When we bought our house six years ago, we already had two cats, littermates Jeter and Posey.

We knew there was a stray cat that hung around the neighborhood. But one night, I saw an orange kitten run across the deck!

It turns out that stray cat had a litter of three. Neighbors told us they didn’t think this was her first litter.

I got in touch with a local Trap-Neuter-Return group that loaned me humane traps and a large cage. We captured the kittens and tamed them, and got momma spayed.

We knew all along we couldn’t keep the kittens since we already had two, but thought we might keep one. How to decide?

It turns out the decision was made for us, unfortunately. Two of the kittens tested positive for feline leukemia. The feral cat group found a place that would take the infected kitties, and we kept the third.

We named him Joey.

To be safe, we kept Joey in the basement and tested him again after 90 days. He was still negative, so it was safe to introduce him to Jeter and Posey.

As I’ve mentioned, Posey was not, and still is not, happy with our decision to adopt another cat!

Joey can be a bit of a troublemaker, but he can also be a sweetie. He likes to be carried, and will grab my shoulder to hang on. I joke that I could carry him in a baby carrier!

While Joey is the baby, he is now the largest of the three by at least three pounds. That’s a big difference on a cat.

Joey’s mom is still happily living in our backyard. More on her later!

This is Posey.

She is Jeter’s sister. They hung out a lot as kittens, but now she just tolerates him. (Unless they’re snuggling when we’re not looking!)

Still, they co-exist relatively in peace. Sure there’s some chasing and face-slapping, but generally they’re fine together.

Joey is another story. When he came around, Posey made it apparent that she did not want a new baby brother. When they first met, she hissed and ran away, and he chased her.

Actually, she started expressing her disapproval even before they met.

We kept him downstairs for the first few months we had him (more on that later), but he would stick his paws under the door. She’d hiss at his paws.

She still does that. Six years later, we still have to keep them separated.

Joey lives in the (semi-finished) basement during the day when we’re at work and overnight. When we get home, we let him out and Posey hides.

Her favorite hiding spot had been in the corner of my closet. There was a little nook for her under the hanging shirts and behind some boots. The giant pile of shoes all over the place were a bit of a barrier from that stinky Joey character who always managed to find her.

(Posey is not good at hide and seek. She starts growling if she sees him. Usually, he wouldn’t have found her or looked for her otherwise.)

Now that the closet is clean, I’ve caught him sitting in there behind the curtains while she’s growling and hissing from her corner two feet away. He’s usually just sitting there, doing nothing, while she makes evil noises. I’ve got to record that sometime …

There was a nasty fight last weekend when Joey escaped from the basement. Posey was nearby, ran away, and he caught her. Normally we do let Joey out if we’re home on a weekend, but we warn Posey and giver her a chance to hide. There was no warning this time, and she was shaken up for quite some time after the attack.

Still, I think most of the angst is coming from her end. While Joey likes to wrestle with Jeter sometimes, they do get along. Posey’s never even given him a chance.

Sure, he runs after her when he sees her, but I don’t think he’s always looking for a fight. He probably just wants to be her friend!

Is anybody out there a pet counselor? I think they need couples therapy!

This is my cat, Jeter. Isn’t he cute? Don’t you want to rub his fuzzy belly?

Typically, if I’m sitting down he must be on my lap. I’m surprised he’s sitting on the floor right now, and not fighting my laptop for a place to sit.

He shares the bed with us, too. His usual spot is between either my or my husband’s legs, or nestled snugly with my husband’s ass. Comfy, huh?

Other times, he’ll insist on coming under the covers between us.

That’s where he was on Monday morning, at 5:56 a.m., when we were awakened by the familiar pre-hurling sound cats make. Both sound asleep, we couldn’t move quick enough to toss him off the bed.

Fortunately, it was just a hairball and not a midnight snack, but, it still required us to turn on the light and change the sheets with 45 minutes of sleep time left.

Oh, I did fall back asleep. But Jeter, next time we’d appreciate you get out of bed. OK?

In other kitty news … check out this photo from one of my favorite sites. It’s been making me laugh all day!

A few years ago, my cat Joey somehow wound up on a marketing list.

I’m thinking an offer I signed up for (samples of cat treats or something) may have generated messed-up data, substituting my pet’s name for mine when the company sold their data.

While Joey is a normal name for a person … I suppose it could be a coincidence. But, it is using the correct last name. I have to think the mail is for my cat.

There may have been a few newspaper subscription offers, but usually it’s for DIRECTV. They come pretty regularly, actually.

Today, Joey received an offer for Variety.

This isn’t just a regular subscription offer. Joey has been given a special professional courtesy discount.

Er, Joey … is there something you’re not telling us? What is your profession?

Certainly you can’t afford a yearly magazine subscription that is $225 after your 37% professional discount?

Can you read?

Joey

I’ve been feeling somewhat uninspired lately … and sometimes I’m coming up with ideas to write about and then promptly forgetting them.

Last night, unfortunately, I was “inspired” at a most inopportune time.

While cleaning out the litter boxes.

My “twins” Jeter and Posey have their own room — a storage area behind the spare bathroom — where we keep their food and two litter boxes.

(Joey, the baby, and Posey don’t get along, so we have to separate them a good portion of the time.)

Anyway, I’m not sure when this happened, but at some point the litter box on the left became the pee box, with the poo box on the right.

There are always a few stray “deposits” in the wrong box every cleaning, but for the most parts, the cats seem to be in agreement on where to do their business.

It’s like they discussed it and decided it would be more efficient this way …

I typically don’t watch them (they deserve their privacy!), but occasionally one of them will come in there when I’m cleaning. I have seen Posey go from one box to the other.

It’s kind of baffling.