 adoption fee turned out to be a steal considering his care cost upwards of $6,000! Stan had a limp for quite some time, but now you can't even tell his leg was ever broken. Stan is the only lap cat out of the three, and when he gets really into cuddle time, sometimes the claws come out as he lays his paw on you. His favorite toys are jingle bells, so Christmas is likely his favorite time of year! He's a very smart cat and is on a mission to get to any and all cat food. He'll bite through bags (then knock them over so food spills everywhere) and chew on the plastic containers my parents had to buy to keep him out of the food. Regardless of his antics, he is a very sweet family member!

Aloysius (nicknames: Al, Big Al, Biggie, Big Stan, Bignatius)

The most recent addition to the family, Biggie is known as Stan's twin since they have the same coloring as well as the little spot by their nose. My family saw him at Petco and thought for a moment that my dad had surrendered Stan to the humane society! (We know he secretly loves the cats.) My step mom received him for her birthday last year, and as you can probably imagine, they have a full house now! He immediately got along with Iggy and Stan. Biggie is such a sweet cat; he doesn't sit on your lap, but he will curl up nearby...and his purrs could probably register on the Richter scale. They're pretty intense, haha. He got the nickname Biggie because he's a large/tall cat like Rosie (and he's bigger than Stan). His happy place is sprawling out in the middle of the floor on his back. He loves going outside, but he also enjoys not staying outside for long if it's cold; he'll go out the front door and be ready to come in the back door only a couple of minutes later!

The credit for the last photo of each cat goes to my step mom. (Thank you!)

Caturday: Feline Family